Your Brain Lies To You, What To Do?

The evidence is in, your brain lies to you. LINK. What's the solution? Train your brain to think better. It can be done. Be willing to question everything. Make doubt a habit. Where there is scholarly disagreement between peers then suspend judgment. Accept only sufficient objective evidence concerning matters of fact. Think exclusively in terms of the probabilities. Think like a scientist.

What ISIS Really Wants

An excellent essay with the above title was written by Graeme Wood for The Atlantic. In addition to it read What The Atlantic Left Out About ISIS According To Their Own Expert. Both essays are very instructive. The advice is to let ISIS slowly bleed itself to death. See what that means.

Jerry Coyne Reports This Was Banned by Facebook

Sam Harris On Evidence and Logic

Bruce Gerencser's Deconversion Story

As a former Pastor, Bruce mentioned some authors that helped him deconvert (as it's called). Just today Jerry Coyne wrote about his story and stressed the value of published books, which apparently is my specialty. We're making a difference!

It’s None of Your Damn Business! Financial Corruption in Modern Christianity

The Grahams: Three Generations of  Wealth and Greed

"Share Jesus with your friends." (Then have them share their wallets with us!)

I can’t count the number of times have I've heard stated (while pointing out the rich life styles of big time evangelists such as Benny Hinn,  Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Myers and Jesse Duplantis (to name but a few)); that while there are some Televangelist who exploit their position for monetary gain, Billy Graham has been the poster evangelist for truth and honesty . . . one of the truly great Christian preachers who is only here to preach Christ.

Responding to Christian Casuistry: Theodicy and the Fallen World

There are two principal ways that Christian believers dodge legitimate questions about their deity’s inadequate management of the universe—In fact one Benedict Arnold strategy of throwing one’s fellow human under the bus. First, there is free will, which God is powerless to abrogate unless it’s to get that really cute guy on Christian Mingle to fall in love with you. God wants us to love him freely, and we prefer to love orgasms; therefore, tornadoes.

Getting Outside Ourselves

I recently responded to a rather nice blog post by Herb Silverman as follows:

The average lifespan of a Drosophila fruit fly is about 30 days. Imagine what it observes from its perspective: young humans, old humans, middle-aged humans, wandering through the world. No single fruit fly observes a human of one sort turning into another. From its "pre-theoretic" point of view, it only sees "types" of humans that are more or less "fixed" across time (the 30 days of its life). There's no direct evidence of human aging in any single fruit fly generation. Then a particularly clever fruit fly comes along and claims that -- all intuitions to the contrary -- one type of human can actually turn into another: little children can get taller, become adults, and then become gray and wizened. I understand how this might be difficult for fruit flies to accept. And yet it's true: people do age! We're in the exact same position with respect not to development, but to evolution. I understand why evolution (speciation, transmutation) is hard to believe. But a lack of imagination and openness to the evidence is no excuse in 2015. ...

Tristan Vick's New Book Exposes Randal Rauser As a Rhetorician Without Much Substance

Tristan Vick is the Advocatus Atheist and has interacted with Randal Rauser for a few years. This past weekend Vick released a new book dealing with the rhetoric of Rauser, titled The Swedish Fish, Deflating the Scuba Diver and Working the Rabbit's Foot, which Edward Babinski and Robert M. Price helped him on.I've seen an advanced copy and I recommended it in these words:

Randal Rauser prides himself on reaching out to atheists. But if Tristan Vick’s book is any indication, he’s failing. He’s failing precisely because he’s not really interested in searching for truth but in defending what he already believes is truth. Although Vick doesn’t have the credentials Rauser has, it doesn’t take much to find fault with the rhetoric that Rauser substitutes in place of good arguments. Tristan Vick effectively demonstrates he will say just about anything in defense of his faith. Well done Tristan!

I'm going recap how Rauser has done so far, and give my predictions of upcoming projects.

The Hijab Is Still A Hate Symbol

August 15, 2012. A gun wielding man named Floyd Lee Corkins attacks the offices of the homophobic Christian group Family Research Council (FRC) in Washington, DC, intending to kill "as many people as possible", yet is stopped from killing anyone by a man who gets seriously injured in the process. Even though he later pleads guilty and is now serving a long prison sentence, in the opinion of FRC chair Tony Perkins, he is not the only one responsible for the attack.

The True Religion Trap

The Des Moines Register has published my comments on The True Religion Trap, which is one of the most dangerous ideas permeating our society—from the average citizen to our world leaders.

Refuting the "Fine Tuning" Argument for God (Sean Carroll)

Physicist Sean Carroll lays some of the problems with the popular "fine tuning" arguments for a god. 

You can check out Carroll's post-debate reflections on his blog here: http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2014/02/24/post-debate-reflections/

Reading the Bible Without The Veil of Dogma: The Father Sickens, Jesus Heals

If there is an omnipotent being, is it really that marvelous that he can cure blindness?

Quote of the Day On Ridicule, By G.W. Foote

British atheist and Freethinker George William Foote (1850-1915) wrote:

Goldsmith said there are two classes of people who dread ridicule–priests and fools. They cry out that it is no argument, but they know it is. It has been found the most potent form of argument. Euclid used it in his immortal Geometry; for what else is the reductio ad absurdum which he sometimes employs? Elijah used it against the priests of Baal. The Christian fathers found it effective against the Pagan superstitions, and in turn it was adopted as the best weapon of attack on them by Lucian and Celsus. Ridicule has been used by Bruno, Erasmus, Luther, Rabelais, Swift, and Voltaire, by nearly all the great emancipators of the human mind. ["On Ridicule" Seasons of Freethought, 2013, page 260. See the tag "Ridicule" below for others who embrace it.]

A Video Expressing the Outsider Test for Faith

Sometimes I think people are using my material without giving me credit. Nonetheless, this is a very good video and I'm happy my ideas are getting out there. I may have linked to it before. Keep in mind I don't endorse every specific thing said. The only person I agree with 100% is me, but even then there are times I disagree later. ;-)

Could This Be My Conversation Stopper?

On Facebook I listed a few criteria for accepting friend requests. One person quoted one of them (in yellow) and responded in a comment. This will be my standard response to such efforts. Since belief springs from a blinded ignorance and since as a non-believer I have read extensively, then I have much more to teach most believers than they could possibly teach me.

Bob Jones University: Using Science to Prove the Bible

Bob Jones University Seal

While many conservative Christian schools require a affirmation of faith in the Bible, Bob Jones University carries this process one step further by having two of their science professors offer an apologetic defense of the Bible . . . something one would expect of their mentally programmed Bible Faculty (one cannot teach religion at BJU with a degree in Christian studies from another institution.  If you want proof, then checkout their Faculty – Division of Bible and Seminary and Graduate School of Religion.)    
 
 In order to teach in the Science Department at BJU, all professors are required to sign a yearly statement of faith which includes affirming the following dogmas.

An Affirmation of Biblical Creation at Bob Jones University

Blaspheme or Else...

Dr. Hector Avalos has written a newspaper column on the necessity of blasphemy in a secular and religiously pluralistic society.

John Loftus On "The Outsider Test for Faith" for the Pennsylvania State Atheist/Humanist Conference

Ridicule and Shaming Work, So Let's Use Them. The Arguments Behind This Are Solid and Factual

Who says ridicule, and now shaming, doesn't work? No one, probably, but it does, most emphatically, as I've written in several posts to date. Now there is a call to ridicule and shame the anti-vaccine movement, just as we do to the KKK. Now, let's consider the impact of ridicule and shame on religions like Christianity and Islam. No wonder Muslims don't like being ridiculed. They know where it can lead.

Iceland Is Building a Temple to Its Pagan Gods

The God Thor

"The God of Thunder is making a triumphant return to Iceland. After 1,000 years without a temple of worship to the Norse gods, Iceland is resurrecting its pagan roots."

You can read the full article here:  Why Iceland Is Building a Temple to Its Pagan Gods

Two Important Upcoming Atheist Books

One is by Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning, due in April. I wrote a blurb for this book.

The other one is by evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne, Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible, due in May. I hope to review it, which I'm sure I'll love it!He tells me that he highly recommends my book The Outsider Test for Faith: How to Know Which Religion Is Truein it.

Order both of these books now. It helps create some buzz. Here they are again, along with some other important recent atheist books I recommend:

"True Islam" and violent extremism

Now the dust has settled on the Charlie Hebdo affair (though, of course, there is no respite in the Middle East, or in Nigeria or Somalia), I thought it might be a good time to post this article here (it was originally at my blog here). The idea is not to demonise Islam unnecessarily - that helps no one - but to give credit (!) where credit is due. I am interested in truth. I want to look, with this piece, at whether Islam has causal responsibility in some important part, in its core ideals and motifs, for such violence. Buckle up.

You have a Personal Experience of God? That Tells Me Jack About Reality

The problem with theism is not only that it is false, but encourages cosmic myopia. In the face of countless competing claims, the believer insists that it is his story that answers the world's important questions.