- The Case for a Creator: Belief and Decision
The Observatory • April 30, 2010
The Case for a Creator, Chapter 10
The essence of science isn't test tubes or lab coats, but a special kind of scrupulous intellectual honesty. It's the willingness to try to prove yourself wrong, to subject your own ideas to the most rigorous, make-or-break tests you can conceive of. Equally as important, it's the willingness to [...]
- An Unserious Response to the Theist's Guide
The Foyer • April 28, 2010
I've received another response to my essay on Ebon Musings, "The Theist's Guide to Converting Atheists", which challenges theists to explain what they would accept as proof that their religious beliefs were mistaken. For the record, I'll point out that this essay has been publicly available since June 2001, almost nine years, and in that [...]
- Beware of Pastors Bearing Gifts
The Rotunda • April 26, 2010
Late last year, an evangelical Christian pastor in Brooklyn announced that he had secured a major grant totaling millions of dollars from the massive evangelical charity World Vision. The pastor, Isidro Bolaños, promised to use this money to hire people from the community to do faith-based social work:
Mr. Bolaños, pastor of the Christian Church of [...]
- Demanding the Right to Discriminate
The Rotunda • April 23, 2010
The Supreme Court heard arguments recently in a case out of California, in which a Christian student group at a public law school sued because they were denied recognition and funding by the school. The reason for this denial is that the school requires student groups to be open to all members, and the Christian [...]
- The Contributions of Freethinkers: Richard Leakey
The Loft • April 21, 2010
Atheists have a great number of famous names to our credit. We can justly claim renowned composers, scientists, musicians, civil rights leaders - and conservationists, as we'll see in today's post on the contributions of freethinkers.
Richard Leakey was born in Nairobi in 1944, son of the famous archaeologist Louis Leakey. The elder Leakey was a [...]
- The Case for a Creator: Credential Inflation
The Observatory • April 19, 2010
The Case for a Creator, Chapter 10
Chapter 10 of Case, which concerns human consciousness and the brain, is an interview with J.P. Moreland, a Christian philosopher and theologian. Like many of Strobel's other interview subjects, Moreland is not a scientist and has no scientific credentials to speak of - this despite Strobel's initial boast that [...]
- Meet a Foundation Beyond Belief Member
The Garden • April 18, 2010
Editor's Note: Last month, I wrote an essay encouraging atheists to join the Foundation Beyond Belief, a new charitable group doing good for human beings and the world in the name of freethought. I also offered to write a front-page post interviewing anyone who agreed to join the Foundation as a result of hearing about [...]
- Victory for FFRF!
The Rotunda • April 17, 2010
I wrote in 2007 about the National Day of Prayer, a ridiculous ceremony created by Congress in the 1950s to urge all Americans to pray. That obviously unconstitutional objective would be bad enough, but what makes it even worse is that official National Day of Prayer events, held in city halls and government offices across [...]
- Holding the Pope to Account
The Rotunda • April 15, 2010
Every time I think we've seen the worst of what the Roman Catholic church and this pope are capable of, they come up with a way to sink lower still. Back in January, when Benedict reinstated a misogynist, Holocaust-denying bishop, I could never have imagined that that would be the least offensive and disgusting thing [...]
- Apologetics that Annoy Me
The Loft • April 14, 2010
If you debate theists very often, there will soon come a point where you'll start hearing the same arguments over and over again. And although I do my best to bear in mind Greta Christina's wise words on patience and remember that most proselytizers have never been exposed to an effective atheist critique, some of [...]
- On Non-Believing Clergy
The Garden • April 12, 2010
Daniel Dennett recently published a fascinating study on nonbelieving clergy: pastors and ministers from various denominations, both liberal and conservative, who've either lost their faith or hold beliefs that they know their superiors would condemn as highly unorthodox. Naturally, these people remain in the closet, often getting up before their congregations every week to preach [...]
- Meet a Foundation Beyond Belief Member
The Garden • April 11, 2010
Editor's Note: Last month, I wrote an essay encouraging atheists to join the Foundation Beyond Belief, a new charitable group doing good for human beings and the world in the name of freethought. I also offered to write a front-page post interviewing anyone who agreed to join the Foundation as a result of hearing about [...]
- Some Rejected Catholic Recruiting Posters
The Loft • April 10, 2010
Today, I'm excited to report that I have some breaking news to share with Daylight Atheism readers.
From a highly placed anonymous source inside the Vatican, I've received a letter containing proofs for a new advertising campaign that the Roman Catholic church has been developing for the past several years. The ultimate goal was to [...]
- The Case for a Creator: Anticuriosity
The Observatory • April 9, 2010
Although science progresses through reason and experiment, it's fundamentally driven by curiosity. The impulse that motivates science is the same one that motivates explorers to trek into uncharted wildernesses and climb unconquered mountains [...]
- The Reform Against Nature
The Rotunda • April 7, 2010
John Hartwig was the principal of a private elementary school run by the conservative Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Last month, he was fired by a church council. The reasons for his dismissal are murky, but they appear to have something to do with this:
Hartwig's father, a former pastor, authored a document years ago questioning Lutheran [...]
- Fear and Trembling in Mississippi
The Rotunda • April 5, 2010
You've probably heard of Constance McMillen, a lesbian student at a Mississippi high school who wanted to bring her girlfriend as her date to her senior prom this year. The school officials, not even attempting to disguise their bigotry, refused to grant permission - and then canceled the entire prom rather than face a discrimination [...]
- Meet a Foundation Beyond Belief Member
The Garden • April 4, 2010
Editor's Note: Last month, I wrote an essay encouraging atheists to join the Foundation Beyond Belief, a new charitable group doing good for human beings and the world in the name of freethought. I also offered to write a front-page post interviewing anyone who agreed to join the Foundation as a result of hearing about [...]
- Find Me on Facebook
The Foyer • April 3, 2010
So, if this is the sort of thing that interests you, I've created a page for Daylight Atheism on Facebook. If you'd like to sign up as a fan, do so with my blessing, and help spread the word!
At the moment, the page contains nothing but the RSS feed for this site. That may change, [...]
- From the Mailbag: Racist Loonball Edition
The Foyer • April 3, 2010
Every so often, I get a letter I just have to share - whether because it's so eloquent and insightful that I want more people to read it, or because the author deserves to be roundly mocked by as many people as possible. Here's an example of the latter.
I got this e-mail the other day. [...]
- I Hate You
The Loft • April 2, 2010
By Sarah Braasch
In loving memory of my baby brother, Jacob Michael Braasch (01/28/86 – 02/02/10)
In an internet café in downtown Rabat in Morocco, a middle-aged, middle-class Muslim woman told me that her fondest wish would be to have all of the Arab nations rise up as one and slaughter every Jew on the [...]
