- The Desert V
The Loft • October 31, 2007
(Author's Note: "The Desert" is a work of short fiction in several parts. If you haven't already done so, now would be a good time to go back and read the previous chapters so that you know what's going on.)
V: Epilogue
It seemed like ages ago that I had set out from my home, and the [...]
- Fragile Trappings
The Garden • October 29, 2007
I stepped out of my house today on a chilly fall afternoon. After an unseasonably late warm spell, as if summer had lingered this year past its appointed time, autumn had arrived at last. The feel of the season was in the air: the misty cool, the forests defiantly ablaze with fiery color, the smell [...]
- Emptying the Haunted Air
The Observatory • October 27, 2007
Almost two hundred years ago, the English Romantic poet John Keats wrote a poem, "Lamia", in which he lamented that the advance of scientific understanding would rob the world of its beauty and wonder. Keats' chief villain, though not named in the poem, was Isaac Newton, whose use of the prism to split white light [...]
- CAP Alert Reviews IV
The Rotunda • October 25, 2007
Recently, while I was looking over my list of especially ridiculous items culled from the CAP Alert site, I noticed an interesting trend. Namely, many elements of movies which the CAP reviewer condemns can also be found in the Bible. Consider the following examples:
The 13th Warrior: "'Your fate is fixed'"
Romans 9:21: "Hath not the potter [...]
- Optimistic Populism
The Loft • October 23, 2007
In the comments of my recent post "On Atheist Janitors", I was accused of being naive for my belief in the possibility of a truly just and prosperous state:
I wasn't even going to address Ebon's utopian comments on how we should ensure a minimum income for everyone on a full time job sufficient to travel [...]
- I Don't Like to Brag...
The Foyer • October 22, 2007
...and I also wouldn't normally use this blog to inflict personal photos on you all, especially vacation photos.
But today I'm going to make an exception to both rules.
Anyone care to guess where I was last week?
Yes, you guessed it: after a three-hour plane flight and a two-hour drive along narrow, winding backcountry roads, I arrived [...]
- Popular Delusions VII: Alien Abduction
The Observatory • October 21, 2007
Back in August, in "Some Thoughts on Fermi's Paradox", I proposed some explanations for why there's no evidence of intelligent alien species. But I left out what seems like the most obvious explanation of all: they do exist, and they're already here.
This may well be the most popular answer. To judge by polls like this [...]
- A World in Shadow V
The Library • October 19, 2007
A while back, I came across the moving story of an individual calling himself Real Live Preacher, whose faith was shattered when he saw a young mother die while working as a hospital chaplain:
30 something. Cute. New mother with two little kids. Breast cancer. Found it too late. Spread all over. Absolutely going to die.
Jenny [...]
- On God's Goodness
The Library • October 17, 2007
It has often been pointed out, by myself and by other atheists, that the traditional monotheistic religions depict God as acting in shockingly violent and cruel ways on numerous occasions. Despite the texts that say this, every week millions of believers attend church where they pray prayers and sing hymns that praise God's infinite love, [...]
- The Cure for Cancer! (Cure Not Included)
The Observatory • October 15, 2007
The other day, I received a jaw-dropping piece of spam e-mail:
The Detox Box is a remarkable device that uses frequencies to destroy toxins in the body. It's similar to how a singer can hit a note and shatter a wine glass.
According to the e-mail, this marvelous machine is based on the ideas of one Dr. [...]
- Poetry Sunday: Dirge Without Music
The Foyer • October 14, 2007
Today's edition of Poetry Sunday features another freethinking poet of the 20th century, the American playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay. Joseph Parisi's 100 Essential Modern Poets calls her "glamorous and bold", and notes that she was known "as much for her unconventional lifestyle as for her gift for poetry". Millay was the first woman to [...]
- Is America a Christian Nation?
The Rotunda • October 13, 2007
A frequent refrain among the religious right is that the United States of America is a "Christian nation", or that this country was founded on Christian principles. However, I've never seen any religious apologist explain what exactly this is supposed to mean beyond making the mere statement. If this nation was founded on Christian principles, [...]
- A Change in the Wind
The Rotunda • October 11, 2007
Via Orcinus, a truly incredible story about the latest survey to come out of the Barna Group, whose title is "A New Generation Expresses its Skepticism and Frustration with Christianity".
Over the last decade or so, the religious right has exercised virtually untrammeled power in America. They've commanded the allegiance of a majority of the population [...]
- Inexplicable Justice
The Library • October 10, 2007
"Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mold me Man? Did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me, or here place
In this delicious Garden? As my will
Concurred not to my being, it were but right
And equal to reduce me to my dust,
Desirous to resign and render back
All I received, unable to perform
Thy term too [...]
- Armor of God
The Rotunda • October 9, 2007
"Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil... Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith..."
—Ephesians [...]
- On Branding
The Garden • October 8, 2007
There's been another kerfuffle in the atheist community, and for once, it wasn't caused by someone telling us that we need to pipe down and stop attacking religion. This time, surprisingly, the instigator was Sam Harris - who argued at the Atheist Alliance International Convention 2007 that we should stop calling ourselves "atheists". Hemant of [...]
- The Desert IV
The Loft • October 6, 2007
(Author's Note: "The Desert" is a work of short fiction in several parts. If you haven't already done so, now would be a good time to go back and read the previous chapters so that you know what's going on.)
IV: The Visionary
The faint path I had been following through the desert had long since petered [...]
- Finding Our Voice
The Garden • October 4, 2007
Last year, in a series of posts titled "The Quiet Revolution", I observed that atheists were in many ways making inroads into society beneath the gaze of the media. But that quiet revolution, I'm most happy to say, is becoming increasingly noisy. More and more lately, I see atheists and atheist groups who are willing [...]
- Book Update
The Foyer • October 3, 2007
I'm pleased to announce I've finished the sixth chapter of my book, which lays out the case for atheism as a positive worldview. This chapter draws on my essay "Life of Wonder" on Ebon Musings and from several posts from the Garden here on Daylight Atheism.
I think you all know the drill by now. Who's [...]
- On Atheist Janitors
The Garden • October 2, 2007
I recently received an e-mail which asked me if I believe that atheism is a worldview that anyone can take up, or whether the majority of society needs religion to keep them happy and pacified:
The question at the heart of the debate is: does the average Jacques need religion in his life? I am familiar [...]
- The Secular Society and Its Enemies
The Foyer • October 1, 2007
Just a quick note to announce that I'll be attending The Secular Society and Its Enemies, a conference sponsored by the Center for Inquiry that will take place in New York City the weekend of November 9. I'm already looking forward to the event - CFI has lined up a top-notch slate of speakers, including [...]
