The Thing That Made the Things for Which There is No Known Maker

Surely this can make us all laugh, right?

Time For Some Fun

Fun Bible Questions, by my friend Matt Hensley:

So, I thought I would help John with his blog and add a little humor today. I mean let’s face it: It’s been WAYYYY to serious around here lately. So I put together a list of fun questions to ask about the Bible. Feel free to cut loose and answer them in a fun way. After all, even super serious all knowing Atheists like us need to cut loose a little, right? Here we go:

"Christianity is Not Great": My New Proposed Book is Taking Shape

Yes, we're pretty excited. Check it out. It'll be a humdinger. ;-)

Poll on The Tea Party and Religion

It must be Poll day here at DC!

...they are much more likely than registered voters as a whole to say that their religion is the most important factor in determining their opinions on these social issues. And they draw disproportionate support from the ranks of white evangelical Protestants. Link

Notice the distinction between white and minority evangelicals? There is one, most definitely.

How Religious is Your State?

Check this out and then get busy! ;-)

"Religion May Become Extinct in Nine Nations, Study Says"

A study using census data from nine countries shows that religion there is set for extinction, say researchers. The study found a steady rise in those claiming no religious affiliation. Link

The countries? Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland.

"America Becoming Less Christian, Survey Finds"

America is a less Christian nation than it was 20 years ago, and Christianity is not losing out to other religions, but primarily to a rejection of religion altogether, a survey published Monday found. Link

In searching for this poll I'm having a bit of trouble. Perhaps it's this one done by the Pew Forum called U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. See what you think. One conclusion is that it's more socially acceptable than ever to admit having no religion.

A Few Observations About Evangelicalism

I know beyond a shadow of doubt that evangelical (or conservative) Christianity is wrong, false, and that only deluded people think otherwise. I have to be. For I'm risking their particular hellfire, so to speak. Almost everyone agrees with me too. Global religious diversity shows us this. Even among people claiming to be Christians most of them are not evangelicals. Evangelicalism is a small slice of the religious pie, and even they have disputes between themselves over who are true Christians, so for them it's even a smaller slice of the pie. These are all well-known facts from which we can make a few observations.

One of the Most Asinine Christian Claims I've Heard

It's claimed that people like Dawkins, or Hitchens, or Harris don't know enough to reject Christianity. How much should a person know about a religion or the various branches of it in order to reject it? Really. I'd like to know. These very Christians do not know much about other branches of their own religion, so how can they reject them? And they do not know much about the various other religions around the world or the branches within them, so how can they reject them? Most Christians do not know enough about their own religion! All a person has to do to reject their own inherited religion is to subject it to the same level of skepticism they use when rejecting all other religions. This represents The Outsider Test for Faith I argue for. Just think what Christians are saying. They're saying that in order to reject any given religion a person must know a lot about it. How much, I ask? Should we spend our lives getting doctorates in them one by one? How reasonable is that? How long would it take to learn enough about all religions in order to reject them all? Wouldn't Jesus himself be opposed to granting salvation only to people who knew a lot about the religions of the world? Wouldn't he be opposed to the idea that human beings must gain the proper amount of knowledge that Christians require in order to find the correct one, if there is one? Didn't Jesus come for the lowly, the outcasts, and the babes? Such inconsistency knows no bounds. No wonder my claim is that Christians demand that we prove their faith is impossible before they will see it as improbable.

Upcoming Events: I'll Be Speaking in Louisiana, Ohio, and New York

I spoke at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette last week. This Thursday, March 24th, I'll be speaking for the CFI of Northeast Ohio, then on Friday the 25th for the CFI of Amherst, New York, then I'll be speaking at the CFI group at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH on the 26th. I hope to see some of you at one of these events.

CFI Memo: "E Pluribus Unum" Rather Than "In God We Trust"

As you may have heard, religious conservatives in the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced a divisive and disrespectful resolution "reaffirming" In God We Trust as the national motto....This obvious ploy to divide the nation along religious lines is utterly shameful. It excludes the millions of American non-believers, as well as the millions of Americans of minority religions that do not believe in a monotheistic god. The resolution also distracts Congress's attention from the many pressing national issues confronting it.

Congress only adopted "In God We Trust" as the national motto in 1956, when American leaders sought to distinguish the United States from the communist Soviet Union. By invoking belief in a monotheistic divinity, however, Congress divided the American populace along religious lines by reinforcing the outsider status of the nation's many nonbelievers, as well as members of minority religions that do not recognize a monotheistic god (including, for example, Buddhists and Hindus). Polls show that 16% of Americans have no religious identity, while over 40 million Americans do not identify with the motto's monotheistic God.

A far better motto for the nation is the Latin motto adopted in 1782 as part of the national seal: "E Pluribus Unum," or "Out of many, one." America's original motto accurately describes the nation as a unity comprising people from many religious perspectives. Link

"A" Week is This Week

Tell others you’re an atheist and proud of it this week. Start some discussions with people about your atheism.

A Week is not about being disrespectful to religion or people who have religious views, it’s about quietly showing that there are more people than may be realised who are ‘Good without God’ and who don’t need religion to influence their lives. Link

My Interview With Minnesota Atheists

Enjoy

Why Are You An Atheist?

Jerry Coyne asked a good starter question so let me repeat it here:

Why are you an atheist? Does it have anything to do with a lack of evidence for god, or are there other factors involved?

Link

Quote of the Day, by The Maverick Jester

It was one of my children that pushed me toward atheism. He did something that I didn't approve. In the bible, we learn that if one of god's children disappoints him and refuses to beg for forgiveness, he sends them to an eternity of torture. Until that incident with my son, I didn't understand how insane the concept of hell was. Never would I want my son to suffer. He could spit on me or hate me and I would still seek his good. There is nothing that he could do that would make me want him to be tortured forever-or even a minute. Once I began to question god about hell, I began to question him about everything. I didn't want to ask questions. I wanted to believe. But once the ball started rolling, I couldn't stop it. Link

And the Winner is...James McGrath

There is a clear winner for my T-Shirt slogan contest with the most votes, and it's James F. McGrath. His slogan: "Atheists: Disbelieving in gods without getting struck by lightning for more than 2000 years." He said he would like to blog his way through the book by Earl Doherty that I'll send him. I look forward to that. There were many other great slogans. The ones I liked the best are below, and I may use a few of them on my shirts:

Why I Am Not a Christian

You can read essays with this title on the Secular Web from Richard Carrier, Graham Oppy, Keith Parsons, Ken Daniels, and myself. Enjoy.

A World Without Atheists

A nice short video...

Quote of the Day, by Russ

Simply being able to imagine something is no reason to think that it's possible for it to exist. All gods so far are imaginary. You are forced to agree with me that all gods are imaginary with you taking exception only for your particular incarnation of a Christian god. But, your god is no more real than Rama or Vishnu or Thor. Until it can be shown that a god, any god, can do something there is no reason to think it's even possible for one to exist. Until we can see a god acting on its own rather than being credited with things achieved by other means, we are fully justified in treating them like we treat trolls and flying dragons: they are the stuff of myth. Link

Let's Talk Turkey About the Evidence for Christianity

Tell me if I'm missing something. It's time to sum up the evidence for Christianity and see what it is.

About.com Reader's Choice Awards Are Now Posted

The Christian Delusion was chosen as the Best Atheist Book of 2010. To see other choices in other categories click on the image in the sidebar to the right, or the one below:

Quote of the Day

When people quote the bible at me, they may as well be telling me they're crazy. It probably has the same effect as people quoting the Quo'ran, Book of Mormon, or Dianetics at me-- or even the Big Book of Greek Myths-- or casting a spell upon me. I think it's crazy that people believe in magic books in the 21st century. -- articulett

Another Mark of a Deluded Person

[Written by John Loftus] Previously I wrote on the Ten Marks of a Deluded Person. Here's another one. Many Christians treat skeptics like me as if we are enemies to be debated rather then fellow human beings interested in the truth. That is surely one of the marks of a brainwashed or deluded person too. Dr. Randal Rauser in his book, You're Not As Crazy As I Think, would seem to agree. Rauser: "The single most effective way to protect a core set of ideological claims from critical introspection is by positing a simplistic binary opposition between two sides while placing the views we seek to protect on the correct or true side and all views hostile to the core ideology on the incorrect side." (p. 58) "For too long we have objectified the dissenting voice at the other end of the battlefield as nothing more than a target of conquest." (p. 12) However, "The real person of truth is one who expresses a genuine willingness to listen to the other as as equal conversation partner." (p. 8) As a corrective to this Rauser endorses a resolution "...to engage with the other--the liberal, the Dawinist, the animal rights activist, and the atheist--as an equal partner in dialogue and so to treat each one as a person we can learn from and need to listen to." (p. 11)

God and The Outsider Test for Faith (OTF)

Christian, if your faith does not meet the skeptical standard of the OTF then people who are born into different cultures cannot be rationally convinced to believe by virtue of being raised in their respective cultures as outsiders. Don’t tell me people in the Southern Hemisphere are converting. That’s not the point. The point is that God had to make Christianity pass the OTF, and if that’s so, why kick against the goads? Why not apply its standard against what you were raised to believe? Examine your own faith with the same level of skepticism you use when examining the other religious faiths you reject.

A Shirt Slogan Contest For a Free Copy of Earl Doherty's Book

Some generous person sent me Earl's book Jesus: Neither God Nor Man - The Case for a Mythical Jesus. Since I already had a copy of it I'm going to send this $40 book via Media Mail to the person within the US who comes up with the best shirt slogan (front side only). A friend of mine will design it just as he did for my Outsider Test for Faith shirt, which can be seen and bought right here. I'll be the final judge of the winner but I'll take into consideration any slogan that receives a high number of "Like" clicks next to it, so be sure to vote even if you don't suggest a slogan yourself. I'm looking for one that people will actually buy and wear.