When we see thinking that is wrong we have to say, in the kindest and most helpful tone possible, perhaps, that it is wrong. For example, the earth is roughly 4 billion years old. If someone wants to claim it is 10,000 years old, they need to be told they are wrong. The writings of [...]
From Fox News:
Nearly 65,000 people have signed an online petition protesting President Obama’s scheduled May 17 commencement address at the University of Notre Dame, saying the president’s views on abortion and stem cell research “directly contradict” Roman Catholic teachings.
It’s hard for me to even comment on this. How weak is your goddamn faith if you [...]
Let’s give him a break, he’s old after all. Really old. Like approaching the average life expectancy old (which is 77.8 years). But his speech last night was confusing as hell. I can’t sum it up better than this article from the Guardian:
At the biggest moment of his political career, he delivered a flat, stupefyingly [...]
From an interesting article at People for the American Way (via The Minnesota Independent)
“Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden sends a clear message, true Christians need not apply in the Democratic Party,” said Dr. Gary Cass, Chairman and CEO of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. “Instead of picking a true Christian, Obama, a fake evangelical, has [...]
Here’s the deal — almost every thinking person thinks the Westboro Baptist Church is completely full of shit. They are evil, intolerant little fucks who put words into God’s mouth and act as if they have the complete and utter backing of the most supreme being in the universe, even as they spread hate and [...]
This is awesome:
The Great Desecration
Nothing must be held sacred. Question everything. God is not great, Jesus is not your lord, you are not disciples of any charismatic prophet. You are all human beings who must make your way through your life by thinking and learning, and you have the job of advancing humanities’ knowledge by [...]
Just want to chime in on the PZ Myers thing vs. Catholics thing.
It is not rational to expect people to hold sacred what you hold sacred. As PZ said in a recent post on the controversy: Your personal sense of the sacred in a piece of bread dough is absurd to me and imposes on me no sense of obligation.
Uproar over prayer service for gays grows
The archdiocese is now dictating to people who they can and cannot pray for.
WWJD? Seriously, what the fuck would Jesus do? He would be at this prayer service.
As an ex-Catholic atheist, I see St. Joan of Arc Church as one of the few good Catholic churches left in the [...]
The Liberal Debutante posted Why Atheists Annoy Me. I’m sure she is a very nice, smart person but I find that article completely annoying because it repeats all the same, lame criticisms that atheists are constantly barraged with by theists. It gets even worse in the comments.
It’s annoying because the other side of this little [...]
After having recently interviewed Ernan McMullin I found this page on writings by Christian scientists. These are the lot that Myers and Dawkins tend to not talk about because they make sense. I still tend to think their theology is silly but at least it doesn’t conflict with scientific principles.
I found this quote interesting from [...]
Over at scienceblogs there is a recurring argument debate about “framing”. My definition of framing is wording an argument in a manner that your audience is going to be most receptive to. It’s crafting an argument carefully with the goal of convincing people of its authenticity.
Using this definition its literally self-evident that if you want [...]
Here is a very interesting interview I did with Ernan McMullin. He is a fascinating guy who knew Schrodinger and Carl Sagan. He is a priest and he studied theoretical physics. He is currently the O’Hara Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame and the godfather of a good friend of mine. [...]
Here’s what we know:
1. 13.73 billion years ago, the universe was created.
2. Somewhere around 4 billion years ago the Earth was created.
3. Around 3 billion years ago, life formed.
4. Life evolved and grew more and more complex and diverse.
5. Today there are millions of species.
The Intelligent Design (ID) movement, exemplified by the movie Expelled, has [...]
Further to my brief post below, here is a lovely review of Expelled, from which I quote:
“Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” may be the first volley in the next battle by creationists to give their movement intellectual weight. But its cartoon version of evolutionary theory, Its remarkable lack of evidence for its case, its unbalanced and [...]
I got a note from an acquaintance:
Mike,
I just wanted to drop you a note letting you know how much I enjoy your lolife blog. I’ve been a silent reader over the years and appreciate the efforts you put into it. I have paid extra attention to your religion posts as I have taken [...]
Go check out this podcast or watch this video. Susan Jacoby talks about her new book, The Age of American Unreason as well as my favorite topics like secularism and politics. She also wrote the very excellent book Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism.
Lots of people like to portray secularists as angry atheists. Listen to [...]
micadelic had once asked:
Curious then, would you be more likely to vote for an apparent true believer like Obama or an obvious panderer like Hillary? I ask this seriously as I do think that Hillary appears somewhat insincere and phony in religious settings. Or do you just have to throw religion out the window totally [...]
Christian Dating Tips…Honoring Christ, Your Date, and Yourself!
If a Christian man is kissing his date and it gives him an erection (often just the possibility of a kiss can do this), is God or his date being honored?
Yeah, I’m sure God is disgusted by the reproductive processes he invented.
Remember folks: God made sex fun! He [...]
