Life Without a Net
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One Hundred Thousand
Today I’d like to say thank you. As of today, I’ve passed one hundred thousand views. I’m honored and flattered, particularly at the number of people who have become regular readers. And to those of you who have taken it on yourselves to recommend fellow atheist friends on facebook, or to send links for my … Continue reading
Morality is in the Brain
It may seem trite to say, but morality is in our brains. A recent experiment at MIT has shown rather conclusively that a certain area of the brain is instrumental in making moral judgments. When electrical stimulation was used to disrupt the functioning of this region, subjects had significant difficulty determining the moral value of … Continue reading
A Bit of Soul Searching
Thanks to my harshest critic, Alison, I’ve spent a couple of days considering my beliefs about religion. I’m still thinking about them, but I have reached a couple of conclusions, and I’d like to share them with you. Maybe in the process of writing them out, I’ll spur myself on to further revelations. Question: Could … Continue reading
The Story of Easter, Part 3
Part 1 Part 2 What was Jesus… err… God… to do now? For the last seventy trillion years, he’d been thinking. Thinking. Thinking. There wasn’t really much else to do. He hadn’t invented time and space yet, so it didn’t feel like it had been all that long, but it had. And the question that … Continue reading
The Story of Easter, Part 2
Getting Himself Killed When last we left our intrepid deity, his plan for committing the single most loving and holy act in the history of the universe was well on its way to fruition: Create enormous universe for humans… check. Man, woman, talking snake, tree with evil fruit… check. Chosen people… check. Slaughtered goats, burnt … Continue reading
The Story of Easter, Part 1
I think it’s appropriate that Easter and the American Atheists Conference happen to line up this year. On Easter Sunday, I’ll most likely be recovering from a gin induced hangover and killing time in Newark waiting for a delayed flight, but that will be much more enjoyable to me than any Easter celebration. Even an … Continue reading
Greta Christina: Open Letter to Believers
As much as I enjoy being the guy who comes up with the really eloquent ways to say things, I also love tipping my hat to someone who does it better than me. Here’s the beginning of an “Open Letter to Believers,” by Greta Christina. I encourage all my readers to go there and read … Continue reading
Religious Experience and Attribution
I think today I will take a short detour to talk a little bit more about attribution errors and religion. I’ve been thinking (and researching) after reading GFelis’s comment on yesterday’s entry. Here’s one of the salient points: [T]here can’t be propositional attitudes (like belief or disbelief) in the absence of any concept defined and … Continue reading
Belief: Smoke and Mirrors
In anticipation of the American Atheists Conference, I’ve been focusing on what I believe are some of the biggest issues facing atheists and theists in America’s social climate. Today, I’d like to highlight a part of Daniel Dennett and Linda LaScola’s new paper, “Preachers Who Are Not Believers.” It’s a qualitative look at several case … Continue reading
Christian Philosopher: It’s About Morality
James S. Spiegel claims we have a morality problem. His new book, The Making of an Atheist, proposes that atheism is really just rebellion against God’s morality. He admits that it could appear unseemly or offensive to suggest that a person’s lack of belief in God is a form of rebellion. But he said in … Continue reading
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