- Spread the Wealth: Further Thoughts on Capitalism
The Loft • August 31, 2008
In his 1651 book Leviathan, the Enlightenment political theorist Thomas Hobbes wrote that in the uncivilized, lawless state of nature, the life of humankind was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". Even in Hobbes' own day, when a relative degree of civilization had been achieved, there was considerable truth to this. But in just the [...]
- On Christian Hypocrites
The Loft • August 29, 2008
Anyone who's familiar with Christianity knows that, in the last few decades alone, the Christian church has seen an astounding number of its powerful preachers exposed as blatant hypocrites. The most famous example, of course, is Ted Haggard, former president of the National Association of Evangelicals and a fervent opponent of gay marriage, who fell [...]
- Why I'm Donating to Kay Hagan
The Rotunda • August 28, 2008
In case you haven't heard, Kay Hagan is the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina, running against Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole. Yesterday, Dole and her staff put out a press release attacking Hagan... for planning to attend a fundraiser held by atheists. (HT: Friendly Atheist).
According to Dole's press release:
"Kay Hagan does [...]
- How to Think Critically VIII: Mill's Methods
The Observatory • August 27, 2008
Today's post on critical thinking concerns the five principles collectively known as Mill's methods, first presented together in 1843 by the Enlightenment philosopher John Stuart Mill in his book A System of Logic. Each of them is intended to illuminate the flow of causality in a different way, giving us mental tools to link causes [...]
- On the Morality of: Torture
The Library • August 26, 2008
Thanks to revelations that the U.S. government has been using torture techniques such as waterboarding on people it suspects of being terrorists, this post is overdue. I find it unbelievable that, in the year 2008, it's actually a point of contention whether torture should be legal or not.
Discussions of this issue in the media [...]
- Advice to an Atheist
The Garden • August 24, 2008
I recently received an e-mail from an atheist who's grappling with what I imagine is a common dilemma. I offered some advice, but I wouldn't presume to think that my suggestions are definitive. I'm curious to see what Daylight Atheism commenters have to say:
I realize that you don't run an advice column, or anything like [...]
- Imaginary Virtues
The Garden • August 22, 2008
In last month's "Imaginary Crimes", I wrote about the fictitious offenses invented by religion to fill people with guilt and shame. But there's something even worse to write about. The flip side of having imaginary crimes is having imaginary virtues - people who believe themselves to be good and decent based solely on their ability [...]
- Sunrise at Dover Beach
The Garden • August 20, 2008
The sea is calm tonight,
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night air!
I was originally going to post the poem "Dover Beach", by the Victorian [...]
- No Religious Exemptions from Discrimination Laws
The Rotunda • August 19, 2008
Via ABC, this good news: the California Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that doctors cannot deny patients medical care on religious grounds. The case involved two Christian doctors, working at a fertility clinic, who had refused to perform artificial insemination on a lesbian:
Guadalupe Benitez, now 36, had maintained that the California medical clinic that was [...]
- Speak Boldly
The Garden • August 18, 2008
This weekend, I came across an outstanding editorial by the British journalist Johann Hari, "We should never pulp books out of fear of fanatics". It opens by describing "the story of a novel you cannot read":
The Jewel of Medina was written by a journalist called Sherry Jones. It recounts the life of Aisha, a girl [...]
- Run Your Car on Water! (No, Not Really)
The Observatory • August 16, 2008
The other day, I came across a pseudoscience site so laughably ridiculous I just had to share it:
http://www.runyourcaronwater.com/
(Warning: Page has sound.)
As the URL indicates, the unknown people behind this site are selling a kit which they claim will enable you to turn your car into a "water-burning hybrid" that can use ordinary tap water as [...]
- Some More Good News
The Rotunda • August 14, 2008
After the welcome news of the UC-Calvary lawsuit's dismissal, I'm happy to say I have two other pieces of good news to report on this week:
• The Alberta Human Rights Commission, a group of petty bureaucrats who make it their mission to censor people's thoughts, has dismissed the charges against Ezra Levant that I wrote [...]
- The UC-Calvary Lawsuit Concluded
The Rotunda • August 13, 2008
This past April, I posted an update on the UC-Calvary lawsuit that I first discussed in February 2006. I have another update to report, and I'm happy to say it's very good news indeed.
As you'll recall, the private Calvary Chapel Christian School sued the University of California in a bid to force UC to grant [...]
- Book Update
The Foyer • August 12, 2008
I apologize for it having taken this long, but I have important news to report: I've finished editing the complete rough draft of my book, and I think it's now in a form ready for publication. If you've read any of the chapters so far and would like to see the complete draft, e-mail me [...]
- In Praise of Judicial Activism
The Rotunda • August 11, 2008
In Federalist no.10, James Madison wrote a famous passage about how a democratic republic must watch for the danger of becoming a "dictatorship of the majority":
Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the friends of public and private faith, and of public and personal liberty, that our governments are too [...]
- Poetry Sunday: Ozymandias
The Foyer • August 10, 2008
Today's Poetry Sunday features one of the classics of Western literature, written by one of its greatest and most fearlessly freethinking poets. Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in 1792 and wrote at the zenith of the English Romantic period. In 1811, while enrolled at Oxford, Shelley and his fellow student T.J. Hogg published a pamphlet [...]
- Black Magic for Fun and Profit
The Observatory • August 8, 2008
A few months ago, I signed up for the mailing list of a site that has the chutzpah to call itself "Real Magic Spells". Practically every single day since, I've gotten a highly entertaining e-mail from the site's proprietor, one Frank Stevens, who endlessly boasts about how he's the real deal, how his voodoo spells [...]
- Morality Is Not By Fiat
The Library • August 6, 2008
A few weeks back, I came across a charmingly nasty site called "Christian Cross Talk" whose author devoted his every entry to explaining in depth how and why he hates atheists and blames us for every problem in society. (Sadly, the site has apparently disappeared in the interim, or I'd give a link.) One of [...]
- On Desecration
The Loft • August 4, 2008
I've resisted commenting on this until now, but I have to give in. I'm sure you've all heard the story of Webster Cook, an unsuspecting college student who got himself into a great deal of trouble because he took a consecrated communion wafer home with him from church rather than eating it. On cue, professional [...]
- A Moment of Levity
The Loft • August 3, 2008
I usually talk about heavy subjects on this weblog, but sometimes it's nice to shift gears and have a laugh. Here's one of my favorites, from an old post on the Usenet newsgroup alt.atheism:
While on a business trip to Rome, the CEO of Tyson Foods manages to be granted an audience with the Pope at [...]
- Words That Burn
The Library • August 1, 2008
The winter of 1777-1778 was a bad time for the American revolutionary army. General George Washington had encamped his army at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania - an excellent position tactically, but a source of terrible misery and suffering for his weary, poorly equipped troops. The Continental Army was assailed by bitter cold and plagued by chronic [...]
