- TV Review: Planet Earth
The Observatory • March 31, 2008
I recently finished watching Planet Earth, the award-winning BBC nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough. As its title implies, Planet Earth is an effort of considerable ambition: the filmmakers set out to produce a series that would provide a survey of our world's natural grandeur and biodiversity. To a remarkable extent, I think they [...]
- The Keyhole
The Loft • March 30, 2008
For much of human history, information was a rare and precious commodity. In pre-literate societies, the collected wisdom of the tribe - when the rains come, when is the best time to plant crops, what plants are best for illness - was passed down in oral format, requiring much diligent work of recitation and memorization. [...]
- Little-Known Bible Verses VIII: Priestly Celibacy
The Library • March 28, 2008
Today's edition of "Little-Known Bible Verses" is specific to the Roman Catholic denomination of Christianity. This is because, of all major Western denominations, Roman Catholicism is the only church that still requires that its clergy members remain celibate. The Catholic church to this day believes that this is a biblically supportable doctrine. But in fact, [...]
- Thoughts on the Expelled Affair
The Observatory • March 27, 2008
By now, I assume, the entire blogosphere has heard about the public-relations fiasco which the producers of the creationist film Expelled have brought upon themselves. If you haven't, here's a brief rundown: last week, everyone's favorite fire-breathing atheist blogger and biology professor, P.Z. Myers, went to see an advance screening of the film. It seems [...]
- Belaboring the Obvious
The Garden • March 26, 2008
When it comes to theist-atheist debates, one sentiment I hear frequently is that there's no point arguing either side of the controversy, because no one's mind is ever changed by such arguments. Last summer, in "Be Hot or Cold", I pointed out two reviewers who both dragged out exactly this same assertion in response to [...]
- The Good Book?
The Library • March 24, 2008
Recently, an offended Christian left this comment on my satirical post "Footprints":
Call me close-minded, but am I the only one who looks at the whole text of Scripture, and not just the parts that deal with eternal damnation?
Because, if we're playing a game where we take the Holy Word of God out of context, I [...]
- Do You Really Believe That? (V)
The Observatory • March 23, 2008
Anointing the Sick
The New Testament's Book of James gives some very unusual instructions on how to treat illness:
"Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the [...]
- Book Update
The Foyer • March 22, 2008
I've finished chapter 9 of my book, which is titled "Stardust" and concerns how we should handle death from an atheist viewpoint. As in the past, I'm making this chapter available to regular commenters on this site for editorial review and critique. If you fit that description and would like to review it, please let [...]
- Three Objections to Objectivism
The Rotunda • March 21, 2008
I recently finished reading Ayn Rand's The Virtue of Selfishness, and I wanted to offer some comments on her moral philosophy.
There are several good reasons why I ought to like Ayn Rand. She was an atheist, and proudly so, and argued for the supremacy of reason as the only valid way of knowing. I agree [...]
- Atheists at 75%?
The Rotunda • March 19, 2008
Not in the general population, alas. But a poll in a recent front-page post at Daily Kos, Hobbits 2.0?, had some stunning numbers:
The poll was about which viewpoint best fits the site contributors' positions on human evolution, with four options corresponding to young-earth creationism, old-earth creationism, theistic evolution, and non-theistic evolution (i.e., no god involved). [...]
- De-Mystification
The Garden • March 18, 2008
Inspired by a good post on Spanish Inquisitor, as well as a similarly good post by Greta Christina (the atheistic stars have aligned!), I had some thoughts about the role of mysticism in religion, especially as it relates to sex.
Freethinkers should be working to disseminate accurate information about sex, of course - information on how [...]
- Chris Hedges the Nihilist
The Rotunda • March 17, 2008
Earlier this month, I chastised the theologian John Haught for falsely claiming that atheism leads to nihilism. Now the journalist Chris Hedges has launched his own attack on modern atheists, and the bizarre part is that he attacks us for possessing precisely the opposite failing: because, in his eyes, atheism does not lead to nihilism, [...]
- Poetry Sunday: Robinson Jeffers
The Foyer • March 16, 2008
This month's Poetry Sunday features two poems by Robinson Jeffers, an American poet of the early twentieth century. Born 1887 in Pennsylvania, Jeffers was the son of a Presbyterian minister who taught his son Latin and Greek. Nevertheless, Jeffers did not follow in his father's footsteps. Rather than theology, he became enthralled at a young [...]
- Magic Spell Jesus
The Loft • March 14, 2008
A few weeks back, I was looking through my traffic logs and found someone who came across my article "The Power of Christ Compels You" via the following Google search:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=applying+the+blood+of+jesus+against+evil+people
I'm guessing my article wasn't what this person was looking for, so I ran the search myself and found the following essay: How to Plead the [...]
- The Million-Dollar Challenge Ends
The Observatory • March 13, 2008
Some news from earlier this year you might have missed: James Randi is officially ending his million-dollar challenge to those who claim they have psychic or supernatural powers. The challenge will be offered for two more years, and assuming no one succeeds and claims the money, will be terminated in March 2010.
It's not hard [...]
- Delusions of Persecution
The Rotunda • March 12, 2008
Late last year on Freethought Radio, Dan and Annie Laurie played a remarkable clip from James Dobson, talking on his own radio show about their program:
The problem is that the Christian ethic is literally hanging by a thread. I heard just a few weeks ago that Air America, the very leftist radio entity... have come [...]
- New Post on Dangerous Intersection
The Foyer • March 11, 2008
I've written a new post on Dangerous Intersection, "John McCain bribes the media; the media accepts". Here's an excerpt:
In some of my previous posts both here on Dangerous Intersection and on Daylight Atheism, I’ve done my best to call attention to the corrupt, degraded state of most of today’s major news-gathering organizations. But a story [...]
- The Scars of Evolution
The Observatory • March 10, 2008
Human beings, like all other species on this planet, have a history. We came into existence through a process of slow, grinding trial-and-error, occurring over geological time via the sieve of differential survival. And like all species, our bodies and our genes reflect and bear witness to that history. Far from being perfect, one-time creations, [...]
- Self-Correction
The Library • March 8, 2008
Last month, in "The Aura of Infallibility", I talked about how some religious believers declare themselves and their beliefs to be infallible in order to ward off the frightening possibility of having to decide what is true. This is, obviously, a futile tactic. We can proclaim ourselves to be immune to error as often as [...]
- The Blessed Legion
The Loft • March 7, 2008
"The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! Good were it for that man if he had never been born."
—Mark 14:21
C.S. Lewis' book The Screwtape Letters takes the form of a series of letters, exchanged between a senior [...]
- Open Thread: On Anarchism
The Foyer • March 5, 2008
This is an open thread to hold the discussion split off from the "On Amateur Atheism" thread. Comments and replies welcome.
- Expanding the Secular Community
The Garden • March 5, 2008
In a world of hostile religious believers, a lone atheist is a target. Vjack of the always superb Atheist Revolution provides a chilling example, an atheist family in rural Pennsylvania who incurred severe harassment and reprisal from their believing neighbors after they complained about blatant religious indoctrination in the local public school, culminating with them [...]
- Images of Mohammed
The Rotunda • March 3, 2008
This is an image of the Muslim prophet Mohammed:
So's this:
And also this:
I bring this up because, as you might have guessed, free speech and Islam are again in the news. Last month, over a dozen Danish newspapers reprinted one of the twelve drawings of Mohammed that caused such a furor after they were first published [...]
- Further Thoughts on John Haught
The Library • March 2, 2008
Since the comment thread for my post "On Amateur Atheism" has sparked a lively debate, I looked around on the internet earlier today for some further explanation of John Haught's views. I found them in this Salon interview, and I'd like to offer some further comments on the theology outlined therein.
One of Haught's major points [...]
- On "Amateur" Atheism
The Library • March 1, 2008
This week, the Christian Century published an article by the Catholic theologian John Haught, titled "Amateur atheists: Why the new atheism isn't serious".
Before I say anything more, I want to acknowledge that John Haught is not the real enemy. He testified for the side of the plaintiffs in the Kitzmiller v. Dover intelligent design [...]
