Daylight Atheism » Correspondence

Got a Question for Penn Jillette?

Ebonmuse — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 01:50:54 +0000

If you've read Penn Jillette's new book God, No! and want to ask him something about it - or if you just have a general question you've been dying to ask him - then this is your lucky day!

My soon-to-be blog home, Big Think, is having Penn back for an interview on Friday, and they're soliciting reader questions. Presumably, he'll answer some of them. If you've got a question ... [visit site to read more]

From the Mailbag: Shedding the Burden of Suffering

Ebonmuse — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:24:02 +0000

Earlier this week, I got a lengthy letter whose author gave me permission to share it with you:

Dear Ebonmusings:

I gave a glimpse to your musing about the carrot and the stick - I didn't expect it to talk about morality, mainly because I realized that the latest part of my life as a christian was about pursuing a carrot and a stick.*

Allow me to share my story. Sorry if it's a bit depressing, but I can ... [visit site to read more]

From the Mailbag: Deconversion Saturday

Ebonmuse — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 15:40:40 +0000

It's not every day that I get awesome letters like the one I posted last Saturday, but this makes two weeks in a row now. If this keeps up, I may have to make it a regular feature!

This letter is from a commenter who's posted here in the past as 5acos(phi/2). Although it's from a country I don't have first-hand experience of, it has a lot in common with the kind of letters I get more frequently, just with ... [visit site to read more]

From the Mailbag: Deconversion Saturday

Ebonmuse — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 13:53:26 +0000

Out of all the correspondence I get, occasionally there's a letter which repays, many times over, all the effort I've put into writing for my websites. This is one of them, which I'm sharing with the author's permission:

Hello Adam,

I wanted to drop you a note to let you know how much your writing has influenced me. I left the church I had been raised in about four years ago and spent about a year studying ... [visit site to read more]

From the Mailbag: Atheism in Nigeria

Ebonmuse — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:48:25 +0000

I've said in the past that the internet is an incredibly beneficial invention for atheists, since it provides a truly global platform for speech. Sometimes, you get a potent reminder of just how true that is. A few days ago, I got an e-mail from a young man in Nigeria - about the same age as me, in fact - who recently became an atheist. I invited him to tell us his story, and he agreed. The following e-mail is reprinted with his permission, and I think you'll agree that it's a powerful and ... [visit site to read more]

Another Response to the Theist's Guide

Ebonmuse — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 21:12:54 +0000

I've received another response to my essay "The Theist's Guide to Converting Atheists". This response, which can be viewed here, comes by way of an author calling himself Roq.

I am, at heart, a simple person, so it'll only take one thing for me to become an atheist.

When science can create a mass hallucination in a group of fifty or more people where the ... [visit site to read more]

Two Responses to the Theist's Guide

Ebonmuse — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:11:49 +0000

Earlier this month, Greta Christina published a piece on AlterNet, based on my essay "The Theist's Guide to Converting Atheists", that listed things that would convince her of God's existence. She also repeated the challenge I posed to theists - prove that your beliefs are falsifiable by posting a corresponding list of things that would convince you to become an ... [visit site to read more]

The Catholic Church Asks Me for Money

Ebonmuse — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 11:01:43 +0000

One of the downsides of giving money to charity is that some of the groups I give to resell their donors' names and addresses. As a result, I get an amazing quantity of mail, most from groups I've never heard of, begging for money. It comes from an incredible range of organizations - symphonies, museums, political campaigns, environmental groups, humanitarian groups, animal rights groups, and more. Since I plan my giving in advance and don't respond to random solicitations, I throw these all ... [visit site to read more]

An Unserious Response to the Theist's Guide

Ebonmuse — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:51:48 +0000

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 ... [visit site to read more]

From the Mailbag: Racist Loonball Edition

Ebonmuse — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 12:48:57 +0000

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. It starts out as seemingly thoughtful praise from someone who's obviously taken the time to read my website; then it abruptly takes a different turn:

Dear Ebon Musings:

Your front page ... [visit site to read more]

From the Mailbag: Atheists in the Closet

Ebonmuse — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:19:03 +0000

As much effort as we freethinkers put into making atheism a viable and socially accepted option, it's important to remember that it's still a difficult feat to extricate oneself from religion when one's family and social life are bound up with church attendance. Consider this e-mail I received a few days ago, whose author's personal information I've omitted:

I just wanted to say thanks for your sites, which I've been reading for about a year now. I'm a 49 year old former ... [visit site to read more]

Open Thread: Feedback on The Aura of Infallibility

Ebonmuse — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:28:46 +0000

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 it deserved some. So, I'm promoting it to its own thread. I'll write my own response to it (and I'll ... [visit site to read more]