Astounding Ignorance From Christian Apologist Carson Weitnauer

You wouldn't think a co-editor of a book titled, True Reason: Christian Responses to the Challenge of Atheism,could be so unreasonable or utterly ignorant about atheism, but he is. The prerequisite for offering criticisms of atheism is to understand it. Let's explore his ignorance, below:

David Marshall and Guillermo Gonzalez: How Untruth Becomes Gospel Truth

My post on “Craig versus McCullagh”  noted William Lane Craig’s inconsistency in using “consensus” as a measure of the validity of an historical claim. See Craig v. McCullagh.

When the consensus agrees with Craig, then he deems consensus as a sound barometer of truth. But when the consensus does not agree with him (e.g., the acceptance of evolution by some 99% of scientists; the consistent use of non-supernaturalism by nearly all academic historians), then he deems consensus as something akin to the Party Line of totalitarian regimes.

Part of my response to Craig showed that, if there has been anything akin to a Party Line, it has been one administered by Christian institutions that have disemployed, persecuted, and killed scholars that did not agree with orthodox positions for about the last 2,000 years. 

Why Would Any Woman Be A Christian? by Dusty Smith

Dusty Smith bills himself as "The People's Atheist! Making a mockery out of Religion. One vid at a time." Here are three of his vids. The first two offer a hilarious commentary on the History Channel's "The Bible" series (Parts 1-4) in under 11 minutes. The third one concerns the title to this post. *Warning* this is raw comedy with cuss words in it.

My Interview On "A Matter of Doubt"

Recently I was interviewed on the well-done podcast, "A Matter of Doubt." We talked mostly about my new book The Outsider Test for Faith: How to Know Which Religion Is True.Enjoy.

What religion has contributed to the world this month

My New Book is Presently Ranked 2nd On Amazon

Those of us who have written books know how it feels if they have a modicum of success, and are quite happy about it. On Amazon in the "Atheism" category, the Kindle version of my new book, The Outsider Test for Faith: How to Know Which Religion Is True,is presently ranked 2nd place, or 7,000th over-all. It most likely won't stay there, but it sure is nice to see. What I can't figure out is how many books this represents.

Dead Men Talking: Ancient and Modern Apocalypses of the Afterlife

The central doctrine of Christianity is found in its eschatology that the dead will live eternally, especially if they died in righteous faith. Thus, the fear of death and it’s limitations on human mortality can be overcome via faith. Though they are few in number, some of these righteous believers are given guided tours by angels which reveal the states of the afterlife with wonderful views of paradise (Heaven) as well as the horrible suffering of the wicked being tormented (Hell).

Wow! Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Sing On The Ellen Degeneres Show

When Robert Price argued in the "Afterword" to The End of Christianitythat the issue of sex will be the demise of Evangelical Christianity, he was on to something big!

Shit Christians Say to Atheists: Translated (Part 3)

More clichéd Christian ‘challenges’ which have been floating around for a while now. Just a little more shit to clean up and then we’ll wash our hands of this mess.

“You can’t see love or air. I suppose you don’t believe in them either?”

Translation:

“Please God, don’t let them bring up oxytocin levels, or the fact that air has weight!”

The Kindle Version of "The Outsider Test for Faith" Is Now Available

Just follow the yellow brick road: The Outsider Test for Faith: How to Know Which Religion Is True.

New York Times Ads

A friend of mine placed some ads in the NYT and in the Harvard Crimson to all students, faculty, staff and alumnae. I thought I'd let others see them. What do you think? Click on them for a better view.

Dr. Randal Rauser Interviews Little Ole' Me About Our Book "God or Godless?"

Randal wrote to me saying, "I'd like to do an interview with you on the book as a way to get the word out with some off-the-wall questions (the wackier, the better). Assuming you're up for it, here's the first question." So I tried to oblige him and answered it, then off we went to the races:

My Prometheus Books Interview

The Promethean should be sent out this month to Prometheus Books subscribers via email. It'll include an interview from yours truly about my new book, The Outsider Test for Faith: How to Know Which Religion Is True.I was asked to answer the following questions in two to five sentences. Here they are, along with my wisdom for the day:

Did I Tell Ya That the Irish Know How to Party? Hell Yeah!

Across America, and around the world, the Irish know how to celebrate with the wearing of the green, our parades, our green beer and our whiskey on St. Patrick's Day. In Chicago they color the river green as they do in Ft. Wayne (yesterday), and other cities. I looked for an Irish Historical Society in Ft. Wayne and you know what I found? Irish pubs, lots of them. That's apparently the only historical society most of us need or want around here. ;-)

In what follows are just a few of our favorite traditional drinking songs. I think most people will like them (don't miss the last two). See if you don't like them, I dare ya. Let's drink to that!

Real Deconversion Story - Mike

Here is an account in a series of real-life deconversion stories I am running over at SIN. They are often painful, psychological affairs. Mike's account is centred around his involvement with Youth Group. Happy reading. The previous accounts that I have accumulated can be found here.

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: