January 2011
168 posts
1 tag
December 2010
51 posts
7 tags
9 tags
Just Look Around... Therefore God
This argument comes in many forms but basically it says that some natural entity, whether an eye or the cosmos itself, is to complex, to beautiful or to awe-inspiring to be a product of the natural universe.
Proponents often like to point out that this marvelously complex life on Earth could not have come about through chance and therefore, a god must be directly responsible for this complexity....
7 tags
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in...”
– Buddha (via ageofreason)
9 tags
Just Look Around... Therefore God
This argument comes in many forms so representing its awfulness perfectly is difficult. Basically it says that some natural entity, whether an eye or the cosmos itself, is to complex, to beautiful or to awe-inspiring to be a product of the natural universe.
Proponents often like to point out that this marvelously complex life on Earth could not have come about through chance and therefore, God....
1 tag
Top 20 Logical Fallacies →
Something to point to when someone starts spouting non-sequiters.
8 tags
9 tags
Thinking God into Existence?
There are many versions of the ontological argument but they all basically take this form:
God is the greatest imaginable being.
All else being equal, a being or entity that exists is greater than one that doesn’t.
Therefore, God exists.
And while I could immediately point out that existence is not a attribute because non-existent things can not have attributes, it is much more fun to...
1 tag
1 tag
2 tags
Ever Wonder What Happened to that Childhood Bully? →
According to this study they frequently turn out to be terrible adults too.
5 tags
9 tags
First Cause... of Failure
The cosmological, aka first cause, argument has many forms but the most basic one is like:
Every contingent entity which exists must have a cause.
Nothing can cause itself to exist.
A causal chain cannot be of infinite length.
Therefore, a First Cause must exist.
This First Cause is God.
The primary problem with this argument is that it attempts to apply our local understanding of causality,...
5 tags
8 tags
I Can't Explain That... Therefore God
“Did your house get struck by lightning?” “Sorry to hear that but we don’t know why it happened, therefore Zeus did it.”
That is the basic extent of this line of reasoning. I can’t think of anything better, therefore I’m going with the conclusion I’ve already reached, no matter the evidence.
This is the god of the gaps argument otherwise known as...
5 tags
3 tags
Merry Christmas
Yes, nonbelievers celebrate Christmas. I enjoy a winter festival as much as the next person and I would have said Happy Holidays but Hanukkah is over and no one actually celebrates Kwanzaa.
With that said, Christmas for me is a time for giving and remembering plenty lame jokes which I enjoyed in my youth.
Here’s to a wonderful Christmas for you and yours,
Marcus
P.S. I’ve had a no...
3 tags
Merry Christmas
Yes, nonbelievers celebrate Christmas. I enjoy a winter festival as much as the next person and I would have said Happy Holidays but Hanukkah is over and no one actually celebrates Kwanzaa.
With that said, Christmas for me is a time for giving and remembering plenty lame jokes which I enjoyed in my youth.
Here’s to a wonderful Christmas for you and yours,
Marcus
P.S. I’ve had a no...
7 tags
Christians are Now the Minority in Britain →
Who says things don’t change?
7 tags
8 tags
I Can't Explain That... Therefore God
“Did your house get struck by lightning?” “Sorry to hear that but we don’t know why it happened, therefore Zeus did it.”
That is the basic extent of this reasoning. I can’t think of anything better, therefore I’m going with the conclusion I’ve already reached, no matter the evidence.
This is the god of the gaps argument otherwise known as the...
5 tags
1 tag
8 tags
8 tags
Fool's Wager
Joe: Do you believe in God?
Laura: No, there is no evidence God exist.
Joe: But what if you are wrong?
That is the seed of Pascal’s Wager, in my opinion perhaps the worst argument for believing in God, yet it gets used all the time by theists. It plays on the chance of hell being real but completely disregards every other religion but the one the believer is putting forward, ignores...
2 tags
No Homo(Sapiens) →
A new hominin species that existed up until about 50,000 years ago has been found and apparently they interbred with us, homo sapiens.
11 tags
The Bible says its true... Therefore its true
If “this book says it’s true, therefore it’s true” were a valid reason to believe a document any writings which claimed to be true would have to be hailed as true. This would literally include every theory ever proposed which purports to it’s on truth from 12 foot tall blood drinking, shape-shifting reptilian humanoids have been secretly dominating the world for...
5 tags
Religiously Based Homophobia in the Media
Apparently CNN and the Washington Post has been giving a platform to Peter Sprigg, a fellow at the Christian organization Family Research Council, to spout his anti-homosexual rhetoric. One must immediately ask if they would be so hospitable to racists, sexists or other bigots?
I know all Christians don’t support this type of behavior but his position is twice justified by the Old Testament...
4 tags
You May Slowly Be Drinking Poison
Hexavalent chromium, a likely carcinogen according to the EPA, which was made famous by the film Erin Brockovich, has been found in the drinking water of 31 U.S. cities by the Environmental Working Group. Not to instill panic, because this is but the first step at identifying a problem, but this is quite terrible news, partially because it can induce panic, but mainly because there isn’t the...
3 tags
2 tags
Drink it Up
No that is not the latest abstract painting of a highly regarded artist, it is what a White Russian looks like under a microscope and it is one of a series of microscopic pictures done on alcoholic cocktails. No I don’t know what his Dudeness would say but I can say that these pictures are fascinating and worth a look.
4 tags
The Ownage
In addition to my open challenge to believers to prove their religious claims I’ll be posting a series of brief destructions of common reasons to believe in/arguments for god(s). For the most part they consist of piss poor arguments which have been refuted innumerable times but still I’ll shortly dispose of them because most people aren’t aware of this so meme spreading is useful...
6 tags
The Challenge
In our society perhaps the largest area where skepticism applies is to religion. When people find out I’m an atheist they frequently dismiss it as rebellion against god and when I point out to them that there is no evidence for god, and lots against some prominent concepts, they dismiss my reasons as just a personal difference, the result of a negative experience or simply don’t...
2 tags
Look Again - Bionic Eyes
No these bionic eyes can’t shoot lasers, though that would be cool, but they can cure some forms of blindness. London doctors are currently preparing to implant the very first permanent stand-alone bionic eyes. If this works it could mean the end of blindness for millions of people and simply, the idea of bionic eyes is just way cooler than people who say “cooler than the other side...
3 tags
The Intro: Is This On?
Hello people who accidentally clicked my link, and those other few who actually intended to come here, you’ve reached Doubting Marcus a place for science and pseudoscience, reason and faith, the verifiable truth and those “you can’t prove it didn’t happen” claims. I am Marcus and I’ll be your blogger and skeptic this evening and for many more to come.
Here...
Drink it Up
No that is not the latest abstract painting of a highly regarded artist, it is what a White Russian looks like under a microscope and it is one of a series of microscopic pictures done on alcoholic cocktails. No I don’t know what his Dudeness would say but I can say that these pictures are fascinating and worth a look.
Look Again - Bionic Eyes
No these bionic eyes can’t shoot lasers, though that would be cool, but they can cure some forms of blindness. London doctors are currently preparing to implant the very first permanent stand-alone bionic eyes. If this works it could mean the end of blindness for millions of people and simply, the idea of bionic eyes is just way cooler than people who say “cooler than the other side...
The Ownage
In addition to my open challenge to believers to prove their religious claims I’ll be posting a series of brief destructions of common reasons to believe in/arguments for god(s). For the most part they consist of piss poor arguments which have been refuted innumerable times but still I’ll shortly dispose of them because most people aren’t aware of this so meme spreading is useful...
10 tags
The Bible says its true... Therefore its true
Any tinfoil hat wearing nutjob’s writings which claim to be true would be hailed as true if this wear a valid reason to believe a document. Every wacko theory ever proposed from 12 foot tall blood drinking, shape-shifting reptilian humanoids have been secretly dominating the world for millennia to the Nazis secretly had a moon base And every not so crazy theory, you know like those ones...
9 tags
Thinking God into Existence?
Ontological Argument = Childishness
The simplest form of the argument holds to something like:
God is the greatest imaginable being.
All else being equal, a being or entity that exists is greater than one that doesn’t.
Therefore, God exists.
And while I could point out that existence is not a attribute because non-existent things could not have attributes, it is much more fun to...
10 tags
First Cause... of Failure
The cosmological, aka first cause, argument has many forms but the most basic one is like:
Everything that exists must have a cause.
If you follow the chain of events backwards through time, it cannot go back infinitely, so eventually you arrive at the first cause.
This cause must, itself, be uncaused.
But nothing can exist without a cause, except for God.
Therefore, God exists.
This...
8 tags
Fool's Wager
Joe: Do you believe in God?
Laura: No, there is no evidence God exist.
Joe: But what if you are wrong?
That is the seed of Pascal’s Wager, in my opinion perhaps the worst argument for believing in God, yet it gets used all the time by theists. It plays on the chance of hell being real but completely disregards every other religion but the one the believer is putting forward, ignores...
The Challenge
In our society perhaps the largest area where skepticism applies is to religion. When people find out I’m an atheist they frequently dismiss it as rebellion against god and when I point out to them that there is no evidence for god, and lots against some prominent concepts, they dismiss my reasons as just a personal difference, the result of a negative experience or simply don’t...