I Think Many Christians Just Do Not Give a Damn That People Die

Yep, that's what I've concluded. Theirs is a faith that must dismiss the tragedy of death. It does not matter to them who dies, how many people die, or what the circumstances are when they die. It could be the death of a mother whose baby depends upon her for milk during the first few months of life. It could be a pandemic like cholera that decimated parts of the world in 1918, or the more than 23,000 children who die every single day from starvation. These deaths could be by suffocation, drowning, a drive-by shooting, or being slowly burned to death. It doesn't matter to them. Their God is good. Death doesn't matter. People die all of the time.

DC Ranked 7th Place Among Atheist Blogs and 4th Place Among Bibliobloggers

Hey, I'm just tooting my own horn. Why not? It sounds good to me on New Years Eve, since that's what we do. Here are the rankings:

Prometheus Books is the Premier Atheist Publisher in Our Generation

Sometimes I lose patience when I have to respond to the same ill-informed drivel week after week that I just decided to make a post about it. It's claimed that since Prometheus Books is an ideologically driven publishing house it's not an objective publisher and should be regarded as inferior to some other publishers. Let's think about this, okay?

On The Lighter Side...

Here's some comic relief by using literal lyrics to the video "Total Eclipse of the Heart." It made me laugh out loud.

Christian THINK: How Did We Learn About What Kills Us?

It's curious to me how often most Christians just do not think about some things. Has it ever occurred to you how human beings first learned what killed us? Take lead poisoning for instance. Do you know that people had to die before we could figure it out? Then think about all of the poisonous plants and venomous creatures. People had to die from eating certain plants and being bitten by certain creatures before we knew what not to do. Take polluted water. Same thing. Read the book, The Ghost Map and see for yourself. You see, there was no other way. None. And if a good God existed and put us in this environment he didn't do us any good. At best a good God would've told us in advance to avoid the kinds of things that will kill our daughters, fathers, husbands and wives. But he didn't. So he knew in advance people would have to die tragic and sudden deaths before we could figure it out.

Who or What is a Biblioblogger? By Dr. Hector Avalos, Iowa State University

It started just like many religious sectarian wars do. One blogger who regards himself as a “true” biblioblogger accused another blogger of being a “false” bliblioblogger. In this case the true biblioblogger is supposed to be Jim West, who first issued the accusation, and the false biblioblogger is supposed to be John Loftus. John Loftus responds that West is just afraid that a secularist is fast gaining ground in the biblioblogosphere. Who is right?

My Credentials Are My Arguments

Since I don't have a doctorate and the title to my blog is an attention getter some Christian scholars don't think much of me when they first hear of me. Don't misunderstand me. I do have some credentials. To see them just click on my profile page (later Dr. Hector Avalos is going to compare my credentials with those of Jim West). As an atheist I have been honored to speak at a Midwest regional meeting of the Evangelical Philosophical Society, and was a panelist for the annual Society of Biblical Literature last year. In February I'm debating Dinesh D'Souza at the University of Illinois. So this should all say something I'd guess. But to those still unpersuaded let me show you the respect I have gained from some Christian scholars because of my arguments. I have regularly engaged Christian philosophers and apologists here at DC, some of whom you know.

Loftus Single Handedly Shut Down the Biblioblogger List! ;-)

Well, I did it folks. I bested all but two Bibliobloggers in rankings this month, the other results can be found here. This has caused no small problem for some Bible bloggers, since they just can't stand the fact that a Blog named "Debunking Christianity" outranked nearly all of them. Now some of them are personally attacking me.

Apparently, the list was shut down because of me, one lone secular Bible blogger! ;-) Now they'll attack me because I'm crowing about it. But then there is no bigger rooster than Jim West who crowed about his ranking every single month when he was at the top of the list. If someone starts another list I'll be sure to apply for that one too. Whatever criteria they use to exclude me will exclude others, maybe lots of others, including Jim West himself, if the criteria is changed to say one must have an earned doctorate from a recognized accredited institution! ;-) I didn't mean to cause this much trouble. I just wanted to be included. But it has been fun to see their reaction, that's all. More later...

The 2nd Highest Ranked Biblioblogger Claims I Am Not a Biblioblogger

Yep, Christian Bloggers are upset about the fact that I bested nearly all of them this month, being ranked 4th over most all of them (maybe 3rd if we wait until tomorrow to see). Now come the personal attacks. They'll claim it's because I crowed about this feat, which I did, and that I attacked Jim West's credentials, which you can see both Dr. Hector Avalos and I did, although West attacked my credentials to be a Biblioblogger first. They'll also say it's because I criticized an argument of his, which I did. But the bottom line is that West and the rest just can't stand it. And they're censoring my comments, so in the interests of fairness I'll post what I said for you to judge for yourself whether my latest comment should be censored:

Which Christian Has Done the Most For Atheism in 2009?

This poll was suggested to me by Craig A. James and it's a good one. This time before starting the poll I'd like your input. I have Ray Comfort, Dinesh D'Souza (a friend of mine I'll admit), James White, Oral Roberts, Ken Hamm, and possibly JP Holding. Were there any high profile scandals I'm missing, or others you'd like to see included? Other nominees can be suggested below. Tell me why you think they should be included.

Calculate Your God Delusion Index

Go ahead. See what you think.

Just half of Britons now call themselves Christian after a ‘sharp decline’ in faith over past 25 years

By Martin Beckford of the Telegraph:

The God Delusion

Can you see why atheists are so passionate about this? See below:

A Q &A I Had on Facebook With A Friend From Ministry Days

Why not share my little tidbits with everyone and not have to write stuff twice, right?

Could it Be? Jim West Has No Credible Doctorate? And Yet He Rails Against Homeschooling?

Then he is perpetrating a sham, trying to push himself and his work off as a credible scholar from a recognized institution. A comment from Dr. Hector Avalos alerted me to this. Sounds like Jim "protests too much" doesn't it? Here is what I found:

Greta Christina on "Why I Don't Believe in the Soul"

Check it out.

Idiot of the Year Nominees Now Being Accepted

Suggest them here or over at Atheist Revolution. Jim West anyone? After all, look what he thinks of atheists:

Jim West is Upset With Me for Shutting Down the Biblioblogger List

Jim West just can't take it, 'cause that means he can't crow anymore about his monthly rankings. Sorry Mr. Bible Belt, but you just got roped in by this cowboy. Your time is over, you has-been. So now he's resorted to slamming me not just once, but twice. For the record, I'm now ranked in 4th place among Bibliobloggers at Alexa, coming in at 223,352, overtaking the prolific James McGrath, who's definition of a miracle includes such a feat. No wonder they don't want to do the list anymore, 'cause who wants it known that a site called "Debunking Christianity" beat out most Bible Blogs. This is a smack down, I'd say, and I was only getting started. ;-)

Derren Brown the So-Called Messiah

Derren Brown is a skeptic who tried to get various religious leaders to embrace and endorse his spiritual powers. The episodes I recommend here have to do with Derren converting other skeptics with the touch of his hand in front of an evangelical pastor, and he pulled it off! What the hell went on here? Who are we as human beings? This stuff puzzles me to no end. Is it just the era we live in, or the human mind that has a transcendental temptation? See for yourself, especially episodes 2-4 below.

Top Twenty Substantive Posts of Mine in 2009

Here is what I think as I went through the archives. See what you think. It seems as though I lean heavily toward later posts because they are fresh on my mind, but then again maybe it's because I keep getting better and better! Here's the countdown:

Steven Weinberg on Pascal's Wager

Check it out.

Can We Compare Santa Claus and Jesus?

In perhaps one respect for sure...

Pat Condell: "Provide Evidence or Expect Mockery and Ridicule"

Here at DC I try to carry on a reasonable discussion with people who disagree with me. In the interests of fairness, what do you think of Pat Condell's approach below? I agree with him that Christian beliefs are ridiculous. And I know many Christians think atheism is ridiculous. What if both sides in this debate approached each other as Condell suggests? Many of them do.

More and More Christians Are Leaving the Fold Every Single Day!

If you want to read these testimonies you need to visit or bookmark Ex-Christian.net. They're coming from a wide variety of backgrounds. And they're doing so for a wide variety of reasons because there are so many reasons to do so.

Atheist Alliance International 2009 Videos

Here are the lecture videos from Atheist Alliance International 2009 conference, in descending order of awesomeness as posted by Luke of Common Sense Atheism:

Link