Twitter, No! But Facebook? Come Join Me.

I've decided to expand to Facebook. Not that I don't already have a presence there, 'cause I do. I'm just making my presence known. ;-) Come join me. You know my name. You know the drill.

Speaking of heaven...

... here follows an except from my book The Little Book Of Unholy Questions. Heaven is such a commonplace idea, even cornerstone, of Christian thinking. In the opening to this section, I talk about how the concept of heaven is stolen by late Jews just before the Christian period. This evolution of ideas undercuts the notion that it can be a cornerstone of Judeo-Christian ideology. If heaven and hell did not exist in the ideology of early Jews, and it is that crucial a set of principles, if it does not exist in the early tracts of the Bible, then something needs explaining! Anyway, here goes :

The Old Testament God Now has a Diagnosis: Narcissistic Personality Disorder

I just received my copy of Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Psychiatry, 2nd ed. to add to my library for general reading.

What Will Christians Do In Heaven For All Eternity?

Christians concoct many different scenarios about what they'll do in heaven for all eternity. None of them make good sense. Will they eternally play golf? Baseball? How about hockey, football, or even rugby? Boxing anyone? What about bear hunting? Hey, guys, how about having everlasting sex with a harem of 70 virgins? Oh, sorry, wrong religion. Regardless, what if YOU were part of a harem of 70 guys for some nymphomaniac in heaven who is just as ugly as YOU are? More seriously, what about being in a prostate position eternally worshiping God? This just seems boring to most Christians, that's all. I can hear some of the saints in heaven now:

Hey, God, can I get up and do something productive? Do you sincerely not want me to do anything now that I'm here? Doing productive activities is self-fulfilling and makes me happy. Let me do something, please, anything. Can I at least get up and stretch, or go catch up with the "few" family and friends of mine that made it here? If nothing else, your wonderfulness, can I go to the bathroom? ;-)

Robert Ingersoll On Miracles

Robert Ingersoll was interviewed in the Pittsburgh Dispatch, December 11, 1880, where he was asked about miracles in one part of it. This is must reading, the end of it is funny, really funny.

What Religion Has Contributed to the World This Month

Chris Hallquist's Book is Now Available for Free

Chris's book UFOs, Ghosts, and a Rising God: Debunking the Resurrection of Jesus, which I wrote a blurb recommending it, is now being made available for free. It takes on Christian apologists like William Lane Craig on the resurrection of Jesus. Get it right here. As he says though, if you like it and wish to donate to him for it, please do. But he says, "I’ll also be happy if all you do is read it, enjoy it, and tell your friends about it."

Civility, Like Tolerance, Like Free Speech, Like Human Rights, Like Freethought, Like Peace, Like Justice, Are All Contingent On the Truth

I have suffered attacks from both Christians and atheists mostly because I Stand in the Gap, but also because I do not suffer fools gladly. Never have, probably never will. Sometimes my temperament gets in the way and I'm sorry that's the way it is, but that's the way it is sometimes. My temperament is what makes me who I am though. Without it I would not be as passionate or effective as I am in debunking Christianity. You'll have to take the good with the bad I suppose. It's all I can offer. I hope it's enough. I sincerely apologize if it isn't good enough to some of my readers. It's who I am. I can no more change who I am than you can change who you are. But I like who I am and I don't give a damn if anyone of you think otherwise. ;-) Really!

Now enters Dan Fincke, a former Freethought Blogger, who just issued a pledge to civility that I'm supposed to sign, something Jeff Lowder has endorsed with his full support. Ed Clint calls it a Lemon Pledge though, while Chris Hallquist says he's not signing it, just as Notung said he won't be signing it. Others have chimed in as well, like Damion Reinhardt, and especially Russell Blackford. More responses are certainly coming. I wonder why Hemant Mehta hasn't endorsed it or commented on it, since he seems to link to things that concern most atheists. Well, now. What am I supposed to make of this? I pride myself on being sort of a mediator, someone who thinks outside the box, so let's see if I can. If not, at least I tried. I'm in a unique situation since I sometimes get attacked by both sides.

I Get Encouraging Emails

Dear Mr. Loftus,

I just wanted to take some time to drop you a note of encouragement. I happened upon your blog some months ago in the midst of my own deconversion from Christianity and have been visiting it regularly ever since. I’ve come to enjoy not only your blog, but also many of those in your network. I recently purchased a copy of The Christian Delusion and have found the insights in the first section in particular to be quite helpful while reflecting upon my own mindset in the 20+ years I was actively involved in Christianity and in evaluating the thinking of those I have left behind and continue to try to reach even as they fight to bring me back.

Jerry Coyne Calls 'Em As I Sees 'Em, Bullshit!

Dr. Coyne comments about a Spectator piece written by atheist Douglas Murray, who argues "it’s time we admitted that religion has some points in its favour." Jerry responds:

This is, pardon my French, complete bullshit. If Adam and Eve did not exist, and there was no Original Sin caused by human action, and the Primal Couple was just a metaphor, it means that if Jesus really was crucified and resurrected, he died for a metaphor.

A New Counter-Apologetics Blog

I know all too well how hard it is to get one's work out there. I was contacted by someone who just started a new blog and it looks good upon skimming it. Give it a look and report back with what you think. You can read about this person's goals right here.

Notes For Today's Class On the OTF

Today at 1 PM EST I'm going to Skype with the students in Professor Peter Boghossian's "New Atheism" class at Portland State University. I'm grateful for this opportunity. It's going to be about my soon to be released book, The Outsider Test for Faith (OTF).

I'll probably be referring to the following links so they're numbered below for reference:

Five Definitive Answers When Christians Say We Never Were Christians

When I first went online I was repeatedly told by Christians that I was never a Christian. At first I got upset because it was personal with me. In my mind it was as if they were calling me a liar. I answered pretty much as former pastor's wife Theresa did right here, by trying to express my devotion to Christ and his church. Over the years I have developed better answers. Here are the five definitive answers to such drivel:

1) So what? What does this have to do with my arguments? If I was never a Christian how does that affect your judgment of them? If some atheists were never Christians does it mean you don't have to take their arguments seriously? If you must do so with them, why is this an issue when it comes to me?

2) If you think this then that's just one of the delusions you have. There are many others. ;-) You have to believe one interpretation of some ancient superstitious texts over the overwhelming number of testimonies from all ex-Christians, which highlights your delusion.

3) So let me get this straight, your God promised to save me if I believed, and I did, and he didn't keep his promise? What does that say about your God?

4) I actually don't think any Christian has real faith, so at least I honestly admit I'm a non-believer. As I said before in a letter to Christians who claim I still really believe deep down :

Ingersoll's Preface to "Faith or Fact"

This is once again sent to me by Julian Haydon.

Christ-Mythicist Neil Godfrey Agrees With Me

John Loftus of Debunking Christianity made it clear that one of the worst things he could take up in his efforts to debunk Christianity was to argue Jesus did not exist. In one of his more recent statements to this effect he wrote: "Christians will be more likely to listen to me than someone who claims Jesus probably didn’t exist at all." He follows with this: "I am a focused, passionate man, who is single mindedly intent on debunking Christianity. This issue [mythicism] will not do the job for the simple fact of what evangelicals like David Marshall think of such a claim. It’s too far removed from what they will consider a possibility. I’d like to hear of the vast numbers of Christians who abandoned their faith because they were convinced Jesus didn’t exist. I just don’t see that happening at all. Christians will not see their faith is a delusion until they first see that the Bible is unreliable and untrustworthy, and that the doctrines they believe are indefensible, which is my focus. Now it might be that Christians could come to the conclusion the Bible is unreliable upon reading arguments that Jesus never existed, but they will be much less likely to read those very arguments because that thesis is too far removed from what they can consider a possibility."

Exactly. I agree 100% with what John Loftus writes here about the value of the Christ Myth idea for debunking Christianity. LINK.

Does the Internet Spell Doom For Organized Religion?

Hell yes! Or, do you live in a cave? Valerie Tarico tells us of six kinds of web content that are like, well, electrolysis on religion’s hairy toes, or more like Kryptonite to the Superman of religion.

On Solving the Dreaded Problem of Induction

On pages 70-71 in my new book, The Outsider Test for Faith: How to Know Which Religion Is True,I basically solve the problem of induction. Well, I point the way anyway. What is this problem?

In inductive reasoning, scientists make a series of observations and then infer something based on these observations, or they predict that the next observation under the same exact test conditions will produce the same results. It’s argued there are two problems with this process. The first problem is that regardless of the number of observations it is never certain the next observation of the same exact phenomena under the same exact test conditions will produce the same exact results. For scientists to inductively infer something from previous results or predict what future observations will be like, it’s claimed they must have faith that nature operates by a uniform set of laws. Why? Because they cannot know nature is lawful from their observations alone. The second problem is that the observations of scientists in and of themselves cannot establish with certainty the validity of inductive reasoning.

There is a great deal of literature on the problem of induction, and I cannot solve it here...But if all we ever do is think exclusively in terms of the probabilities, as I’ll argue later (in chapters 7 and 10), then this problem is pretty much solved.

I write more on it, but can you catch my drift?

Circumcising the Bible

I recently read the horrifying news story of a 20-year-old mother who was tortured with a branding iron, doused with fuel, and then burned alive in Papua New Guinea on the accusation that she was a sorceress. Police and firefighters were unable to intervene because of the angry crowd. Ironically, the news story also contained this:

Local Christian bishop David Piso told the National that sorcery-related killings were a growing problem, and urged the government "to come up with a law to stop such practice".

I found myself wondering if bishop Piso is aware his Bible contains this verse:

You shall not permit a sorceress to live.
Exodus 22:18 (ESV)

CNN: What Happened to God in America?

Christianity and the Virtue of Unreason

"I can't believe that!" said Alice.
"Can't you?" the Queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes."
Alice laughed. "There's not use trying," she said: "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." -Alice in Wonderland

Pete Edwards of Durham University On The Scale of the Universe

Edwards says we cannot get our heads around how big the universe is. Matthew Cobb at Why Evolution is True corrects his numbers, which are out of date:

Here’s how astronomers breakout the visible universe within 14 billion light years:
Superclusters in the visible universe = 10 million
Galaxy groups in the visible universe = 25 billion
Large galaxies in the visible universe = 350 billion
Dwarf galaxies in the visible universe = 7 trillion
Stars in the visible universe = 30 billion trillion (3×10²²)

A new study suggests that 90% of the most distant (and therefore oldest) galaxies in the universe could be unseen, hidden by clouds of dust. That would mean that – assuming the same number of stars in each galaxy, and that older galaxies don’t deviate from this rule – that the number of stars in the visible universe would be 270 billion trillion or 2.7 x 10 to the power of 24).

With this as a backdrop I want to discuss Jeff Lowder's criticisms of my argument that the size of the universe leads to atheism. I have looked in vain to see if Lowder has any educational credentials at all, so I look forward to him sharing them with us if he responds.

Robert Ingersoll On Life, Death, Hope, Afterlife

The Great Infidel, as he was known everywhere in the last half of the 19th century, was often called upon to speak at funerals – no better occasion to reflect on the greatest mysteries of life. And no one could do it better. He said no one knew or could know whether there was a life after death; but he was absolutely certain that if there were, the notion of eternal punishment for anyone was an ghastly priest-made libel upon a “loving and merciful” God. In some of these tributes he shows signs of hope for an afterlife -- the source being a longing to one day be reunited with those we have loved and who have loved us. -- Compiled by Julian W. Haydon.

William Lane Craig’s Views on Animal Suffering Debunked Further

The first video response to him can be found here.

"I Can't Believe You're an Atheist"

In October a good Hispanic friend of mine named Juana learned I was an atheist. She is the captain of our pool league team in Ft. Wayne. I told her I couldn't play the following week because I was going on a speaking tour of four Colorado Universities. She asked why, so I told her I was speaking about my books. She asked about them and learned for the first time I was an atheist. Then she said, "I can't believe you're an atheist." She went on and on about it as if this was an extremely bad thing. She went to a few other people and asked them if they believed in God, almost as if to determine by majority vote whether God existed or not. I don't think she ever met someone she liked so much who was an atheist. You see, we have known each other for over six years and the subject never came up. I do not force my views on people I personally know and I do not get in anyone's face about what I think. I'm not afraid in the least to tell people I'm an atheist if the subject arises. But when it doesn't then there is nothing to say.

"Hey Girls, We're Talking About Religion"

Today I'm going to hang out with my brother-in-law Kim (his name), who is a right-wing Obama-hater and Rush Limbaugh fan. Our wives are getting together for a girl's day out. Usually when Kim and I are together the girls forbid us from talking religion or politics. But whenever we're out by ourselves we do, and we have a great time of it. Over a beer or two we'll shout out, "Hey girls, we're talking about religion and loving it." It's sort of a passive aggressive rebellion I suppose. But he's a great guy even though we disagree quite vehemently. And he likes getting together with me just as much as I like being with him. Almost all of my personal friends are Christians, just in case anyone wants to know. Online people paint me with broad strokes as if I don't care about Christians. If I didn't care about them then I wouldn't have any personal friends at all.