- The Case for a Creator: The God Generator
The Observatory • October 30, 2009
The Case for a Creator, Chapter 6
For those who accept the premises of the cosmological fine-tuning argument - that the physical laws of the universe could have been different, and that there's only a small prior probability they would have taken on the values to produce intelligent beings - there are two possible explanations. One [...]
- Maybe Jesus Will Save Us After All
The Loft • October 28, 2009
By Sarah Braasch
I think I destroyed someone's faith yesterday. Or, in truth, I think I may have struck the definitive blow. This doesn't bother me. Unlike what many atheists espouse, for fear of being labeled evangelical proselytizers of disbelief, I actively seek the de-conversion of humanity. I actively seek to destroy religion. Not spirituality, but [...]
- Weekly Link Roundup
The Foyer • October 27, 2009
Here are a few edifying, inspiring, or (alas) infuriating stories that are making the rounds this week:
• First up, this truly outstanding piece from Wired on the anti-vaccination movement, An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All. This is what journalism is supposed to do: listen to the experts, survey the [...]
- Feminism's Freedom Fighter? On Feminism, Atheism and Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The Rotunda • October 26, 2009
By Sikivu Hutchinson
In mainstream media, public conversation about the intersection between atheism and what I will loosely term third world feminism is as rare as Halley's Comet. In the corporate media universe, the groundbreaking work of feminists of African descent like bell hooks, Angela Davis and Patricia Hill Collins remains largely unknown, relegated to academe. [...]
- Poetry Sunday: Paul Laurence Dunbar
The Foyer • October 25, 2009
I'm especially pleased to be able to showcase this new poet in this week's edition of Poetry Sunday. In the past, I've highlighted the lives and the accomplishments of famous African-American freethinkers like W.E.B. DuBois and Zora Neale Hurston, showing that religious skepticism and freethought have always played a lively role in the American black [...]
- The Case for a Creator: Strange New Worlds
The Observatory • October 23, 2009
The Case for a Creator, Chapter 6
The cosmological fine-tuning argument is one of the more interesting claims in the intelligent-design movement's toolkit. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's the best argument they have. I'll let Robin Collins make the point as strongly as he can:
"Over the past thirty years or [...]
- Secular Sabotage!
The Rotunda • October 22, 2009
In their never-ending quest to elevate every ranting wingnut to the same status as genuine experts, the Washington Post has given a guest column to Bill Donohue - the extreme right-wing Catholic bully whose sole purpose in life is seeking out things to be offended by. Whether it's The Simpsons, the "secular Jews" who run [...]
- Cargo Cult Science
The Observatory • October 21, 2009
During World War II, American forces fighting in the Pacific set up bases on remote islands whose people had had very little prior contact with other civilizations. These people, with technology at a Stone Age level, were amazed by the strange visitors and the almost miraculous cargo they brought with them - chocolate, cigarettes, radio, [...]
- In Honor of Terry Pratchett
The Garden • October 19, 2009
I should have mentioned this story much earlier, but better late than never.
If you're an atheist and a regular reader of sci-fi and fantasy, you probably know the name Terry Pratchett - and if you don't, you should. He's the award-winning and much-loved author of Discworld, a series of fantasy novels set in a [...]
- Celibacy Is Unnatural
The Rotunda • October 17, 2009
The Roman Catholic church's stated reason for opposing homosexuality is that it violates a vaguely-defined construct they call "natural law". This viewpoint is explained in essays like this one:
People have a basic, ethical intuition that certain behaviors are wrong because they are unnatural... The natural sex partner for a man is a woman, and the [...]
- The Case for a Creator: Another Non-Authority
The Observatory • October 16, 2009
The Case for a Creator, Chapter 6
Chapter 6 of Case is about the cosmological fine-tuning argument, but before I get to that, I want to say a few words about Strobel's next choice of interview subject.
The interviewee in chapter 6 is Robin Collins, another prominent ID advocate. Granted, the areas of Collins' interest lie mainly [...]
- On the Front Lines of Islamism
The Rotunda • October 14, 2009
While we in the West work to defend secularism against creationists, pro-lifers and other would-be theocrats, it's worth remembering from time to time how good we have it. Our church-state wall may be an embattled boundary, but in most of the world, it's nonexistent. This is especially true in most of the world's Muslim-majority countries, [...]
- Letter to a Young Skeptic of Color
The Loft • October 12, 2009
By Sikivu Hutchinson
For the longest time religion has simply been an accepted way of life for you, unchallenged, unquestioned, a shopworn ritual, gentle as a vise. If you're churchgoing the first seeds of doubt may be planted after squirming through umpteen marathon prayer sessions. If you're not churchgoing, doubt may come from seeing all the [...]
- Introducing a New Guest Author
The Foyer • October 12, 2009
Today I'm proud to introduce Daylight Atheism's newest guest author, Sikivu Hutchinson. You may know her from when she made a splash earlier this year with an article in the L.A. Watts Times about black atheists coming out of the closet, and I'm happy to offer my site as another platform for her to continue [...]
- Photo Sunday: America's Best Idea
The Foyer • October 11, 2009
I don't post pictures on this blog often enough (and since I recently bought a new camera, I might as well get some use out of it!), so with this post I'm kicking off a new semi-regular feature. If you've got interesting, unusual or just beautiful pictures that you own and would like to see [...]
- Kiva Atheists' Million-Dollar Milestone
The Garden • October 10, 2009
I've written in the past about Kiva, the microcredit site that fights poverty by funding economic entrepreneurs in the developing world, and about how the largest lender community on the site is made up of atheists (and I'm happy to be one of them).
Well, we've reached a new milestone. As you can see from [...]
- The Case for a Creator: This Time It's Personal
The Observatory • October 9, 2009
The Case for a Creator, Chapter 5
To wrap up his cosmological argument, William Lane Craig comes to a laughably specific conclusion:
"A cause of space and time must be an uncaused, beginningless, timeless, spaceless, immaterial, personal being endowed with freedom of will and enormous power," he said. [p.108]
(He didn't add "who is three persons in one [...]
- Take Action: Help Free Kareem Amer
The Rotunda • October 8, 2009
Since I wrote about the Center for Inquiry's Blasphemy Day last week, this is a fitting followup. By participating in events like those, we demonstrate our commitment to defending the right of free speech. But we can also show that commitment in a more tangible way: by taking action on behalf of the prisoners of [...]
- Militant Hinduism
The Rotunda • October 7, 2009
People in Western societies often believe that Eastern religions are more peaceful, less fundamentalist, than Judaism, Christianity or Islam have historically been. And it may well be true that the fluid, polytheistic nature of Hinduism and Buddhism makes them more tolerant, more willing to accommodate differing beliefs, than the fiercely monotheistic religions whose gods are [...]
- Anti-Atheist Bigotry Enters Another Campaign
The Rotunda • October 6, 2009
Because this strategy worked so well for Elizabeth Dole, another conservative politician has decided to make a play for the bigot vote by stirring up anti-atheist prejudice against a challenger. In this case, it's on a smaller scale: a race for city council in Albuquerque, New Mexico. You can read about it in the New [...]
- Book Review: UFOs, Ghosts, and a Rising God
The Library • October 5, 2009
(Editor's Note: This review was solicited and is written in accordance with this site's policy for such reviews.)
If you've been around the atheist blogosphere, you probably know the name Christopher Hallquist, author of the blog The Uncredible Hallq (I've always wondered, does he get more skeptical when he gets angry?).
Well, it seems he's come into [...]
- Find Me on Atheist Nexus
The Foyer • October 3, 2009
I'm not generally a big user of social networking sites, but I did decide to join Atheist Nexus yesterday. If you're there too, you can find me there and add me as a friend.
- Another Branch on the Human Family Tree
The Observatory • October 3, 2009
I haven't written about any new transitional fossils in a while, so it's a great pleasure for me to mention this one: a hominid skeleton nicknamed "Ardi", a specimen of Ardipithecus ramidus. This species was known from other fossil fragments, but Ardi is one of the oldest and most complete hominids found so far, and [...]
- The Religious Right Vision of Marriage, Continued
The Rotunda • October 2, 2009
In my last post on the religious right view of marriage, some commenters took me to task for painting with too broad a brush. In this post, I'll consider how widely held such views are.
It's a fair point that not all conservative Christians hold views as extreme as those I criticized. Nevertheless, the views treated [...]
