- The Language of God: Size Doesn't Matter
The Observatory • December 31, 2010
The Language of God, Chapter 5
By B.J. Marshall
In this section, Collins describes how "the study of genomes leads inexorably to the conclusion that we humans share a common ancestor with other living things" (p.133-4). There are a lot of ideas in this chapter to unpack, so I'd like to start by reviewing Collins' material on [...]
- The Dignity of Human Life
The Rotunda • December 29, 2010
I've been criticizing the Roman Catholic church a lot this year, but I can't help it: every month, they're in the headlines again with some new outrage that I can't let pass. And now they've done it again.
In November 2009, a woman - three months pregnant, and already a mother of four - came to [...]
- New Atheist Quote of the Day
The Loft • December 28, 2010
I don't usually write posts that are just quotes, but sometimes it's nice to take a stroll down memory lane. Back in the day, this guy used to be one of the sharpest pro-science writers around, and I used to really love reading his stuff. I wonder whatever became of him.
"At its most basic level, [...]
- Breaking the Religion-Morality Link
The Garden • December 27, 2010
One of the first posts on Daylight Atheism, "A Mile Wide and an Inch Deep", was about the pathetic levels of Biblical knowledge in a nation that's theoretically 85% Christian. Well, thanks to a widely reported new survey, we can add another fact to that picture: not only do Americans not know much about the [...]
- An Atheist's Yule Sermon
The Garden • December 25, 2010
I woke up at 3 AM earlier this week to see the lunar eclipse. Dressing in the dark, my wife and I went out into the freezing silence of the winter solstice to see the moon: a small disc high in the sky swallowed by the planet's shadow, glowing coppery-red with the reflected light of [...]
- Using Purchasing Power for Good
The Loft • December 24, 2010
Since 'tis the season for commercialism, shopping sprees and big-ticket purchases, I thought I'd write a post that I've had in mind for a long time. It's less about atheism per se, more about rationalism and being aware of the ways our choices shape the world around us.
We may scoff, and rightfully so, when the [...]
- Chris Hedges Doesn't Believe In Moral Progress (Except When He Does)
The Library • December 22, 2010
A Review of When Atheism Becomes Religion, Part III
As I've written before, Chris Hedges is a nihilist. He flatly denies the possibility of moral progress, and vehemently asserts that any efforts to improve humanity will inevitably end in mass slaughter and destruction. He says so bluntly at the beginning of his book:
Those who insist we [...]
- Atheists Haven't Forgotten Poland
The Rotunda • December 20, 2010
I've mentioned in the past that as the Catholic church dwindles and ages, it's increasingly having trouble finding enough people who want to join the priesthood, and it's relying heavily on the few Catholic-majority countries remaining, such as Poland, that are net exporters of priests. At the time, I mused:
Even former Catholic strongholds such as [...]
- The Language of God: Science Works!
The Observatory • December 19, 2010
The Language of God, Chapter 5
By B.J. Marshall
The tagline of this books is "A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief." I've seen that the central thesis of the book is trying to harmonize religion and science, so I was surprised to find Collins spending a lot of time talking about how he mapped the genome - [...]
- Update on Fort Worth Bus Ads
The Garden • December 18, 2010
I have a short update on the atheist ad campaign running on Fort Worth buses. In my last post, I mentioned that a coalition of city pastors were furious over the ads and tried to organize a boycott. (Would it help to tell them that this is how atheists feel all the time? Probably not.) [...]
- A Holiday Loss of Faith Story
The Garden • December 17, 2010
Until a few days ago, I'd never heard of Drew Marshall, the host of an Ontario-based radio program that's advertised as Canada's most popular Christian talk show. But when I saw an interesting post about him on Facebook (more on that in a minute), I went and looked him up. From reading the bio on [...]
- On Religious Right Grave-Robbers
The Loft • December 15, 2010
I realize this is the season for Christmas trees, candy canes and presents, not for jack-o'-lanterns, black cats and witches, but I can't help pointing out that a rotting ghoul has crawled out of its grave and is sitting around leering at us. Unfortunately this isn't the kind of creature that goes away if you [...]
- Atheists Don't Debate (Except When We Do)
The Rotunda • December 13, 2010
A Review of When Atheism Becomes Religion, Part II
In chapter 3, Hedges gives a two-and-a-half-page-long excerpt of a debate he had with Sam Harris at UCLA in May 2007, moderated by the columnist Robert Scheer, about whether Islam encourages suicide bombing:
HARRIS: OK, well, let me deal with your taking the measure of the Muslim world. [...]
- The Language of God: Grandeur in Life
The Observatory • December 12, 2010
The Language of God, Chapter 4
By B.J. Marshall
The last part of this chapter is a brief but pretty thorough overview of DNA and how it works. He gives a short background going through genetics (Mendel and Garrod), the discovery of DNA (Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty), and the discovery of DNA's structure (Watson and Crick). He [...]
- Weekly Link Roundup
The Foyer • December 11, 2010
If blogging was my full-time job, I'd probably have written a post about each of these stories! As it is, I leave you with some food for thought - and there's a virtual banquet this week:
• In the U.K., more and more decaying churches are being converted into homes - a fitting use for these [...]
- Evolution Isn't a Moral Theory (Except When It Is)
The Library • December 10, 2010
A Review of When Atheism Becomes Religion, Part I
At the beginning of chapter 2, Chris Hedges says that science is a "morally neutral discipline" (p.45) which offers potential for both good and evil. He goes on to assert:
Evolution is a biological theory that helps us grasp descent, with modification, within living species. It is not [...]
- Yes, Atheists Still Face Censorship
The Garden • December 8, 2010
Nothing fills my heart with Christmas cheer like seeing atheists' holiday ads, so I was glad to hear of a new campaign starting up in Texas, courtesy of the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason. Starting this month, they'll be running ads that read "Millions of Americans Are Good Without God" on Fort Worth city buses.
But [...]
- Climbing the Mountain of Atlas Shrugged
The Foyer • December 7, 2010
As sharp-eyed readers may have noticed from my sidebar, I've decided to take up the challenge of reading Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged - all 1,074 pages of it, in my softcover edition. Say what you will about the woman, but no one will ever accuse her of failing to deliver a low price-to-word ratio.
I've expressed [...]
- Chris Hedges Doesn't Like Us Very Much
The Library • December 6, 2010
The things I do for you people.
A few weeks ago, I was browsing in a used bookstore when I saw a copy of Chris Hedges' When Atheism Becomes Religion (retitled from the original, I Don't Believe in Atheists). Since it was only a few dollars, I decided to get it - it might be good [...]
- The Language of God: On Darwin
The Library • December 5, 2010
The Language of God, Chapter 4
By B.J. Marshall
Collins spends only three pages discussing the history of Darwin's publishing his theory of evolution through natural selection, but there are a few points that I want to discuss concerning how Collins (and apologists in general) lift quotes, provide misinformation, and arrange material to help guide the reader [...]
- Rolling Back Religious Privilege
The Rotunda • December 4, 2010
Last week, I came across this story from the Telegraph. In the U.K., a coalition of liberal churches, educational and secular groups including the British Humanist Association are calling on the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, to scrap a law which forces British schools to hold mandatory religious services for all their pupils.
The 1944 Education Act [...]
- Please Hold for Technical Difficulties
The Foyer • December 3, 2010
Daylight Atheism was down most of today due to technical problems with my host. Sorry about that. All should be back to working order now. Since I couldn't log on to the site during the day, I wasn't able to put up a new post. The one I had written for today will be up [...]
- Caution: The Pope Is Coming!
The Rotunda • December 2, 2010
Beware! You could lose your job for reposting or passing on the following image:
This altered image, which looks to me like a perfectly reasonable and important warning to children, got a man fired from his job - specifically, Hugh Dallas, an official for the Scottish Football Association, who was fired this week after forwarding this [...]
- How to Think Critically: Anchoring
The Observatory • December 1, 2010
I'm pleased to announce the first-ever holiday edition of How to Think Critically. If you're planning to do your Christmas shopping soon, this post might just save you some money!
The mental phenomenon called "anchoring and adjustment" was first described in the 1970s by the psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman. When we're trying to estimate [...]
