The Fairies and Elves of the Irish People

Now I must speak of my Irish ancestry's superstitious belief in fairies. Yes, fairies. They really believed in them and many still do today. Belief in the fairy world was extremely strong in the Irish folk tradition. Fairies (and otherworldly beings) were both feared and respected. But then most cultures have believed in them. Ever hear of Santa's elves? And guess what? They believed in them just as much as others in today's world believe in their saints, angels, demons and gods.

Every civilization, it seems, has its own collection of elf and fairy myths. The notion of tiny human-like creatures with magical powers roaming the earth unseen appears to have universal appeal. This is no less true of Ireland. Treasured by adults and children alike, tales of mischief-making fairies and elves color the rich Irish oral and literary traditions. These tales have made their way down to the rest of the world and are still enjoyed and appreciated today. LINK.

An Aging Senior Leader is Apologetically Good for Christianity (Be He God or Man)

In Heaven:

The young hot headed murderous Israelite God of the Hebrew Bible - Yahweh - was replaced by an aged, but stable loving Heavenly Father of the New Testament.

Famous Irish Americans

As another post in my series on the Irish experience leading up to St. Patrick's Day, I'll focus on some famous Irish Americans, which is my ancestry (see tag below). You can see a list of eighty of them with brief biographies right here. I really think my great grandfather deserves to be on one of these lists, as I've mentioned before. Nonetheless, let me just highlight two of them below: Bing Crosby, and believe it or not, President Barack Obama.

Here's a video of some of them:

The Kindle Version of "Why I Became an Atheist" (2nd ed.) Is Here

At last, click on this link: Why I Became an Atheist (Kindle Version).

*Sigh* On David Marshall's Review of My Book: The Blind Leading the Blind

Over at Amazon.com Dr. David Marshall, a Christian apologist, author, lecturer, debater and editor, reviewed my new book, The Outsider Test for Faith.I find it strange that it's one of the most helpful "reviews" so far (as of this writing). Since Marshall has edited his review in response to my criticisms I'll edit this post as well. Let me just say I think I already effectively dealt with all of his so-called "substantive" objections in my book, all of them. In fact, he repeats a few of his arguments as if he didn't even read the book. What intellectuals must do, rather than repeat an original argument, is to respond to the objections. It's called offering counter-arguments. He didn't do what an intellectual is required to do. As far as I know, he may not even know that he didn't do this.

In fact, this isn't a real review at all. It's a hatchet job. It wouldn't even marginally pass as a book review in any magazine. It's a knee jerk reaction to the things I wrote of Marshall's arguments in my book instead. In his "review" he's more interested in offering a response to them than reviewing the book as a whole. Since Marshall mischaracterizes me I have seven things to say for starters:

"What Justifies the Scientific Method?"

Here is Dawkins's answer to that question after this excellent discussion with Stephen Law:



Professor Matt McCormick said the same thing. What do we have to say before believers get the point?

Here's another great quote by him:

The Titanic and the So-Called "Luck of the Irish"

Pictured is the Titanic Museum in Belfast, Ireland, which was opened in 2012. The Titanic was designed by Irishman Thomas Andrews and built in Belfast. It was also crewed and traveled on by Irish people, for the most part. It was the pride and joy of the Irish, whose pride was dashed just 4 1/2 days after departing.

Irish Immigrants From the Famine Settled in America

I've written about the Coffin (or death) Ships that transported Irish Immigrants who were fleeing from the famine to North America, resulting in a 30% loss of life (see tag below). As soon as they arrived in New York they were met by the tavern and boarding house runners, who worked for a commission to induce them to their establishments. It was quite the scene. The immigrants were weak and sick from the voyage when the runners descended upon them, before they were even able to get off the ship. They vied with each other over the passengers, even grabbing their luggage to take them to their over-priced and overcrowded run-down unsanitary boarding houses. Then these Irish immigrants were met by an overwhelming hostile Protestant Christian America who didn't want them there. In the public schools of New York their Catholic faith was taught as the "whore of Babylon" (a reference to the book of Revelation).

Scriptural Nonsense: Why Jesus Is Running Late On His Return Trip To Planet Earth.

Nearly two thousand years ago, Christians were faced with a problem. Their beloved Jesus had said things indicating that he would return within their lifetime and set up his earthly kingdom (Matthew 16:27-28, Mark 9:1, Matthew 24:33-34). The apostles also taught this (James 5:7-8, 1 Peter 4:7, Revelation 22:12), with Paul even denigrating marriage because the end was so near (1 Corinthians 7:25-31). The trouble was that with each year that passed, just like Lindsay Lohan with a court date - Jesus was a no-show. As history has shown with apocalyptic cults and numerous failed Rapture predictions, most believers don’t lose faith when the return of Jesus fails to occur – they just find a way to rationalize, and push it into the nebulous future.

The pseudonymous author of 2 Peter (writing decades after the crucifixion) was acutely aware of the problem of the absentee Jesus, and helpfully offered this biblical nonsense as an explanation:

Irish Immigrants Sailed on "Coffin Ships" to Escape the Potato Famine

I'm highlighting my Irish heritage this week in preparation for St. Patrick's Day. (See tag below). The famine of 1845-1852 was so bad that one million Irish people had to immigrate to other lands in an attempt to stay alive, mostly to America and Canada. Most of them couldn't afford an American ship so they were forced to travel on British cargo ships. Those ships became known as Coffin Ships, since so many immigrants died on the eight week voyage. They were forced to stay down below in extremely crowded conditions. When the sea became rough they were shut in for days without any ventilation, and the latrine facilities were piss poor, if you catch my drift. Lice and disease were prevalent. Many of them died. The total death toll is estimated at 30%. So they traded death in their Irish homeland for death at sea. The captains of many of these ships waited until just before arriving before allowing them to clean out their quarters. If captains had allowed this periodically it could have saved many lives. Those that survived the journey often had just one thought on their minds: to be free of British oppression. Here's more, and some songs:

The Irish Potato Famine: A Divine/Human Near Genocide

As I said, I'm Irish. I can trace my roots from my father through to my great great grandfather, who immigrated to America during the potato famine of 1845-1852. According to the Wikipedia:

During the famine approximately 1 million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland, causing the island's population to fall by between 20% and 25%. The proximate cause of famine was a potato disease commonly known as potato blight. Although blight ravaged potato crops throughout Europe during the 1840s, the impact and human cost in Ireland – where one-third of the population was entirely dependent on the potato for food – was exacerbated by a host of political, ethnic, religious, social and economic factors which remain the subject of historical debate. LINK.

First to be blamed is God himself, after all, he allowed the famine. Based on this fact alone I don't see why any Irish person would ever love such a divine being. If any other lover was that abusive the love affair would be over forever. If God had wanted to remain a hidden God, all he had to do was grow the potatoes that the Irish had planted. And no one would be the wiser since nothing would have happened. If nothing else, all God had to do was perform a perpetual miracle here, something that shouldn't be hard for an omnipotent being.

The British government was complicit in this near genocide. The British colonization of Ireland brought a lot of misery and death upon the Irish people, especially during this famine. The British were Protestant. The Irish were Catholic. The British didn't care much about the Irish. Most hated them. A few pundits have claimed, rightly or wrongly, that it was an attempted genocide by inaction on the part of the British government. They only did enough to claim they tried. They eventually set up a soup kitchen where the goal was to produce a soup ration that would help sustain the starving at the bare minimum cost possible per person. Several cooks examined the soup and said it couldn't sustain a cat. All they had to do was to stop the exporting of the crops grown on Irish soil for British consumption. You can read an in-depth online website devoted to it, where we read:

Some studies have also stressed the influence on key policy makers of a particular strain of Protestant evangelicalism, in which the undeniable horrors of the Famine could be interpreted as an example of the terrible but unquestionable workings of God’s providence, operating to root out social and moral evils.

For a book that describes the horrible conditions of the Irish people at the time, read Paddy's Lament, Ireland 1846-1847: Prelude to Hatred.The whole episode is appalling.

Rosie O'Donnell learned her ancestry stretched back into this very era in an NBC episode of "Who Do you Think You Are?:

Jesus Behaving Badly

Even among non-believers, there exists the idea that Jesus was the model of virtue, compassion and selflessness. After all, the New Testament is filled with stories of him nobly healing the sick and suffering – right? Today, I want to barbecue that sacred cow and show where the gospels portray Jesus to be a calculated manipulator – someone who uses people as pawns in a game in which he and his Sky Daddy conspire together in order to make themselves look good.

First, let’s look at perhaps the most notable miracle which Jesus purportedly performed – that of raising Lazarus from the dead.

My Irish Ancestry, Folklore and Songs, In Preparation for St. Patrick's Day

This week leading up to St. Patrick's Day I'm going to share a bit of my ancestry with you along with some Irish folklore, songs and history.

I'll start with my great grandfather Tom J. Loftus (1856-1910), since I don't want his accomplishments to be forgotten. He was Irish and was proud of it. Can you tell? His parents immigrated from Ireland during the Irish Potato Famine. Tom was about as famous in America as one could hope for, given that by the last decade of his life baseball was America's favorite pastime. You see, he was a Major League Baseball (MLB) player who later coached/managed several MLB teams across the country, like the Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds, Washington Senators, and the Chicago Orphans, later to be known as the Cubs, which he co-owned with Albert Spalding (yes, that Spalding). Being a manger also meant he was the recruiter. He helped the American League to start up (in 1901) to rival the National League, that gave rise to the World Series. When the Three Eyes League (or "Three I's League" representing Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa) had major rifts between them, Tom was the only one they could all agree to manage it. He was a life-long friend of Charles Comiskey, having first played ball with him in Dubuque, Iowa. In fact, Tom earned the two highest accolades that could be given: "Baseball Man" (or "Man of Baseball") and "Magnate." Here's part of his obituary on the front page of the sports section in the Chicago Tribune, April 17th, 1910:

God or Godless Is In the House!

It's only right that the guy who had the best arguments should be the first one to receive his copy, right? ;-)

Baker Books is shipping our co-written book out to stores now. It might take them a month, but if you want to be the first kid on your block to read some great stuff (by me of course) order it now: God or Godless?: One Atheist. One Christian. Twenty Controversial Questions.

You can see the blurbs below:

Craig versus McCullagh: A Response to Travis James Campbell

   

                  It is not often that I express pleasure at reading critiques of my work. That is because criticisms of my work by Christian apologists are seldom devoid of ad hominem and vitriolic comments.

                 So it was, indeed, a pleasure to read the critique from Travis James Campbell in a chapter titled “Avalos Contra Craig: A Historical, Theological, and Philosophical Assessment,” in a book titled Defending the Resurrection. I henceforth abbreviate Campbell’s chapter as ACC.

                Defending the Resurrection is edited by James Patrick Holding, and published in 2010 by Xulon press, which describes itself as a “Christian self-publishing company.” See Xulon Press.  See also: Google book version.

An Update on Why William Lane Craig Refuses to Debate Me

Let me update the reasons why William Lane Craig refuses to debate me. So far none of them make any sense at all. [Before commenting on this present post read that one]. When I was a student of his he told his class something I thought was odd at the time. This was back in 1985 at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He said "the person I fear debating the most is a former student of mine." No one can speak for Craig, only he can. I'm not saying he fears me. He may fear my influence though, which is an extremely high recommendation given the atheist scholars he has debated over the years. My question is why does he single me out as the one person he refuses to debate who has a reasonable set of credentials? All I want is a reasonable answer. Again no one can answer this question but him.

So here's the update. Yesterday I got an email from a Christian who comments here at DC. He said he was going to ask Craig after a talk why he won't debate me. Later he emailed me back with Craig's answer. It doesn't make any sense either. Actually, I would really be pleased if after every talk of his someone asked him why he refuses to debate me. ;-) Listen, you would think that someone of Craig's scholarly credentials and intellectual prowess would be able to give a reasonable answer to this question. Why can't he? THAT'S MY QUESTION! And why is he offering so many different reasons? You would think he would stick to one story. But he changes his story so many times you know something is up. My honest guess is that he's groping to find a consistent way to exclude me while at the same time not excluding others he has debated, or plans to debate. He's having a hard time of it, that's for sure. Left unstated is the real reason he refuses to debate me. What is that reason? So here is his most recent answer.

Wonderment and the Scientific Worldview

I was told repeatedly as a child that the Bible is "the greatest story ever told." (Incidentally, I've since heard some describe the Bible as "the best selling, least read book in history,” which is probably true.) The more I studied science, though, beginning in college, the more dubious this claim seemed. Sure, science doesn't have the same sort of actors as the Bible -- individuals with intentions, beliefs, desires, etc. -- but its theories do present an extraordinary multilevel, patchwork narrative of who we are, how we got here, and where the universe is headed (toward an eternally cold and lifeless entropy death!). Theories are essentially "story-telling in assertion mode": their entire aim is to explain puzzling phenomena by (in virtually all cases) tracing a chain of causes leading up to some phenomenon of interest -- i.e., an effect. It is this spatiotemporal chunk of the causal structure of the world that -- despite the absence of intentional agents like human beings -- makes for a fantastically exciting, suspenseful and moving story. It’s this story that's the greatest ever told!

The Devastating Force of the Outsider Test for Faith

In his massive 480 page book, Deconstructing Mormonism: An Analysis and Assessment of the Mormon Faith, published by American Atheist Press, Thomas Riskas is the first author to use the Outsider Test for Faith (OTF) against a different religion, Mormonism. On page xxxiii he writes that it:

The Top Ten Scientific and Religious Discoveries of 2012

Let's do a comparison between science and religion by looking at their top ten discoveries in 2012, okay? First consider the top tech and science breakthroughs of 2012 according to ExtremeTech. Click through all ten of them. Pretty impressive, right? Now let's consider the top ten religious discoveries in 2012:

Hit Christian Song Reveals Cognitive Dissonance: “Never Alone”.

In 2004, the Christian music group BarlowGirl made their debut. Their song “Never Alone” was subsequently released to radio and ended up being the longest-running #1 song on both the Christian Rock and Christian Hit Radio charts, securing “Song of the Year” status for these charts. “Never Alone” was also nominated for a Dove award.

What is interesting about this is that the lyrical content of “Never Alone” is a revealing look at the cognitive dissonance that exists in the minds of believers, and how they deal with it. The popularity of the song shows that there are many believers who resonated with its message.

Let’s take a look at some of the lyrics, which were based on diary entries from one of the writers:

I waited for you today
But you didn't show, no no no
I needed You today
So where did You go?
You told me to call
Said You'd be there
And though I haven't seen You
Are You still there?

Randal Rauser Critiques William Lane Craig's Defense of Genocide

Dr. Rauser is one of the most unique and intelligent progressive evangelicals around, willing to think outside the box. Not only this, but he's willing to learn from and engage the opposition, as he's argued in his admirable book, You're Not As Crazy As I Think: Dialogue in a World of Loud Voices and Hardened Opinions.In a series of six posts he criticizes the big man among evangelicals, William Lane Craig. After reading them you can see how maddening (!) it was for me to co-write with him God or Godless?: One Atheist. One Christian. Twenty Controversial Questions.He's a real tough nut to crack, seriously. Your assignment today, boys and girls, is to crack this nut on biblical genocide. ;-) There is much I agree with him about, especially that genocide of any kind is barbaric: Part one -- Part two -- Part three -- Part four -- Part five -- Part six.

"Why Christians Should be Reading John Loftus' Books," By Christian Professor Dan Lambert

Actually, the title to this post of his is much longer: Why Atheists Shouldn't Marry and Why Christians Should be Reading John Loftus' Books: Thoughts On Becoming an Atheist, Critical Thinking, and the Outsider Test for Faith. *Whew* that's a mouthful! [Disclaimer, Dan and I are friends. Yes I have them, in fact, most all of my family and friends are Christians.] I first met him as he was using my book in his class which I wrote about here. He joins other Christian intellectuals in having a guest post at DC, like Douglas Groothuis, James Sennett, Kenneth Howell, Craig Bloomberg, John Haught, and even William Lane Craig (by proxy). LINK. As with the others I'll post it in its entirety without comment (at least initially). So here is Dr. Lambert on the topic above. Comment as you will. He may respond.

Christians, Police Yourselves From Liars for Jesus

Can anything be done about this guy Jake on Amazon.com (aka KC_James, Rocky Morrison, Morrison, Goldstein, Anna B., Andrew, and so many other names I forgot most of them)? He targets my books and many of the others I recommend with false and misleading reviews. My publisher says to relax, that controversy sells books. Okay. But he endlessly creates new email accounts and says basically the same kinds of things against these books. Then with other accounts he upvotes them (unless I point it out as I'm doing here). I guess it should be a good thing when I don't recommend an atheist book then, since you won't find him dissing those other books. He stalks me constantly saying practically any lie he can think of. It's one of his missions in life. He told me so in a comment one time. My only conclusion is that he fears me. This is one of the highest recommendations he could dole out. So I say to him in an Elvis voice, "Thank you. Thank you very much." Just see one of his reviews of my new book. He could not possibly have read it. There wasn't enough time. So he's a liar for Jesus. It's Christians like him who have forever destroyed the credibility of the Christian faith (just follow the tag below to see what I mean). He doesn't believe God can handle the arguments himself. God needs Jake you see. Without Jake people will go to hell. It's really pathetic. For all I know his children should be taken away from him if he has any, and if not, as soon as he does, just like these other nutcases. The question is why his faith needs to be buttressed with so many lies? A faith requiring lies should be rejected. It's that simple. It should be a clue to a clueless person like Jake that he is deluded. [Edit: Jake and KC_James are deleting and then re-posting their reviews, even rating them differently, which deletes all down-votes and comments afterward. This is bizarre!]

Christians Do YOU Have Real Faith or Not?

The really scary thing is that every one of these cases comes from churches containing a number of nutcases like them who have this same faith AND have children. Child service agencies, where are you? Take the children away from these parents NOW!

15 Questions Atheists Are Sick of Answering

LINK. More could be said in the link of course, but the answers found there are helpful. For more I highly recommend Dale McGowan's new book, Atheism For Dummies.So many believers just don't understand us. There's no excuse from now on. Book. Get. The. Now.