February 2011
139 posts
4 tags
4 tags
“Placing a weapon to a child’s head, expecting conformity, is criminal....”
– Kenny Duit (via ageofreason)
7 tags
5 tags
5 tags
January 2011
168 posts
7 tags
Is Atheism a Religion?
I often hear from theists, deists, or philosophical ‘agnostics’ that atheism is a religion or that atheism requires faith. Frankly I have no desire to argue over definitions because when you are arguing over definitions you have generally missed the point of the discussion. That’s why when it is claimed atheism is a religion I protest that it is irrelevant to whether or not there...
3 tags
Atheist Challenge Day 15. Recommend a book. :)...
Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos
This book demonstrates just how bad people are at dealing with numbers and how that makes people susceptible to believing pseudoscience and general nonsense as a result. I never thought a book about math could be so funny either but Paulos makes use of some amusing anecdotes throughout the book.
Overall, its an easy and short book which essentially is the...
3 tags
“He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a fool; he that...”
– William Drummond (via ageofreason)
6 tags
The Challenge
doubtingmarcus reblogged doubtingmarcus
…The great thing about reality is that it is objective and things can be demonstrated. So this is an open-ended request to everyone, anyone, find your best argument for and reasons to believe in your god, as you define it, and I will promptly point out the flaws and if there are no flaws, and it is actually a good reason which holds up under...
Anonymous asked: Hi, I thought it would be cool if you could have a conversation with this Christian tumblr, who believes being gay is wrong.
http://niquelejon.tumblr.com/
http://niquelejon.tumblr.com/
8 tags
What Will You Do When Things Get Tough?
I just wanted to say that even when things were bleakest she never loss her faith in God.
Someone said that at the funeral of a relative of mine a few years ago. This is a classic example of believers taking this Job-esque unshakable or boosted faith in times of hardship as the highest of all virtues.
When people find out I’m an atheist I often hear someone say something akin to...
5 tags
3 tags
Atheist Challenge Day 14. On a scale of 1-10, how...
I’m doing just fine but its strange trying to put a number on my happiness. Not that I could always be better or that I’m unsatisfied with my life but there isn’t some ultimate high point of joy for which to base everything else around. There are always improvements that could occur in the world or that I could make in myself that may make me happier but it seems perverse to...
5 tags
Me of Little Faith
“You just have to have faith” says the person who has failed to convince someone of their position. What is faith? Perhaps the best known quote comes from the Bible which says it is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Typically exclusive to religious beliefs faith is what is needed to believe a proposition for which there is no evidence. Among many...
5 tags
6 tags
3 tags
Atheist Challenge Day 13. Would you ever...
I rule nothing out but its fairly obvious that most people who are religious would have a huge issue with what I do so serious dating would likely be problematic (side-note: I’ve decided I won’t get married until gay people have the same right to do so). However it would be unfair to say that religious beliefs aren’t an important issue to me and they do/would seriously affect any...
5 tags
8 tags
3 tags
Atheist Challenge Day 12. What happens when we...
No one has solid information on what happens when we die but the knowledge we have more than suggest that what we call I is totally dependent upon on the brain so there is little reason to believe our minds, and hence we, survive death.
With that said the nature of this question is such that we are incapable of verifying this at anytime in which it would be possible to communicate the answer but...
6 tags
4 tags
6 tags
Atheist Challenge Day 11. Do you have/plan on...
I neither have an career in the sciences nor am I pursuing one but my favorite science is astronomy/cosmology.
I say that with the large caveat of not knowing much about the field compared to other areas of science and with the acknowledgment that its not my runaway favorite (I’m also very intrigued by biology). With that said whether its listening to Neil deGrasse Tyson explain our place...
5 tags
4 tags
5 tags
3 tags
Atheist Challenge Day 10. Are you spiritual, or...
The word spiritual is perhaps the most useless word in all of English and as it is essentially meaningless to me it is quite difficult for me to answer this question but I’ll at least try:
My feet aren’t always on the ground… sometimes I jump. *Rimshot*
Terrible jokes aside, if by spiritual it is meant that I get a nice feeling when I see something beautiful in nature, that I...
4 tags
5 tags
5 tags
2 tags
Atheist Challenge Day 9. Even though you’re an...
I don’t really know what a “religious” experience means but I have had a few awe-inspiring moments of wonder, which I refer to as numinous, which I can recall.
The most recent of these occurred while watching an episode of the BBC documentary Planet Earth but the most memorable occasion was while watching this video depicting the known universe which, of course, comes with my...
6 tags
6 tags
3 tags
6 tags
4 tags
Atheist Challenge Day 8. What’s your political...
My political views are hard to pin down with a label. I could be called a liberal for most economic policies and a libertarian for most behavioral issues, like legalizing drugs, but overall there is hardly a way to describe my positions in brief.
As for my atheism “influencing how I feel about issues” I would just say every position I hold influences how I vote. Certainly there are...
7 tags
5 tags
6 tags
Atheist Challenge Day 7. Except for God, do you...
Not even a little bit. First of all referring to alleged phenomena as “supernatural” is problematic because if any of these phenomena were ever shown to be real it would join the normal realm of science. If it turns out that some people do have ESP it would be incorporated into neuroscience and physics and cease to be considered “supernatural.”
As for why I don’t...
4 tags
“Here’s something to think about: How come you never see a headline like...”
– Jay Leno
4 tags
Psychics - Changing the Meaning of a Mental...
Maybe its the intriguing nature of “what if it really existed” or maybe its the infuriating nature of people preying on the emotionally wounded but my favorite pseudoscience is without a doubt extra sensory perception (ESP) or as the believers call it parapsychology. So many people claim psychic powers of one kind or another yet every time they have been put to the test they have...
3 tags
“It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.”
– Voltaire
5 tags
6 tags
5 tags
6 tags
Atheist Challenge Day 6. How do you feel about...
I feel the “militant atheist” label is totally unjustified (they clearly aren’t condoning violence) but as for the group of so called “militant atheists“… I love those guys. I’ve read each of the four major recent books by Dennett, Harris, Dawkins and Hitchens. I would credit that experience with getting me to more vocal about my position. They helped...
3 tags
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities”
– Voltaire
4 tags
Atheist Challenge Day 5. Did you lose any friends...
I can only think of one person who I would remotely call a friend who was so angered by my position that we ceased to be friends. We weren’t very close but she was disheartened and pretty much avoided me after she found out. However that happened in high school, where friendships are broken over a lot more minor things than religious views.
Generally when dealing with my family and friends...
10 tags
No Apologies: Slavery is Endorsed in the Bible
Recently I had someone on these interwebs argue with me over the classic claim that the Bible doesn’t endorse slavery. Though he refused to use the word slavery he insisted the slavery in the Bible wasn’t “really slavery” because it wasn’t actually practiced and he simultaneously argued it was justified social slavery of prisoners of war or even voluntary slavery....