- How to Think Critically I
The Observatory • March 30, 2007
Extraordinary Claims
In the Popular Delusions series, I have explored just a few varieties of the vast number of nonsensical beliefs which afflict humanity. From the belief that astronomical bodies millions of light-years distant control our destiny here on Earth, to the belief that water remembers what substances were once dissolved in it, to the belief [...]
- The Congressional Prayer Caucus
The Rotunda • March 29, 2007
I wrote recently about an attack on nontheist Congressman Pete Stark by a right-wing group calling themselves the Christian Seniors Association. The CSA's spokesman James Lafferty, incensed by the idea that atheists think they have a right to be represented in Congress as if they were human beings like everyone else, complained at length about [...]
- The Virtues: Be Just
The Garden • March 28, 2007
The seventh and last of the Virtues is the imperative toward justice. In general terms, the virtue of being just entails treating others as their actions merit - neither withholding from people what they deserve, nor giving them what they do not deserve. Acting justly is also a core part of the ethical system of [...]
- Feedback on the Theist's Guide
The Foyer • March 27, 2007
Earlier today I was notified of a post on a blog titled Naked Pastor, "An Anti-Response to An Atheist", which is a response to my essay on Ebon Musings, "The Theist's Guide to Converting Atheists".
Below is the text of a comment I left on that site in response to the post and some other commenters [...]
- A Reply from Pete Stark
The Rotunda • March 27, 2007
A few days ago, I received the following letter from U.S. Representative Pete Stark's office in acknowledgement of the contribution I made to him:
These are wonderful sentiments that I can strongly support. I don't think there is any necessity for Rep. Stark to be modest - in the current political climate, it does take courage [...]
- Other Shores
The Observatory • March 26, 2007
When we were young, we looked up at the twinkling lights in the night sky and wondered. Most of them were immovable, fixed stars rising and setting in the same place every night as if pinned to the dome of the firmament. However, a very few of those lights were not so steady. Instead, they [...]
- Parenting Beyond Belief
The Garden • March 24, 2007
I have the privilege tonight of telling my readers about a wonderful project that's gotten me feeling very excited. The author Dale McGowan has edited a book of essays for parents on the topic of raising a child without religion, titled Parenting Beyond Belief, to be released next month.
This is a particularly important gap [...]
- Book Review: Survival of the Sickest
The Library • March 22, 2007
(Author's Note: The following review was solicited and is written in accordance with this site's policy for such reviews.)
Summary: A fast-paced, entertaining, informative account of how past evolution has shaped our current living conditions. Recommended - but with one major caveat.
One of the most common misconceptions about evolution is that it is a steady climb [...]
- For Your Consideration
The Foyer • March 20, 2007
Every so often I shake up my blogroll, removing inactive sites or ones I no longer read regularly, and adding sites I've recently discovered that interest me. In the past few weeks, I'm pleased to say I've come across a bumper crop of new atheist blogs, all of which look very promising and well-written. If [...]
- Pete Stark: The Reaction
The Rotunda • March 20, 2007
It has now been over a week since U.S. Representative Pete Stark announced his nontheism, and so far the reaction from the religious right has been surprisingly tepid. As far as I know, none of their heavyweights have responded - not frothing bigots like William Donohue, not advocates of intolerance like James Dobson, not the [...]
- CAP Alert Reviews III
The Rotunda • March 18, 2007
It occurred to me recently that I haven't done a post poking fun at the CAP Alert site in quite a while. Well, I intend to correct that oversight right now. For your entertainment, here are some of the more laughably bizarre reasons why the CAP reviewer saw fit to deduct points from various movies:
Dungeons [...]
- Improving on God's Handiwork
The Loft • March 16, 2007
"With every advance in our thought the unity of the creative act, and the impossibility of tinkering with the creation as though this or that element of it could have been removed, will become more apparent."
—C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
In the above quote, C.S. Lewis argued that even an infinitely powerful deity could not [...]
- The Secular Islam Summit
The Garden • March 14, 2007
I've recently been reading Karen Armstrong's A History of God, an enormously informative though often irritatingly naive account of the evolution of monotheism in the Abrahamic faiths. One thing that struck me while reading it is how religious grievances dating back centuries or even millennia continue to cause hatred, bloodshed, and violence today with virtually [...]
- New Guest Post on Dangerous Intersection
The Foyer • March 12, 2007
I have a new post now up on Dangerous Intersection, "Why I don't trust Hillary Clinton".
This is an open thread. Comments and discussion are welcome.
- The Congressional Nontheist Is Revealed
The Rotunda • March 12, 2007
Following up on my earlier post, the Secular Coalition for America has made good on its promise and has revealed the name of the first openly nontheistic member of the U.S. Congress: Democratic representative Pete Stark, a seventeen-term House member representing California's 13th district.
I didn't expect a nontheist to be a supporter of George [...]
- The Virtues: Be Humble
The Garden • March 10, 2007
The sixth of the Virtues is humility. In many religious traditions, humility is considered the very highest of virtues, and while I think it is an important and desirable quality to practice, I wouldn't go quite so far. Furthermore, as we'll see, my idea of what constitutes humility differs somewhat from the theistic view.
What [...]
- How Religions Are Born
The Loft • March 8, 2007
On Tuesday night, after watching the lottery drawing (I didn't win, alas - and I wished really hard for it, too!), I saw an ABC special about one José Luis de Jesus Miranda, a Puerto Rican man who has announced to the world that he is the second coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. [...]
- A Freethinker in Congress!
The Rotunda • March 6, 2007
A brief update to pass along an exciting e-mail alert I received last night from the Secular Coalition for America:
On Monday, March 12, the Secular Coalition for America, a national lobbying group representing Americans who do not hold a god-belief, will make history by announcing the name of the first open nontheist member of Congress.
Yes, [...]
- Book Update
The Foyer • March 6, 2007
In October of last year, I posed the question: Daylight Atheism: The Book?, on whether it would be worth the effort to try to compile some of my writings into a form suitable for publication. The response, to my delight, was overwhelmingly positive, and that response combined with other reasons convinced me that this was [...]
- The Harris-Sullivan Debate: III
The Library • March 5, 2007
In the previous exchange from their debate, Andrew Sullivan has declared that his faith in God is not based on any evidence whatsoever, and no imaginable evidence could cause him to change his mind about it. Sam Harris reacts with bemusement, as well he might:
I now feel like a tennis player, in mid-serve, who notices [...]
- Subduing the Earth
The Rotunda • March 4, 2007
Christianity's relationship with the environmental movement has always been a rocky one. While some groups of Christians view protecting the planet to be a sacred imperative, others - an alarmingly large number of others - believe that God gave us the Earth to use and exploit in any way we deem fit, and since Jesus [...]
- The Harris-Sullivan Debate: II
The Library • March 3, 2007
As the debate continues, Sam Harris responds to Andrew Sullivan's contention that many of the fundamentalists he knows are compassionate, caring people who do many selfless good deeds for others:
For instance, you claim that many fundamentalists are tolerant of dissent and capable of friendship with you despite their dogmatic views about sex. You also remind [...]
- The Tomb of Jesus?
The Observatory • March 1, 2007
The media has been abuzz lately over a Discovery Channel special about a tomb in Israel that, according to the show's producers, may once have contained the bones of Jesus Christ.
The tomb was discovered in 1980 during an archaeological excavation in Jerusalem. Inside, researchers found ten ossuaries - carved stone boxes used in many ancient [...]
