Richard Carrier on Being Agnostic or Atheist.
What do you think?
Daniel, I think Dennett's idea was that religion is not necessary for what believers claim it is necessary for. We can get over the fear of death without needing to posit faeries. Me and you...
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 1 hour ago
Good point. It's also, as I noted above, this bias people have which somehow gives more credence to ancient claims than modern ones. For some reason people are skeptical of modern miracle...
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 2 hours ago
People have this sense that if something is ancient and has been relatively cherished by many people it's more worthy of attention. We should call it "ancient bias". It's...
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 2 hours ago
Maybe some of you who were Christians can chime in on this, but is it not standard for Christians to leave Bible interpretation and cover-to-cover reading to their priests, pastors, teachers etc?
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 4 hours ago
That's an interesting story but it's already being outpaced by events. E.g.:
One of the original promises of AI was that it could serve as a superintelligent robot librarian....
Debunking Christianity: Why Do Christians Keep on Being Christian? · 6 hours ago
Also, it's very rare to encounter anyone who doesn't believe at least one other thing as ridiculous as what the street preacher is selling. So even if "very few people" would...
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 6 hours ago
36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab[g]; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger...
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 6 hours ago
I never cease to be amazed at the fact that the vast majority of churches are filled with middle aged and elderly people who, despite having become Christians more than 20 years...
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 6 hours ago
And I'm surprised that Dennett would have ignored terror management theory (Wikipedia link). One of the downsides of having...
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 7 hours ago
Religion is like any other vice: you need it until you manage to quit it.
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 7 hours ago
If you were to encounter the street preacher at age 4, and enough times, you might be more receptive. I trust that answers the question you raise. It's not so much that "people" are...
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 7 hours ago
It's fun to ask Gemini (link) about what happens to the angular momentum when a vast spinning galaxy collapses into a black hole. Short...
Debunking Christianity: Why Do Christians Keep on Being Christian? · 7 hours ago
The best cure for misattributed quotations is critical thinking, combined with a decent search game, and a working relationship with an AI LLM. See for example this chat where I ask Gemini
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 7 hours ago
If you were to encounter a street preacher standing on a corner saying things similar to what Paul supposedly said, very few people would believe what they heard. So, that raises the question of...
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 14 hours ago
To add to my post, just as love in religious texts is usually reserved for the in-group, so is the anger at, even hatred of, the "sinner", concern for repentance and moral correction. The...
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 14 hours ago
As Daniel Dennett used to say: "Religion is a crutch that people don't need."
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 15 hours ago
Preachers love to quote the occasional feel-good texts that we find in his letters, e.g. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not...
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 16 hours ago
I can excuse newer Christians for their biblical ignorance, since I too used to be an ignorant Christian. But that was back in my 20's. I never cease to be amazed at the fact that the vast...
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 16 hours ago
There is no hint here whatever that god was displeased or angry.
I've had this discussion with holy rollers numerous times, over the years. The incestuous rape of Lot...
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 18 hours ago
I just read this and thought it would be of interest.
Debunking Christianity: Why Do Christians Keep on Being Christian? · 18 hours ago
Thank you for this, David. Yes, so much whacked out.
Leviticus must also prove to a tough slog. So many ancient laws that make so sense.
I remember an old Pentecostal lady...
Debunking Christianity: The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1 · 19 hours ago
I guess one way to understand asking people to "offer privacy and prayers" is, "Just pray for me and otherwise mind your own damn business."
Debunking Christianity: Why Do Christians Keep on Being Christian? · 1 day ago
How does one offer prayers and privacy...trying to understand here...
Trance words are for virtue signaling, not for understanding.
Debunking Christianity: Why Do Christians Keep on Being Christian? · 1 day ago
Not sure this is off-topic or not: Title in Politico.com today, "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and wife announce divorce on ‘biblical grounds’".
Debunking Christianity: Why Do Christians Keep on Being Christian? · 1 day ago
I think of galaxies as more of a collection of celestial objects. Perhaps at some point in the distant future, all those bodies making up a galaxy may be absorbed into super-massive black holes.
Debunking Christianity: Why Do Christians Keep on Being Christian? · 2 days ago