Scientists Find the Fountain of Youth

Do you want to know why I trust science rather than religion? Because science delivers the goods. In an amazing feat scientists have been able to reverse the aging process in mice. "These mice were equivalent to 80-year-old humans and were about to pass away," said Ronald DePinho...After the experiment, "they were the physiological equivalent of young adults." Scientists say we may be able to expect this with human beings in 15-20 years! No wonder Christians accuse us of worshiping science (which we don't)--because it produces amazing results. I must live longer. I must live another 20 years. I must.

Had this science been around a century ago my famous great grandfather could have lived longer. He died at the age of 53 from throat cancer. When I say he was famous I mean he's the stuff of a Hollywood movie. He was a lifelong friend of Charles Cominskey and also managed the Chicago Cubs (then the Orphans) under owner Albert Spalding (with part ownership). Had he lived longer he could've seen baseball enter the "live ball era" with the likes of Babe Ruth, and he could be as instrumental in that new phase of professional baseball as he was in the tumultuous phase he lived through. At least he was able to see the Cubs win back to back World Series a century ago!

Why I Don’t Believe the Bible is God’s Word.

According to Calvinists I don’t believe because God has determined from the beginning of time that I should not believe. It’s God’s secret will for me. I cannot believe unless God wants me to believe. It doesn’t bring him as much glory if I believe, so this is what he wants. He does not want me to believe the Bible is his word. For the Calvinist this is the end of the discussion. For me, it presents an additional reason why I don’t believe, for not only do I not see the evidence to believe, I also reject the supposition that God would both call on me to believe and at the same time secretly desire that I should not believe. What does God really desire here?...that I don’t believe…that’s the bottom line. My unbelief is exactly what God desires. It brings him the most glory. Calvinists should praise God that I don't believe. But what kind of God is this? See here.

Debunking Christianity Ranked in 5th Place on Both Sides of the Divide

This site has a unique status on both sides of this debate, for it's ranked in 5th place on the Society of Biblical Literature's Bibliobloggers list and among atheist blogs. While it's hard to continually have the ears of both sides, I'll take that. It's what I want.

Dr. James Sennett's Review of My Book, "Why I Became an Atheist"

In the recent issue of the Stone-Campbell Journal Sennett says, among other things:

He presents a compendium of well-reasoned arguments (wrapped together nicely in a steadily developed “cumulative case”) against the central beliefs of Christianity...Loftus’s arguments are not the easily-refuted caricatures so often offered in Bible college textbooks and Sunday school materials. They are the genuine article – clear, well-articulated statements of plausible arguments by one who finds them overwhelmingly convincing. I dare say very few preachers, teachers, and Bible students have its likes on their shelves. And it should be there.

A Discussion I Had With Dr. Victor Reppert

Is he just dense, or what? See what you think.

A Discussion I'm Having with Dr. Thomas Talbott (and others)

See what you think. It begins toward the end of a long discussion of my OTF started by Victor Reppert. Click here.

Debate: Does the Universe Have a Purpose?

Richard Dawkins, Michael Shermer, and Matt Ridley recently debated William Lane Craig, Douglas Geivett, and Rabbi David Wolpe on the topic: Does the Universe Have a Purpose? in Mexico.

Triablogue Caught in a Web of Deception

How to Fight Cyber-Bullies and Win

Let the War on Christmas Begin!

I you have my book, The Christian Delusion, in chapter one Dr. David Eller shows why language and culture matter to Christianity. In a Christian culture with Christian language people will be inclined to accept Christianity as true. But as our culture changes so will our language, and that is a good thing even if like a chameleon Christianity will learn to adapt. In fact I'm in favor of being proactive about this. There are just too many secularists, too many Jews, too many spiritualists, too many people of different faiths in our country that the language of this holiday needs to be changed. And one place we can insist that it be changed is how retailers market their products. Call it "The Holidays," or just "December 25th," but let's have done with the word "Christmas," especially when we describe it.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Believers wonder who an atheist has to thank at this time. I thank my lucky stars that I was born and enjoy the good life that I do. So many others don't, based on factors like when and where they were born.

Thom Stark on the Joshua Delusion

A new wave of evangelicals have two new strategies for interpreting the Canaanite genocide texts in Joshua. 1) They are "hyperbolic," not meant to be taken literally because the accounts are exaggerated. 2) They are "hagiographic" or "mythical," "to make a moral point to encourage a certain type of orthodox religious behavior among the faith community who gathers to hear the book as sacred scripture." Thom Stark destroys both strategies.

Science Saved My Soul

Unbelief by Default and Selective Credulity

Chris Hallquist: "Recently, Victor Reppert claimed that, 'as the OTF [Outsider Test for Faith] is typically presented, it attempts to give a kind of special default status to the denial of religion, and in doing so it starts to engage in anti-religious special pleading.'"

"This sounds like a fair criticism...but it misses the point that...unbelief by default is already the attitude many Christians have to most religions. To be more specific: many Christians, when they hear non-Christian supernatural claims–or even Christian supernatural claims made outside the Christian canon–are skeptical by default. Some even say so explicitly." Link.

How Science Leads to Naturalism (At Least For Me)

We should be skeptics of extraordinary claims of miracles in the ancient past. Tell me why we shouldn't? There are too many of them in every culture, too many mythical stories.

Six Anti-Secularist Themes: Deconstructing Religionist Rhetorical Weaponry by Dr. Hector Avalos

          Spirited debates in scholarly fields usually involve a mixture of substantive argumentation and rhetorical weaponry. Rhetorical weaponry is intended to detract from the real substance of arguments, as well as to appeal to the emotional side of the audience. Rhetorical weaponry and substantive arguments are not always easily distinguished, and participants may sometimes be unaware of the difference.    

          Here, I concentrate on the rhetorical weapons that are being deployed by religionist biblical scholars against efforts to reform the field of biblical studies so that it might function like all other fields in modern academia---a completely secular enterprise with methodological naturalism at its core.

          These rhetorical weapons may be seen as literary tropes or themes, insofar as they depict fictional, rather than actual, villainy on the part of secularists. The purpose of these tropes and themes is to marginalize secularists rather than to address real arguments.  They represent creative versions of the ad hominem fallacy.

Quote of the Day, by exrelayman

The natural world is all that we can detect with our 5 senses and instruments used to interact with those senses when the scale of perception surpasses the limitations of those senses. The supernatural world then would be that which we cannot detect with senses or instruments (at the present time). This means that at the present time there is no evidence which we can discern supporting the supernatural. If and when we become able to detect the supernatural, it will have moved into the realm of the natural, as we can then detect it.

God on Trial: The Verdict

See below:

David Eller's New Book on Religion and Violence

Jack David Eller's book Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence: Religious Violence Across Culture and History, is massive and sure to be a good one. Be sure to get it. I plan on doing so.

What You Can Find Here at DC

I get new readers everyday so let me welcome them and briefly tell them what to expect here at DC. I am not a news source. There are lots of religion related news stories but I mostly comment on the high profile or interesting ones. Nor do I post many stories about the crimes or infidelities of pastors. They happen everyday and even though some of their abuses make our heads spin I mostly comment on high profile or interesting cases. Nor do I share many testimonies of deconversion, although I do so from time to time. And I don't post a great deal of obtuse philosophical arguments, or a great many things about science or cosmology. They are all useful, no doubt, and I do so from time to time.

Are We Angry Atheists?

Someone recently wrote this about us here at DC: “I find it amazing how much anger there is on this board.”

I find this to be an interesting charge. People have said this before. Is it true? If it is, does it imply anything important?

I don’t think it’s true, at least not with me. I am not an angry atheist toward anyone. If I have ever shown anger it’s because I was responding to what I considered to be willful ignorance, idiocy and/or attempts to belittle me.

But what if I am angry, and what if others here are angry? What then?

My Talk at the Texas Freethought Convention

It was on the Outsider Test for Faith. Enjoy. I followed Darrel Ray who wrote the book The God Virus. His talk can be found there as well. He talked for a bit about sex and the triggers that cause people to believe. In my talk I mentioned Robert Price's essay on sex. Here it 'tis. This was an amazing convention and I highly recommend it for all skeptics. Don't miss it next year. It's put together very well. The people are awesome!

Why Young Earth Creationists Must Deny Gravity

I've Changed the DISQUS Settings to Flat vs Threaded Comments

Is this better? It's more like Blogger.

The Best Optical Illusion in the World!

It's about prayer, and this video is awesome!:

Dr. Matt McCormick on the F - Word

Be sure to click on his Powerpoint slide presentation on Faith. This is awesome! See here.