To say that the mind supervenes on the brain is to say that the one is not identical with the other, no? Otherwise, "supervene" is an empty term. As I proposed to Robert Conner below, the...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 4 hours ago
??? To draw a distinction between a bodily organ and the functions of that organ, and the effects of the functions, is not to posit anything supernatural. I am guessing that atheists will in most...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 4 hours ago
That's substantiated.
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 5 hours ago
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 5 hours ago
It's still a bit mysterious how the brain made of goo produces subjective experience (see "the hard problem of consciousness"). The brain is made of individual neurons (and glial...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 6 hours ago
My own personal philosophy is to draw a connection between these two items:
7. Insist On Evidence. 11. Everything is Permissible, but Use Caution.
As the OP points out in...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 7 hours ago
No one contests that circulation is the heart and blood vessels because we have the technology to understand the anatomy, timing, and hemodynamics of the heart and vascular system. Not so with the...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 7 hours ago
I would briefly respond by noting that nothing about Fat Donny's ever been a big secret.
To 40% of American voters, sure. The ones who read multiple news sources and...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 8 hours ago
Some decades ago I read an anthropology book about Navajo humor, and one of the things that it said leaves them in stitches is the sight of a "white man" kicking his car or any other...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 8 hours ago
Traditional Christian values change by the pew.
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 8 hours ago
Well, traditionally Christians believed Jesus when he said no to divorce. That one had already gone out the window for American Christians thanks to the Sexual Revolution, before Trump showed up to...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 8 hours ago
To be fair to Tom's argument, we can relax "equals" to some degree while still leaving the conclusion as a valid basis for policy. For example, if "the brain" accounts for...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 8 hours ago
How about the fact that on atheism, the brain equals the mind
I think the above will be contested by many atheists. For example, I would think there is a difference between...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 9 hours ago
Indeed...what would significantly contribute toward ridding society of fundamentalist cults? Could we morally justify a Hitler-esque Holocaust on people who are driven more by emotion than...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 9 hours ago
Traditional Christian values change every few blocks when a church of a different denomination is reached.
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 9 hours ago
Continuing the Fiddler on the Roof theme:
The crisis comes when his youngest daughter, Chava, elopes with a Russion boy, a Gentile. She meets Tevye on the road and begs him not to reject...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 9 hours ago
If the courts tell them something is illegal/unconstitutional, the executive branch tells the judiciary to its face to suck a bag of dicks because the executive decides which laws...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 10 hours ago
Another thing that jumped out from the List: "You might feel the inclination to go argue with Christians about it, and you might fantasize about convincing Christians to renounce their faith...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 10 hours ago
Daniel, you are being too clinical talking about numbers. There was/is a lot more to the impact of The Troubles than just the numbers killed. I don't think there is a single family here that...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 10 hours ago
Ah, I guess I read too much into "Once you’ve deconverted" - deconversion is often a gradual process, so there may be no particular instant in time where the process is "done"...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 10 hours ago
Jesus was trans?
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 10 hours ago
Also, people don't leave their faith for logical reasons so much as emotional ones.
That's a very good point, and I think it speaks to the "proper" (or...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 10 hours ago
It's Bibliolatry. the Bible's still inspired and stuff, you're just interpreting it wrong.
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 10 hours ago
Some political science types have predicted this will devolve into a Northern Ireland type situation, bombings, assassinations, etc.
The Troubles of Northern Ireland were...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 11 hours ago
Observers who suggested the Northern Ireland scenario for the US also noted that it's not just the head count that determines the who wins, it's the level of commitment. If I believe my...
Debunking Christianity: "How to Become a non-Christian" by James Aames is a Brilliantly Conceived Book! · 12 hours ago