- What's Your Secret?
The Rotunda • September 30, 2006
I recently came across MySecret.tv, a website set up by the evangelical megachurch LifeChurch. LifeChurch is a multi-campus church with physical locations scattered across several states that are connected during synchronized worship services by live video streams. MySecret.tv is this internet-savvy ministry's latest venture: essentially, it is an online confessional, where people can log on [...]
- New on Ebon Musings: Turning Away Anger
The Foyer • September 30, 2006
Now that Ebon Musings is up and running at its new host, it's past time for a new article, and by an amazing coincidence, I've just posted one there. The essay's title is "Turning Away Anger", and it deals with the stereotype that atheists are intrinsically angry people.
This is an open thread. Comments and discussion [...]
- Theocracy Watch V: Court-Stripping
The Rotunda • September 28, 2006
In a worrying development for every citizen concerned about protecting state-church separation, the so-called "Public Expression of Religion Act" passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week on a largely party-line vote of 244 to 173. Sponsored by Republican representative John Hostettler, this bill's purpose is to make it too expensive for private citizens [...]
- Ebon Musings Returns
The Foyer • September 28, 2006
Ebon Musings is now back up, at a new host that has more than enough capacity to handle its increased traffic. Browse away! I'll be posting a new article there in the next few days.
- Popular Delusions III: Faith Healing
The Observatory • September 26, 2006
A frequent point of contention in debates over religion is whether God's existence is a topic that can be addressed by science. Interestingly, this is one of the few issues where various people on both sides take both stances. Some scientists, such as the late Stephen Jay Gould and his principle of "nonoverlapping magisteria", hold [...]
- A Godless Recount
The Rotunda • September 24, 2006
Baylor University has recently released a study, titled "American Piety in the 21st Century", on American religious affiliation and church attendance. This study has been widely described as casting doubt on previous studies which have found that religious belief is declining in America. In particular, the Baylor researchers have described their study as an explicit [...]
- The Third World
The Garden • September 22, 2006
We live today in a divided world. More so than lines based on race, religion or nationality, there is a fundamental distinction that partitions human society, and that distinction is wealth. The wealthy, prosperous, industrialized nations of North America, the European Union and Japan, the ones that have the greatest influence on world affairs and [...]
- Is Islam Intrinsically Violent?
The Rotunda • September 20, 2006
Inspired by a recent dust-up at the Huffington Post over some remarks by Sam Harris, as well as the furor provoked by the Pope's recent verbal attack on Islam quoting the Byzantine emperor Manuel Paleologos II, I've decided to offer some thoughts on whether Islam is an intrinsically violent or evil religion.
First off, the obvious: [...]
- Religion as Sports
The Loft • September 18, 2006
In the United States of America, sports is a national obsession. Every week, tens of thousands of avid fans pack into stadiums and arenas to watch their teams battle for supremacy on the field of play, and millions more watch and listen on TV and radio. Devoted fans follow their hometown teams with an interest [...]
- Book Review: The God Delusion
The Library • September 16, 2006
(Author's Note: The following review was solicited and is written in accordance with this site's policy for such reviews.)
Summary: A witty, razor-sharp attack on religious belief of all varieties. As one might have expected, Dawkins pulls no punches whatsoever and does not hesitate to heap scorn on foolish beliefs where appropriate. Atheists will cheer it; [...]
- The Quiet Revolution Progresses
The Garden • September 14, 2006
While the voracious hordes of religious proselytizers continue to bombard society, demanding that their beliefs be wedged in wherever they can find a crack, atheism continues to grow quietly in the background. Largely unnoticed by the mainstream media and politicians, the advocates of nonbelief are still making their case, and they are increasingly finding people [...]
- Ebon Musings is Moving
The Foyer • September 12, 2006
Attention please:
Due to a surge in traffic over the past few months, Ebon Musings is now bumping up against its monthly bandwidth transfer limits at its current host. I'm taking action to move it to a new host that can handle its growth. Therefore, if it should be down for a few days in the [...]
- The Roots of Morality IV: The Theistic Rubber Stamp
The Library • September 12, 2006
Despite the advantages of universal utilitarianism, most people in the world today shun secular moral systems and rely on religious beliefs to provide them with the guidelines for morality. In fact, despite the countless evils it has spawned over the ages, many people believe that religion is the only way to obtain an ethical code, [...]
- A Book Review Policy
The Foyer • September 10, 2006
Although I have written previously of Daylight Atheism's rapid growth (and let me add that the total hit count for August shattered the previous record from July), this weblog appears to be attracting attention in a way that I did not at all expect. Several days ago, I was contacted by Chris Mooney, author of [...]
- The Roots of Morality III: Universal Utilitarianism
The Library • September 7, 2006
In Part 2 of this series, we reached the conclusion that happiness is the ultimate value and we should strive to increase it. This result can be formalized into a secular ethical system I call universal utilitarianism, whose key tenet is as follows:
Always minimize both actual and potential suffering; always maximize both actual and potential [...]
- The Roots of Morality II: The Foundation
The Library • September 5, 2006
In the previous post in this series, I argued that moral relativism is a logically inconsistent position and must be discarded. The only remaining option is moral objectivism; that is, the position that some acts are objectively right and others are objectively wrong, and that this will be true regardless of any person or group's [...]
- Newsweek Discovers Atheists
The Rotunda • September 4, 2006
P.Z. Myers of Pharyngula draws my attention to a Newsweek article by Jerry Adler, "The New Naysayers", about several prominent atheists and the impact they have had on American culture and society.
In sum, I agree with Myers: this article was terrible. (Newsweek in general has a poor track record when it comes to atheism.) Although [...]
- A Religious Fugitive is Captured
The Rotunda • September 2, 2006
(Author's Note: We temporarily interrupt the "Roots of Morality" series to bring you this late-breaking news...)
A few weeks ago, I read Jon Krakauer's book Under the Banner of Heaven, a chilling account of the persistence of fundamentalist Mormon sects in the Utah desert that still practice polygamy, often forcing girls as young as 12 or [...]
