… give or take
The following video features five “questions for the atheist.” Each is based on a common fallacy or misconception on the part of theists. Let’s take a look at the arguments made, and where they fail. This was originally intended to be one post, but each of the five sections turned out to be long enough [...]
Those who argue that Islam is basically incompatible with the secular and humanist values of the west, while Christianity is friendly to them, often focus on two major arguments. First, on a historical basis, they cite the supposedly “peaceful” origins of Christianity relative to the violent origins of Islam. Second, on a theological or doctrinal [...]
A recent BBC survey ranks the US number 2 in the world in terms of overall sinfulness. Each country studied was ranked in each of the 7 sins, and then given an overall rank. America takes the cake (no pun intended) in the category of gluttony. Australia is ranked at number 1 in terms of [...]
A seemingly ancient argument made by the religious right and their apologists is that “America is a Christian nation.” Therefore all sorts of theocratic nonsense is justified. Let’s see just how Christian this country is. 1. Greed Perhaps the easiest and most straightforward measure of the un-Christian character of the US is the economic system [...]
Here is a (relatively) old video I came across where physicist Steven Weinberg shares his thoughts on religion and its pernicious effects. In reference to George Bush’s idea that Islamic terrorists have “hijacked” an otherwise “good” religion, he says the following: I think, for example, George Bush said that these terrorists have hijacked a great religion. [...]
I recently have been engaged in a back-and-forth with some of the bloggers on Elect Exiles. One of the bloggers, Drew, put forward some ideas for proving the existence of god. I am addressing these here because they seem to be common arguments put forward by the religious. Let’s get started. In reference to Richard [...]
Many religious people like to claim that a development for the appreciation of human rights, civil rights, and the like originated from religion. They point to this passage in the Bible, or that page of the Quran, or the leadership of various religious figures from Bartolome de las Casas to Martin Luther King Jr, and [...]
I recently visited a blog on the Fox News website discussing an episode where the panelists were talking about the Fort Hood killings and Islamic terrorism. Numerous topics came up, but these two interested me: (1) Are Christianity and Islam comparable as religions? (2) Is Islam even a religion in the first place? Are Christianity and Islam [...]
An article today from the AP talks about a rise in people seeing many children as “witches,” and persecuting them accordingly (torturing, killing, all that good stuff). The article focuses on Nigerian churches, but of course this is an Africa-wide problem. Something I will be exploring in future posts is the phenomenon that religiosity today [...]