- Happy Holidays! Atheism Is Growing!
The Garden • December 31, 2009
As we ring in the new year, here's some news to give you a sense of optimism for 2010. This holiday season, we can add another piece of evidence to the growing pile which indicates that atheists are becoming more numerous and more successful:
This Christmas season, 78% of Americans identify with some form of Christian [...]
- Rebutting Reasonable Faith: Remembering the Lost
The Library • December 30, 2009
In question #86 of his Reasonable Faith column, William Lane Craig addresses a question from a Christian who's troubled by one of the most wicked doctrines of that theology, the dogma of Hell. Craig's correspondent wonders whether the saved will feel compassion for the damned, but also worries that it would be a violation of [...]
- Daylight Atheism St. Louis Meetup
The Foyer • December 29, 2009
Since last September's Los Angeles readers' meetup went so well, I think it's time to repeat the experiment!
Next month, I'll be in St. Louis, Missouri over Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, January 16th and 17th. Are there any readers in the area who would be interested in meeting up? If so, leave a comment [...]
- The Contributions of Freethinkers: Pearl Jam
The Loft • December 28, 2009
(Editor's Note: Thanks to DA reader Alan Waldron for suggesting this post!)
I've written about famous atheist composers before, but not all the great nonbelieving musicians belong to the past. Some are still living, working, and performing - like the subjects of today's post on the contributions of freethinkers.
The band Pearl Jam was founded in Seattle, [...]
- Photo Sunday: Solstice Walk
The Foyer • December 27, 2009
Johnson County, Iowa, December 21, 2006. Photo credit: Peter Nothnagle. Click for larger version.
- When Prayer Fails
The Loft • December 26, 2009
Dave Schmeltzer's book Not the Religious Type has many examples of what he calls "napkin stories" (i.e., short enough to write on a napkin), brief anecdotes from people who claim to have experienced miraculous events in their lives when they trusted in God. Here's a typical one:
I found out that my aunt and uncle's marriage [...]
- The Case for a Creator: Hot Jupiters
The Observatory • December 24, 2009
The Case for a Creator, Chapter 7
In chapter 3, I chastised Jonathan Wells, a trained biologist, for making deceptive arguments whose answers he unquestionably already knows. I have to send a similar criticism Guillermo Gonzalez's way, because in this chapter, he makes an argument that any beginner student in astronomy would be able to answer [...]
- Whence Comes God's Nature?
The Library • December 23, 2009
According to the vast majority of religious believers (though perhaps not to the tiny minority of elite theologians), God is basically in nature like a larger and more powerful human being. He has plans and desires which he takes actions to fulfill; he likes some people and things and dislikes others; he experiences emotions like [...]
- Open Thread: Feedback on The Aura of Infallibility
The Foyer • December 22, 2009
About two weeks ago, the following comment was posted on the thread "The Aura of Infallibility" by one of the Christians whom I originally quoted in that post.
There were some other discussions going on at the time and it fell off the recent comments list before it could attract any replies, and I thought [...]
- A Very Merry Atheist Christmas
The Garden • December 21, 2009
Now that's how you do it:
This banner will soon be going up at the Loudoun County, Virginia courthouse, courtesy of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. Rather than remove a nativity scene from the courthouse lawn, the county board of supervisors voted to keep it, requiring the creation of a limited public forum where other groups [...]
- Photo Sunday: The Old Bridge
The Foyer • December 20, 2009
Hudson Highlands Nature Center, November 2009. Photo by the author. Camera details: Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS. Click for larger version.
- The Case for a Creator: A Parade of Horribles, Part II
The Observatory • December 18, 2009
The Case for a Creator, Chapter 7
Earth's Size
Gonzalez's next assertion strikes me as highly dubious. He claims that, if the Earth were larger than it is, the higher surface gravity would tend to smooth out mountains and ocean basins, producing a perfectly spherical planet with little surface relief. (He provides no numbers on how much [...]
- Common Myths About Polyamory
The Library • December 17, 2009
By JulietEcho
Editor's Note: This piece emerged from the discussion of my recent post on the legality of polyamory. Please welcome Daylight Atheism's newest guest contributor, JulietEcho, who has her B.A. in both Philosophy and Religious Studies and is also the administrator of the Friendly Atheist forum. You can e-mail her at ejsunflowers@gmail.com.
I've been in a [...]
- Mountains of Prohibition
The Rotunda • December 16, 2009
In January, I wrote about the Pakistani Taliban:
All that is worst in the human spirit, all that is savage and low and cruel, finds its expression in the Taliban. They are amoral and nihilistic fanatics who never create, only destroy - whether it be the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the girls' schools in Swat, or the [...]
- Christian Missionaries Are Doing God's Work
The Rotunda • December 14, 2009
By Sarah Braasch
I leaned over to one of my teammates. "Why are there so many fat, white people on the plane? We're going to Ethiopia. We're flying Ethiopian Airlines."
"They're missionaries," she responded, completely uninterested.
"What?" I gasped. It had never occurred to me. I was not pleased.
Everything became so obvious. The [...]
- Theocratic Horror in Uganda
The Rotunda • December 13, 2009
Back in January, I alluded briefly to the events in Uganda, where Christian abstinence-only programs have reversed the success of comprehensive sex ed and led to a rise in HIV infection rates. At the time, I mentioned Martin Ssempa, a pastor in the country's booming Pentecostal Christian movement, and his involvement in a campaign to [...]
- Weekly Link Roundup
The Foyer • December 12, 2009
For the holiday season, some goodies this weekend:
• First up, some music for the season: the blogger Lirone, of Words That Sing, in collaboration with William Morris, composer in residence at the British Humanist Association (did you know the British Humanist Association had a composer in residence? me neither!), has written a humanist carol, Gathering [...]
- The Case for a Creator: A Parade of Horribles, Part I
The Observatory • December 11, 2009
The Case for a Creator, Chapter 7
Most of chapter 7 focuses on Guillermo Gonzalez's "privileged planet" hypothesis. This argument, as he uses it here, consists of listing every way in which our planet or our solar system could have been different, and concluding that every single one of them would be completely fatal to life. [...]
- A Response to "The White Stuff"
The Garden • December 10, 2009
Earlier this week, I posted a piece by Sikivu Hutchinson, "The White Stuff", about the legacy of racism in science and to what extent issues of race affect the atheist movement. Today, I want to write a response to that piece and venture some of my own thoughts on the subject.
To begin, I want to [...]
- Suggestions for the Conservative Bible Project
The Loft • December 9, 2009
Although I haven't commented on this previously, I'm sure you've heard of the Conservative Bible Project, a brilliant initiative proposed by the savvy folks at Conservapedia. The plan is that they'll retranslate the Bible to eliminate "liberal bias" in existing verses - but not by going back to the oldest manuscripts or the original languages [...]
- The White Stuff
The Garden • December 7, 2009
A note from the editor:
Hi folks,
Before I get to today's post, a guest essay by Sikivu Hutchinson, I want to preface it with a few remarks.
I've posted guest essays on Daylight Atheism from a variety of viewpoints, not all of which I personally agree with (as I hope should be obvious). I ask readers [...]
- Photo Sunday: Bright Angel
The Foyer • December 6, 2009
Bright Angel Point, Grand Canyon. Photo credit: Pradeep Satyaprakash.
- Atheists Helping the Homeless
The Garden • December 5, 2009
Since I often write about charitable works done by atheists, I'm happy to be able to report on a new one. Joe Zamecki informs me of a new Austin-based charitable group, Atheists Helping the Homeless.
I'll let Joe explain his group's purpose and mission:
Atheists Helping the Homeless is a new, and still very small group of [...]
- A Daylight Atheism Public Service Announcement
The Loft • December 4, 2009
I have some urgent news to pass along to my readers:
If you have any vacation time accrued, you may want to use it before May 2011.
Why, you may ask? Well, because the world is ending - again:
I learned this important news from a pamphlet that a street preacher was passing out at the [...]
- Why Won't You Atheists Just Go Away?
The Garden • December 2, 2009
The Newsweek/Washington Post blog On Faith has posted a series of responses from panelists to the American Humanist Association's new holiday ad campaign (HT: An Apostate's Chapel). Here's the question they asked:
What do you think of the American Humanist Association's new "Godless Holiday" campaign? The ads, displayed on transit systems in five major U.S. cities, [...]
- Open Thread: Reader Feedback
The Foyer • December 1, 2009
I haven't had an open thread in a while, and I wanted to post one for this purpose. This is a thread for Daylight Atheism readers' feedback: on the site and the way I'm managing it.
Do you have any complaints or grievances, general or specific, about the way the site is being run? Extravagant or [...]
