Daylight Atheism » Theology

Open Thread: Secret Religious Teachings

Ebonmuse — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 02:23:40 +0000

This great comment by Rollingforest in another thread got me thinking:

When they go door to door, Mormons like to present themselves as Christians with minor but important improvements on Christian doctrine. These missionaries make sure to forget to mention or to gloss over the huge changes in dogma that becoming a Mormon requires (multiple Gods, belief that polygamy was Godly in the ... [visit site to read more]

A Guide to God-Spotting

Ebonmuse — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 15:57:29 +0000

Some of my favorite atheist writers have been jousting over the issue of whether any imaginable evidence could convince them of the existence of God. Among those who answer in the negative, ... [visit site to read more]

The Language of God: The Irony of Misunderstood Agnosticism

Ebonmuse — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 00:14:19 +0000

The Language of God, Chapter 7

By B.J. Marshall

The final part of this chapter on the godless takes aim at agnosticism. Collins first gives Huxley's coinage of the term, and then he proceeds to misunderstand agnosticism in a way that's rife with glaring contradictions.

Collins gives a lengthy quote of Huxley's from Wikipedia, which you won't find in the Wikipedia article he references! His ... [visit site to read more]

Little-Known Bible Verses: Let God Plead His Own Cause

Ebonmuse — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:48:27 +0000

It's indisputable that Christianity is the dominant religion in America, and there are those who'd like to keep it that way. Right-wing legal groups like the Liberty Counsel and the Thomas More Law Center exist solely to maintain Christian superiority, arguing in court that Christian believers should be afforded more rights and privileges than everyone else. But the Bible itself ridicules this effort as unnecessary, as we can see from a little-known Bible verse. (HT: visit site to read more]

The Language of God: A Biologist in His Element (Sort Of)

Ebonmuse — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 12:38:15 +0000

The Language of God, Chapter 4

By B.J. Marshall

This chapter is entitled "Life on Earth: Of Microbes and Man." Right from the beginning, you should probably know that there's a lot in this chapter that Collins gets right. It's like how William Lane Craig is totally in his element when he talks about cosmology, because he's an astrophysi ... wait, that's right, he's not. (I couldn't help ... [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]

Crafting a Rational Theology

Ebonmuse — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:01:31 +0000

As atheists, we're well acquainted with the irrationalities of the world's religions. We've seen it all before: the absurdities in holy books, the convoluted twists of logic used by professional apologists, the self-contradictions and incoherent definitions that the faithful swallow without a qualm. All that can safely be taken for granted. Now let's see if we can do theology better.

I'm not speaking of ways that the world could ... [visit site to read more]

Whence Comes God's Nature?

Ebonmuse — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:39:17 +0000

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 anger, jealousy, love, and forgiveness; he can be persuaded to act on another's behalf; and so on.

The most peculiar aspect of this anthropomorphic theology is its ... [visit site to read more]

On Expertise

Ebonmuse — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:39:59 +0000

One of the most common complaints leveled against Richard Dawkins (and other atheist writers) is that his understanding of religion isn't sufficiently sophisticated - that he dismisses religion without delving into all its intricacies of doctrine. For instance, Terry Eagleton:

What, one wonders, are Dawkins's views on the epistemological differences between Aquinas and Duns Scotus? Has he read Eriugena on ... [visit site to read more]

Ten Questions to Ask Your Pastor

Ebonmuse — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:56:45 +0000

The New York Times recently ran a depressing article about the obstacles faced by public school science teachers. I don't envy teachers their job, as important as it is: between surly and unruly students, cash-strapped school districts, incompetent administrators, and the regimented, monotonous teaching needed to drill classes for standardized testing, they have more than enough to deal with. But this outrage may ... [visit site to read more]

Who Says You Can't Disprove God?

Ebonmuse — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:19:02 +0000

By Michael Martin

(Editor's Note: Welcome to Daylight Atheism's newest guest author! Most of you, I hope, have heard of Michael Martin, a professor emeritus of philosophy at Boston University and prominent author of books and scholarly papers defending atheism and naturalism. Some of his many published works include Atheism, Morality and Meaning (2002), The Big Domino in The Sky and Other Atheistic Tales (1996), The Case Against Christianity (1991), and ... [visit site to read more]

The Uses of Pre-Scientific Cosmology

Ebonmuse — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:22:24 +0000

Before the dawn of the scientific age, humankind had only its unaided senses to examine the universe. Certainly, there were awe-inspiring sights, but those alone give little insight into natural phenomena. At night we saw the stars and the planets circle overhead; each season we felt the rains fall and the wind blow; and in moments of terror, we saw lightning split the sky and the earth shake under our feet. But none of these things gave any clue to what the true nature of the heavens might be. ... [visit site to read more]