- How to Think Critically IV
The Observatory • November 30, 2007
Falsifiability and the Burden of Proof
"Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody [...]
- New Post on Dangerous Intersection
The Foyer • November 29, 2007
For those of you who are interested in this sort of thing, I have a new post up on Dangerous Intersection, "Joe Klein is not a journalist".
- Immanence
The Garden • November 28, 2007
Last month, while I was on vacation in Puerto Rico, I had a chance to visit the great radio observatory at Arecibo. That was one of the highlights of my trip, but there was another.
Puerto Rico has the only tropical rainforest in the United States national park system. On the northeast coast of the [...]
- Book Update
The Foyer • November 27, 2007
I've finished chapter 7 of my book. The chapter is titled "Shattering Stereotypes" and refutes some of the most widely held misconceptions about atheism. It draws on several posts from this site and essays from Ebon Musings, including "Red Crimes", "Turning Away Anger", and others.
As in the past, I'm making this chapter available to regular [...]
- On the Morality of: Prostitution
The Library • November 26, 2007
Today's installment of "On the Morality Of" concerns the topic of prostitution, and whether it should be legal. Would a perfect society permit this practice, or would it be banned under the law?
As I've said before, universal utilitarianism was intended to promote the happiness of all human beings, and no person can decide what makes [...]
- Open Thread: For Former Christians
The Foyer • November 24, 2007
I was asked to create this open thread in e-mail, and I'm doing so. From that e-mail:
I would like to have an open thread for people who have been Christians for a long time (preferably more than 10 years) and then decided it was not true to post their reasons for their decision. I think [...]
- Making Excuses for the Bible
The Loft • November 23, 2007
Via Elliptica, I came across a post titled Imprecations, exegesis, and hermeneutics on the blog Higgaion, written by a liberal Christian theologian. The post blasts Wiley Drake and his call for "imprecatory prayers", and argues that Drake has seriously misunderstood the verses he quotes in support of his beliefs.
Leaving that issue aside for now, Higgaion [...]
- On Gratitude
The Garden • November 21, 2007
This Thursday, November 22, is - at least for my American readers - the holiday of Thanksgiving. Despite the religious connotations that have been attached to this day since the beginning, I think this is a good holiday for atheists. It's one of the few whose message can be rendered in entirely secular terms. Thanksgiving [...]
- Probing the Prosperity Gospel
The Rotunda • November 20, 2007
I'm surprised that this story, "Going After the Money Ministries", hasn't gotten much attention on atheist blogs. Earlier this month, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Eddie Long, Joyce Meyer, and Paula White - six notorious televangelists who preach the "prosperity gospel" - received an ominous letter from Senator Chuck Grassley, ranking Republican member of [...]
- Deo Vindice!
The Library • November 19, 2007
Deo vindice!
[...]
- Poetry Sunday: Church Going
The Foyer • November 18, 2007
Today's edition of Poetry Sunday features the English poet and novelist Philip Larkin. Born in Coventry in 1922, Larkin received a degree in literature from Oxford in 1943. Though he worked for most of his life as a librarian at the University of Hull, he was well-known and widely acclaimed for his poetry and his [...]
- Calling the Earth to Witness
The Observatory • November 16, 2007
According to Buddhist tradition, the final stage of Prince Siddhartha Gautama's becoming the Buddha came after he had rejected the extremes of both luxury and asceticism in his quest for enlightenment. Sitting beneath a Bodhi tree in meditation, he vowed not to stir from that spot until he had found the answer to the problem [...]
- A Particular God
The Rotunda • November 15, 2007
Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars gives us the scoop on a California school district which voted to display posters declaring "In God We Trust" in every classroom in the district. Although one board member called the display a way of "promoting patriotism", a different quote indicates what the real intention is here:
The [...]
- Georgia's Rain Prayer Farce
The Rotunda • November 14, 2007
It may be the 21st century, but you wouldn't know it from stories like this:
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue stepped up to a podium outside the state Capitol on Tuesday and led a solemn crowd of several hundred people in a prayer for rain on his drought-stricken state.
"We've come together here simply for one reason and [...]
- Report from the Secular Society Conference: Day Three
The Foyer • November 12, 2007
The final day of The Secular Society and Its Enemies had three programs. The first, a panel titled "Secularism: The Next Generation", was moderated by Derek Araujo and featured several young freethinkers: Matt LaClair, whom I discussed previously; Sarah Stone, a student freethought organizer from Indiana; Mark Antony Smith, a CFI intern from Arizona; Justin [...]
- Report from the Secular Society Conference: Day Two
The Foyer • November 11, 2007
The second day of The Secular Society and Its Enemies was largely devoted to panel discussions. I mentioned yesterday that the conference site at the New York Academy of Sciences had some spectacular views of Ground Zero and lower Manhattan; here are a few of them I took that morning:
Looking down on Ground Zero.
Looking east [...]
- Report from the Secular Society Conference: Day One
The Foyer • November 10, 2007
I mentioned back in October that this weekend I'd be attending The Secular Society and Its Enemies, the 2007 conference of the Center for Inquiry. I didn't get to post my report on the first day of the conference yesterday (since it finished rather late), so I'll do that now. My report on today's events [...]
- Advice to an Atheist
The Garden • November 9, 2007
A few days ago, I had an e-mail query from an atheist looking for advice. I answered him as best as I was able, but his was a question that I think could benefit from some additional perspectives. With my correspondent's permission, I'm reprinting his query below. If you were in his situation, what would [...]
- Flickers of Conscience
The Library • November 7, 2007
One year ago this month, I posted an essay titled "A Seriously Warped Moral Compass". In it, I highlighted the disturbing tendency of religious beliefs to twist and distort a person's conscience to the point where they accept terrible evils as just acts, and, conversely, elevate harmless actions to the height of wickedness and sin. [...]
- The Exploitation of Antony Flew
The Rotunda • November 6, 2007
Have you heard the shocking news? The world's most notorious atheist has converted!
No, it's not Richard Dawkins.
Or Sam Harris.
Or Christopher Hitchens.
Or Dan Barker.
Or Michael Newdow.
Or Julia Sweeney.
No, this world-famous, notorious atheist convert is the philosopher Antony Flew.
If you're wondering, "Who?", you're probably not alone. Antony Flew is a British philosopher, now retired and of advanced [...]
- Open Thread: Christianity and the Enlightenment
The Foyer • November 6, 2007
This is an open thread to address John's comment regarding Christianity and the origins of the Enlightenment. Comments and replies are welcome.
- A Note on the IIDB Situation
The Foyer • November 5, 2007
There are many reasons why I didn't want to write this post. Unfortunately, they are outweighed by the reasons why I did have to write it. A serious wrong has been done to a friend of mine, a once-thriving atheist community has been mortally wounded by an unaccountable few whose actions reflect poorly on the [...]
- Little-Known Bible Verses VII: Iron Chariots
The Library • November 4, 2007
One of the core beliefs of Judaism and Christianity is that God is omnipotent, able to do anything that is logically possible. But surprisingly, the Bible does not consistently support this idea. I've already written about the Tower of Babel, in which the Old Testament God appears to worry that humans will overmatch him if [...]
- The Last Battlefield
The Rotunda • November 2, 2007
Back in September, the blogger Riverbend - the thoughtful, eloquent young Iraqi woman who authors the blog Baghdad Burning - left Iraq along with her family. After four years of writing from a first-hand perspective about the chaos and violence that the U.S. occupation has unleashed on her country, Riverbend and her family finally decided [...]
