- The Humanist Symposium: Inaugural Edition
The Garden • April 29, 2007
It is a brilliant spring morning, and the first-ever gathering of the Humanist Symposium has convened here in the Garden at Daylight Atheism. The crowd of attendees has gathered in a natural clearing delineated at one end by a vast, ancient oak, its upper branches dappled gold in the sun, great weather-worn stones embedded in [...]
- Illuminated History
The Loft • April 27, 2007
The further back we go in time, the more of human history recedes into the mists of ignorance. A scant few centuries ago, before the invention of the printing press, books were a rare and expensive luxury. Further back beyond that, we have only the word of a few chroniclers, passed down and recopied through [...]
- The Milgram Obedience Experiment
The Observatory • April 25, 2007
Stanley Milgram. "Behavioral study of obedience." Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, vol. 67, no.4 (1963), p.371-378.
In the 1960s, Stanley Milgram conducted one of the most important experiments ever done in the field of human psychology and social conformity. For ethical reasons, this study probably could not be repeated today, but that only makes it [...]
- Some Items of Note
The Foyer • April 23, 2007
Following my earlier announcement, I'm now very pleased to announce that the Humanist Symposium now has hosts for its first seven editions, up through September 2. My sincere gratitude goes out to everyone who stepped up to volunteer!
Also, the carnival home page, linked above, now offers some graphic logos thanks to Intergalactic Hussy, proprietor [...]
- A World in Shadow IV
The Library • April 23, 2007
In an e-mail conversation I had a few weeks ago, a theist visitor attempted to answer my argument on the problem of evil by comparing God to parents who let their children learn from work and life experience, rather than trying to shelter them from all possible harm.
My parents have money, they could have written [...]
- Some Words on Exploiting Tragedy
The Rotunda • April 21, 2007
In the wake of the recent horrible tragedy at Virginia Tech, where a mentally disturbed student named Cho-Seung Hui murdered 27 students and five faculty members before taking his own life, a shocked nation has struggled to understand. There has been agonized debate over what could have caused this young man to commit such a [...]
- Not for the Love of Money
The Loft • April 19, 2007
This month I've written two posts condemning the get-rich-quick, get-everything-for-nothing mentality prominent both in evangelical Christianity (The Root of All Evil) and in New Ageism (The Secret). (It occurs to me that this is April - tax month, for us Americans - and though I didn't intend these posts to appear during this month, the [...]
- New Book Reviews on Dangerous Intersection and Ebon Musings
The Foyer • April 18, 2007
I've posted a new blog entry at Dangerous Intersection, a book review of Peter Galbraith's The End of Iraq. Galbraith's book deals with the chaos the American invasion has unleashed and argues that the only feasible solution remaining is to partition Iraq into three states.
Also, I'm pleased to announce that while I personally remain on [...]
- An Address to Hispanic Freethinkers
The Rotunda • April 17, 2007
This year, I made a New Year's resolution to learn Spanish. In a world of many cultures, I've always felt somewhat embarrassed that I never learned to speak another language, and with the increasing influence of Hispanic people and culture in the United States, Spanish was a rational choice. Both while going to graduate school [...]
- Through a Glass, Brightly
The Garden • April 16, 2007
In past posts such as last December's "The Theodicy of Narnia", I've called attention to some of the unintentionally revealing comments that famous theists have made about their own belief systems. C.S. Lewis, for example, wrote whole books to defend the thesis that God's existence is compatible with pain and suffering, but when it came [...]
- Book Update
The Foyer • April 16, 2007
I'm pleased to announce that I've finished the first chapter of the book I've been working on. (Actually it's been finished for over a week - my apologies for procrastinating on the announcement.) Although this chapter has taken almost a month to write, it will probably end up being the one with the most original [...]
- Et Tu, Chris Mooney?
The Rotunda • April 15, 2007
Last year, I read and greatly enjoyed Chris Mooney's The Republican War on Science as an invaluable exposition of the harm that ideologically driven antiscience has done to the state of scientific knowledge in this country. But to my great distress, he has taken a turn toward the dark side. In a column published this [...]
- The Root of All Evil
The Rotunda • April 14, 2007
One of the more bizarre offshoots of fundamentalist Christianity that has been making headway in recent years is the "prosperity gospel", also called the "Word of Faith" movement. Devotees of this theology believe that God, far from the dour, gloomy Puritan deity who expected people to deprive themselves in this life to be rewarded in [...]
- Bright Machines
The Loft • April 12, 2007
One of the more important consequences of our society's biblical illiteracy is that many people continue to believe in the Bible only because they think it is a far better book than it actually is. For example, consider this comment from Greta Christina's Blog, in which an offended Christian denies that the New Testament says [...]
- Book/Movie Review: The Secret
The Observatory • April 10, 2007
Lately, The Secret - a movie and its companion book produced by Rhonda Byrne - have been burning up the bestseller lists and have attracted endorsements from influential celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey. Marketed in the self-help genre, it promises viewers the key to achieving all their life goals through the power of positive thinking. [...]
- Announcing the Humanist Symposium
The Foyer • April 9, 2007
Welcome, friends, well-wishers and regular readers! I have something to tell you all about which I'm very excited. There's an issue that I've been mulling over for some time, and tonight I intend to announce its resolution.
Specifically, I've been thinking about carnivals. The Carnival of the Godless, founded in March 2005 by Brent Rasmussen of [...]
- The Bible Is Not a Book of Love
The Library • April 8, 2007
I have been thinking lately about the Christian symbol of the crucifix. It is almost always seen in settings that attempt to create a mood of peace, calm and serenity: on the walls of churches, in the patients' rooms in Catholic-run hospitals, in funeral parlors and cemeteries, to name a few.
The ubiquity and familiarity of [...]
- Rebuking the Devil
The Observatory • April 6, 2007
I have written several times in the past about how religious superstition, when it is taken seriously, causes harm and suffering to real people by dissuading them from seeking the evidence-based treatments they need. But a new story from the March 31 edition of Newsday, Trying to change minds in the Congo, is one of [...]
- On Atheist Fundamentalism
The Rotunda • April 4, 2007
There has been something of a spat lately in the atheist blogosphere, due to an announcement from Greg Epstein, the humanist chaplain at Harvard. Epstein and the Harvard Humanist Chaplaincy are sponsoring an event to, in their own words, "take on... atheist 'fundamentalists'" such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, and promote the value of [...]
- A Passionate Atheism
The Garden • April 3, 2007
The new generation of bold and outspoken atheists, including Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, are making waves in society with numerous media appearances, a welcome change of pace from the media's previous policy of steadfast refusal to cover freethought and nonbelief. (Some things are slower to change than others - despite Time Newsweek's praiseworthy coverage [...]
- Book Review: The God Part of the Brain
The Library • April 1, 2007
(Author's Note: The following review was solicited and is written in accordance with this site's policy for such reviews.)
Summary: Contains many interesting ideas, but the informed reader will find much to take issue with.
Atheist Matthew Alper's The God Part of the Brain seeks to explain the religiosity of humankind in terms of human evolution and [...]
