An Encouraging Email About "The Christian Delusion"

Good day John, I've been spending most of my Sunday morning with a large mug of tea and The Christian Delusion, re-reading my favourite parts : and then it struck me - there really has been nothing worthy to refute any significant part of TCD since its publication! Within a few days after its release there were some blogs and general eye-rolling about how wrong you have it all and so on, and then - crickets chirping.

Now there can be three reasons why this is so:

The Protestant Clergy Sex Abuse Pattern by Valerie Tarico

One of the most striking aspects of the Protestant clergy sex abuse pattern is that most people don’t realize it is a pattern. The Catholic Church has taken a well deserved beating in the courts and in the court of public opinion as former altar boys, orphans and ordinary parishioners have come forward with appalling stories of sex abuse. Yet equally egregious violations by Protestant clergy have failed to generate the same level of outrage. Why?

I Specialize in the Big Picture

All scholars have a specialty, right? What's mine? As I said in my book Why I Became an Atheist, I specialize in the Big Picture. This is true and it's no joke. I gather as much of the relevant material as a mortal can possibly muster and try to make sense of it. Confound it though, all of the Big Picture specialists seem to be gone. I'm a scholar about the Big Picture (i.e., the forest) just as many other specialists are scholars about one of the trees in the forest, or a species of trees. When it comes to the Christian faith, I'm a Big Picture specialist about all things Christian. My specialty is in Countering Christian Apologetics.

DM (a.k.a.) Dennis or Dave Mabus, Here Kitty Kitty

Just another reminder that you've been had.

The Outsider Test for Faith (OTF) Again *Sigh*

A trial is a good example of an outsider looking in. No thumbs should be on the scales of justice. If there is a conflict of interest a judge or a lawyer should recuse themselves. The jury represents people who are uninvolved peers. None of this describes believers who examine their own faith. The OTF demands the impartiality of agnostic, which is worse on one's own religion but better on the religious faiths one rejects.

A Cognitive Dissonance Theory Prediction

Now that 60 Minutes did a program exposing the misinformation about the Muslim center planned to be built near ground zero, cognitive dissonance theory predicts that people who have participated in the rallies against it, or donated to stop it, or spoken out publicly against it will only become MORE entrenched. Stay tuned. Watch it happen. And then see a parallel with the Christian faith. That's how it works when encountering the facts after a commitment has been made. Get. Point. The. Please spread the news about this.

Ground Zero Mosque Debate Answered Decisively

The thing about last night's 60 Minutes segment is that it answered all of the questions we needed to know. After watching it why would any reasonable person be opposed to it?

The Problem of Divine Miscommunication: Does God Love Us All?

A question that is closely related to the Christian debate over salvation, but is rarely discussed, is whether God loves all human beings...at least one Reformed Christian apologist is brave enough and has the intellectual honesty to follow the Calvinist line of reasoning to its logical conclusion. Link.

There's a reason why I say Calvinism is bullshit!

We're Done With DM (a.k.a.) Dennis or Dave Mabus ♪♫•.¸¸♫•*¨*•♫♪

Aratina Cage sent me the HTML text to ban DM even though Google wasn't any help. ♪♫•.¸¸♫•*¨*•♫♪ Happy Birthday to me...♪♫•.¸¸♥♪♫•*¨*•♫♪ Happy Birthday to me...♪♫•.¸¸♫•*¨*•♫♪ Happy Birthday to me...eee... ♪♫•.¸¸♫•*¨*•♫♪ Happy Birthday to me! ♪♫•.¸¸♥♪♫•*¨*•♫♪

Now to read through the comments without having to scroll past DM's long farts just click on a post title. Then if you want to make a comment do so, although there you will still find his farts. To see how this works and read about "Mabus the Nutcase" click here.

To get the HTML click here. Thank you Aratina!!!

Faith is Equivalent to Irrationality

Yep, that's what I've concluded. I was talking to a Catholic today about Stephen Hawking's new book where he says God doesn't exist based on science. So he responded, "That's why they call it faith." Yep, faith doesn't need scientific evidence. It's irrational. I want everyone to think "Irrational" whenever someone says the word "faith" because that's what it is.

VIDEO: The End of God? (in 4 parts)

Thomas Dixon, this program’s host, is Senior Lecturer in History at Queen Mary University of London, and author of Science and Religion: New Historical Perspectives.

Quote of the Day, by Isaac

I have been able to pose the Outsider Test for Faith OTF to a few Christian friends of mine... and this has shown to be very well accepted as a means of seeking and questioning. They agree with the approach, and some have even admitted that they've never given so much as a minute of thought to the outside religions and faiths of the world. The quote "when you understand why you reject the gods of other religions, you'll understand why I reject yours." Powerful quote... because people don't know why they reject the other gods and faiths... so now, the question is brought to their attention... and either they must continue in their blissful ignorance, or begin an honest examination of WHY they believe what they believe.

For me, this is the most honest, non-threatening approach to discussions with a theist.

Help Get Blogger's Attention with Regard to the Christian Nutcase DM

Just go to Blogger's feedback forum and post something like the following note as often as you can in as many related fields as you can and spread the word for others to do likewise (modify as needed):

Quote of the Day by Stephen Hawking: "Philosophy is Dead"

Yep, those are among the first words in his book, The Grand Design. He and Mlodinow continue: "Philosophy has not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics. Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge." I agree. This is never more true than when it comes to the failure of natural philosophy/theology.

The Best Way to Bolster Your Christian Faith is to Read Skeptical Books!

I have a friend named Bill who was a member of a church where I preached and who recently read my books. Afterward he wrote me this: "The deeper I get into the 'meat' of your material, the more solidly grounded I get in my faith in God and His Son, Jesus Christ." Now I've heard that before. So maybe I should just accept what they're saying. Hey, why not? Surely they wouldn't be liars for Jesus, right? So take what they say as recommendations for my books. If you want to become more grounded in your faith then you need to read more of these types of books! If my books do this for some Christians then others should take the Debunking Christianity Challenge.

Or, they're fooling themselves. Fooling themselves? Could it be? Yep. This is exactly what social studies predict.

Why Christianity MUST Pass the OTF

You already know the Outsider Test for Faith (OTF) that I've proposed. It asks believers to test their own adopted religious faith from the perspective of an outsider with the same level of skepticism they use to evaluate other religious faiths.

If Christianity is the correct faith it should have been made by God to pass the OTF, especially if people will be cast into hell because it doesn’t. And this will happen according to Christian theology, for there are people who will end up in hell who could not be convinced to believe because of their non-Christian upbringing as outsiders.

Dawkins Responds to the Pope

Video footage of Richard Dawkins giving a speech to a crowd of around 10,000 at the Protest the Pope rally in London:

James McGrath Takes on Mythicism Again

If he continues he'll end up writing a book about it. Link.

My last statement on the topic can be found here.

The Outsider Test for Faith (OTF) is a New Argument Against Religion

Yep, I think I have basically come up with a new argument in the history of religious criticism, even if there are a few prototypes of it to be found in the past. You already know the Outsider Test for Faith (OTF) that I've proposed. It asks believers to test their own adopted religious faith from the perspective of an outsider with the same level of skepticism they use to evaluate other religious faiths.

Here's the argument: If one's own religious faith cannot be sustained due to consistently applying the skepticism of the OTF, then believers must either abandon their faith or come up with good reasons why they should not have to take the OTF because it is faulty in some way. But they cannot come up with any good reasons why they should not be consistent in evaluating all religious faiths.

What Darwin Never Knew, a PBS Nova Program

Nova produced this program first aired in December 2009. I watched it last night. It's wonderful. How many Christians understand evolution and the evidence for it? I doubt many do. While I watched it I thought to myself Christianity has been debunked a long time ago, that what I do is superfluous. And yet, here I am doing the dirty work with a lot of ignorant people who rail against me for simply telling them the truth. Watch it when you get the chance.

Quote of the Day, by Dude I'm Free

@Marcus,

Is There Such a Thing as a Humble Christian? What is it?

For discussion. As a Christian I remember wanting people to see Christ in me. I wanted to be like Christ as an advertisement like a billboard for Christ. I was conscious that people were watching me. Of course as a preacher I did live in a so-called glass house.

In any case, Christian, do YOU do that? Are YOU a self-promoter in the sense that you want, desire, hope, and pray that people will see what a good person you are so they can see Christ? "See what a good person I am" you say, or you secretly hope others see it without saying so?

And this stuff about humility. Scrap it. It's worthless stuff. Christian simply do not know what it is. Moses reportedly told everyone he was the most humble man on earth (Numbers 12:3). What a joke. Of course I don't think he wrote that, but some Christians are stuck explaining it away.

Christian, are you more humble than others? Sort of a catch-22 eh?

Freethinkers: A source guide to atheists, humanists and other nontheists

It looks to me that this site is the most up to date comprehensive online list of resources about freethinkers I have found. There is a great deal of information here. Check it out. My books are even mentioned in it!

Quote of the Day, by Erkki

Punishment has to serve a purpose, other than satisfying the punisher's lust for vengeance, in order to be of use. However, the Biblegod's version of punishment means that if you don't believe, your punishment never stops. It's pure vengeance. Unconditional love means that you use punishment only to correct and reform the wrongdoer. It's still tough love enough, for punishment is always tough to go through, but of course temporary, corrective punishment for sins is "too vanilla" or "too soft on sin" to please the conservative/fundamentalist segment of Christianity, heh. There's that lust for violence in the believers who adamantly preach that anyone who doesn't believe as they believe go to hell. It's a perversion, really.

I'm an atheist and I'm opposed to any religion that teaches the monstrosity of everlasting hell. So revolting is this concept that I can't see why any rational human being could accept this fear-mongering nonsense. But I'm sure if God exists, he's much nicer than the religious fanatics portray him to be. And more willing to correct even the worst villain ever and punish him only to cleanse him of his sins altogether. Because this is true love: to redeem even the worst among humans. Otherwise Satan or whoever is responsible for making humans sin is more powerful than God himself.

Even if Christianity Ends Up True There Would Be No Reason to Believe

Bertrand Russell was asked what he would tell God on judgment day why he did not believe. Russell reportedly said: "Not enough evidence, God, not enough evidence."

So even if the Christian faith ends up being true there was still no reason thinking people should accept it, because only claims that can be reasonably justified should be embraced. You see, we have to reject a lot of true claims because they have not met their own burden of proof. This is both obvious and non-controversial. Aliens from space might have abducted someone, but without sufficient evidence commensurate with such a claim there is no reason why anyone should believe the person who asserts it. There are surely cases in which someone murdered another person but no one suspects he did the evil deed, because there is just no evidence to lead anyone to think he did. There are many hundreds of claims that we should never believe, even if they are true. That’s the case when it comes to Christianity. Even if it’s true, thinking people cannot believe it because it’s wildly improbable.