Daylight Atheism » Cosmology

Weekly Link Roundup

Ebonmuse — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 05:59:42 +0000

The storm may rage and the winds may howl, but I'm still here! (So far.) Here's a couple of interesting stories I didn't have time to write more about this week:

• Following Rick Perry's urgent prayers for rain in his drought-stricken state, Tropical Storm Don formed in the Gulf, headed toward Texas, and then dissipated ... [visit site to read more]

Weekly Link Roundup

Ebonmuse — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 16:28:07 +0000

Some scattered thoughts to contemplate on a Saturday morning:

• Earlier this year, my post on urban agriculture drew some spirited disagreement. Now there's a study from Ohio State University which concludes that Cleveland could supply all its own produce, poultry and honey if the many vacant lots in the shrinking, ... [visit site to read more]

200,000 Earths

Ebonmuse — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:58:04 +0000

[Think we're all ready to talk about something else for a while? —Ebonmuse]

In May 1987, astronomers witnessed a once-in-a-lifetime event: a supernova, the explosive death of a supergiant star, in the Large Magellanic Cloud approximately 170,000 light-years from Earth. SN 1987A, as it was named, was the first supernova to be studied using the instruments of modern astronomy (although not the first supernova witnessed by ... [visit site to read more]

I Am An Atom of Atheism

Ebonmuse — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 21:07:33 +0000

The blog Ungodly News has created a whimsical periodic table of atheism, and I was surprised and pleased to find out that I'm on it:

visit site to read more]

Weekly Link Roundup

Ebonmuse — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:12:27 +0000

• Witchcraft is now a recognized profession in Romania, subjecting its practitioners to income tax. Witches who are unhappy about this are responding pretty much like you'd expect.

• A female activist in Israel faces prison time for praying at the Wailing Wall. The telling quote:

"The ... [visit site to read more]

The Language of God: Cosmology and the God Hypothesis

Ebonmuse — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 19:37:41 +0000

The Language of God, Chapter 3

By B.J. Marshall

Collins concludes this chapter by tying his overview of cosmology to the god hypothesis. He states that "[c]learly, the scientific view is not entirely sufficient to answer all of the interesting questions about the origin of the universe, and there is nothing inherently in conflict between the idea of a creator God and what science has revealed" (pp.80-1). We've already addressed this god-of-the-gaps mentality before; just ... [visit site to read more]

The Language of God: Quantum Quote-Mining

Ebonmuse — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 14:45:21 +0000

The Language of God, Chapter 3

By B.J. Marshall

Collins spends only a few pages discussing quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle. He starts with a sentence that has nothing to do with anything, really. He mentions that "Newton was a believer who wrote more about biblical interpretation than he did about mathematics and physics" (p.78). I have no idea why Collins would include this other than to say, "Hey, look everyone! This guy's a theist, and he's really smart. ... [visit site to read more]

The Language of God: In the Beginning...

Ebonmuse — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:48:06 +0000

The Language of God, Chapter 3

By B.J. Marshall

After his prelude, Collins begins at the beginning: The Big Bang. He talks about what it is, asks what came before it, and argues that it cries out for a divine explanation. The Big Bang doesn't just cry out for an explanation - no, no, no - it cries out for a divine explanation. Nothing like checking your biases at the door when doing that science thing, right?

We saw previously that he knows what a theory ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: The God Generator

Ebonmuse — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:05:22 +0000

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 is that these values were chosen by a god or other creative power. Another one, which has found favor with some cosmologists in recent years, is that there ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: This Time It's Personal

Ebonmuse — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:49:22 +0000

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 being and who sacrificed his son for the sins of the world", but clearly he would have gotten there ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: In the Beginning

Ebonmuse — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:58:45 +0000

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 5

The second premise of the kalam cosmological argument is that the universe began to exist. In discussing this premise, William Lane Craig asks the question of whether the universe necessarily had a beginning or whether it could have existed for an infinite amount of time before now. He argues that the former is the only option:

"...if the past were really infinite, then that would mean we have managed to traverse an infinite past to ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: It's All Because of Quantum

Ebonmuse — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:50:33 +0000

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 5

In discussing the kalam argument, William Lane Craig makes some points that touch on modern research in cosmology and physics, so I'll address those. He begins with the premise that "whatever begins to exist has a cause":

"It seems metaphysically necessary that anything which begins to exist has to have a cause that brings it into being. Things don't just pop into existence, uncaused, out of nothing." ... [visit site to read more]