- The Happiness Machine
The Library • February 27, 2009
As any regular reader of Daylight Atheism knows, the topic of morality is a major concern of mine. In essays on Ebon Musings, I've sketched out a secular moral theory I call universal utilitarianism. Here on this site, In the past, I've written about the roots of this morality and the virtues that can be [...]
- The Contributions of Freethinkers: Ann Dunham
The Rotunda • February 25, 2009
Past entries in "The Contributions of Freethinkers" have discussed nonbelievers and dissenters whose lives made a direct and lasting impact on the world in any number of ways: in politics, in science, in the arts and culture. But it's worth remembering that sometimes - in fact, often - our greatest effects on the world are [...]
- Mental Slavery and Creeping Atheism
The Garden • February 23, 2009
Evangelical pastor Ray Stedman knows the root cause of everything that's wrong with the world:
It is not nationalism, it is not racism... it is the human heart. It is the pride of man that fancies he can get along without God.
But not to worry, because he advises us how we can conquer this obstacle. To [...]
- Poetry Sunday: The Poet in the Desert
The Foyer • February 22, 2009
Today's Poetry Sunday introduces a new poet: the freethinker, civil libertarian, and Renaissance man extraordinaire, Charles Erskine Scott Wood.
Born in 1852, Wood graduated from West Point in 1874 and served as an infantry officer in western campaigns, including the Nez Perce War. He was present at the surrender of Chief Joseph and transcribed (or possibly [...]
- The Sewers of Hate
The Rotunda • February 21, 2009
Last week, James Adkisson was sentenced to life in prison. Adkisson was the right-wing terrorist who went on an armed rampage against the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist church in Knoxville last July, killing two parishioners, Greg McKendry and Linda Kraeger. He had intended to kill many more, but the people of the congregation, showing uncommon [...]
- Announcing the AHS
The Foyer • February 20, 2009
I'm pleased to announce the launch of the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies, an umbrella organization representing freethinking student groups from schools and universities throughout the United Kingdom. Similar to the U.S. Secular Student Alliance, the AHS will do the vital work of organizing nonbelievers where it's most important - among [...]
- The Amorphous Enemy
The Loft • February 19, 2009
In a previous post, "The Soft Landing", I wrote about the future and about one potential scenario that I find disturbing: that militant, fundamentalist churches will grow at the expense of moderate and liberal ones, leaving behind a world split between atheism and angry, intolerant religion. In this post, I'll again look to the future, [...]
- Little-Known Bible Verses XII: Communism
The Library • February 17, 2009
"Atheism and communism always seem to go hand in hand," begins a letter to the editor I recently found through a Google alert. And though the fear of communism has died down since the crumbling of the Soviet Union, the prejudice that this writer was parroting has affected our politics for decades.
In the Cold War, [...]
- The Liberty to Blaspheme
The Rotunda • February 15, 2009
Considering how often I've written about this topic in the past, I had some reluctance to return to it, fearing I wouldn't have anything new or unique to say this time around. But the right of free speech is once again under assault, and whenever that happens, I believe friends of liberty around the world [...]
- Love Is No Sin
The Garden • February 14, 2009
In Second Corinthians, the Bible contains a widely cited teaching against interfaith relationships:
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? ...Wherefore come out from [...]
- Bands of Iron
The Observatory • February 13, 2009
On a wintry day late last year, I visited the Museum of Natural History in New York City. While touring the geology wing, I came across this boulder-sized chunk of a rock formation:
A banded iron formation from the geology exhibit of the Museum of Natural History. Photo credit to Erich Vieth.
It was out in the [...]
- Forms and Essences
The Observatory • February 11, 2009
In the past, I've written about the origins of religion and how belief in gods likely arises from one of humanity's most common psychological fallacies, the tendency to attribute agency where none exists. (When was the last time you got angry at your computer and felt as if it was trying to balk you? It [...]
- Daylight Atheism: Anniversary #3
The Foyer • February 10, 2009
Oh yes - it's that time again. As difficult as it is for me to believe, today officially makes it three years I've been writing for Daylight Atheism.
This past year has been the most eventful one yet. I finished writing my first book; met a fellow freethinker in an unlikely setting; was attacked by a [...]
- The Renaissance of Atheist Evangelism
The Garden • February 9, 2009
In one of my first posts on Daylight Atheism, I asked whether atheists should evangelize. My conclusion was that, while it would be foolish to go door-to-door on Sunday or pass out fliers on street corners, we can and should appear in forums like TV, radio and print media to press our case before the [...]
- From the Mailbag: Weekend Kookery Edition
The Foyer • February 7, 2009
The last time I did a post like this, it was to share some of the more uplifting and inspiring e-mails I received. This one is headed in a different direction. Here, for your reading pleasure and amusement, enjoy this selection of kookery culled from e-mails I've gotten, as well as the occasional preaching comment [...]
- Who Wants to Live Forever?
The Loft • February 6, 2009
Last month's post "On Cryonics" outlined why I'm skeptical of that transhumanist doctrine. In today's post, I want to discuss more directly the goal which advocates of cryonics hope to attain - the achievement of immortality through technology that gives us the ability to halt or reverse the aging process.
In this case, my objection [...]
- Full Faith and Credit
The Rotunda • February 4, 2009
Why don't we already have gay marriage in all of America?
I mean this as a simple question of law, not a matter of fundamental rights or justice. The reason I ask is because we already have legally recognized gay marriage in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and because Article IV of the U.S. Constitution contains the following [...]
- Answering Lee Strobel's Questions for Atheists
The Library • February 2, 2009
Friendly Atheist has posted the third part of a dialogue with Christian apologist Lee Strobel. In it, Strobel poses questions that he thinks would be the most effective at planting seeds of faith in an atheist's mind. In this post, I'll answer those questions. I've written on some of these issues at greater length in [...]
