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 [...]
Two atheists, one, Sam Harris, a rather hardline but rational fellow and the other, Philip Ball, an “accommodationists” (at least in the view of PZ) are going at it and it is a pretty fascinating read.
Ball is arguing that it is folly to outright dismiss religious thinking as incompatible with science. He thinks that religion [...]
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 [...]
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.
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 [...]
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 [...]
