Murdered Charlie Hebdo Editor: 'I Prefer to Die Standing Up Than Live on My Knees'

LINK.

New Book Titles. Decisions. Decisions:

In this new book I'm going to teach budding apologists what to avoid, using examples from the best of the best Christian apologists today. In the process they'll be challenged to do it better than others have done so far. However, I'll argue that defending the Christian faith cannot be done well at all. It's a tongue in cheek thingy.

How to Be a Good Christian Apologist
A Manual for Christian Apologists
A Manual for Christian Apologetics
A Manual for Being a Good Christian Apologist
A Christian Apologist’s Manual
A Christian Apologetics Manual
A Handbook for Christian Apologists
A Handbook for Christian Apologetics
A Handbook for Being a Good Christian Apologist
A Christian Apologist’s Handbook
A Christian Apologetics Handbook

Subtitles:
How to Defend the Christian Faith
Advice from an Atheist
A Former Apologist Turned Atheist Tells All
An Atheist Tells All
A Friendly Atheist Tells All
How to Do it Right

Professor Candida Moss: Oops! Pilgrims On the The Via Dolorosa Have Been Walking the Wrong Path

LINK. Now that archaeologists have found the exact place where Pilate condemned prisoners to die, and with them presumably Jesus as well, we know that pilgrims have walked the wrong path for centuries. Think they'll change? ;-) Dr. Moss is the author of the book, The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom, which reveals that the early Christians were the first liars for Jesus. Why then should we trust anything else they said?

26 charts and maps that show the world is getting much, much better

LINK.

People, You Really Shouldn't Oughta Encourage Me Like This ;-)

I'm serious! Word on the street is that I just had another book proposal accepted for publication today (yes, "word"), and will be proposing another book within a month or so in hopes it will be published. I'm excited about this. Humor me, okay?

John Loftus to Debate David Marshall Soon

David Marshall sent me a copy of his new book at my request. Here I am smiling, because it's a funny book to me. At the same time it's painful to read, so I've been drinking more than usual to deaden the pain. I'm suffering through this pain because I'm supposed to debate Marshall on Justin Brierley's Unbelievable program in a week. Bottom's up folks!

Unbelievable? Animal Suffering and God Debate - Michael Murray vs Phil Harper

LINK. I've written a bit about this problem, called "The Darwinian Problem of Evil," in chapter 9 in my book, The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails.

Did The Historical Jesus Really Exist? By Raphael Lataster

LINK. Raphael Lataster wrote the book, There was no Jesus, There is no God: A Scholarly Examination of the Scientific, Historical, and Philosophical Evidence.

The Backfire Effect: The Psychology of Why We Have a Hard Time Changing Our Minds

Once something is added to your collection of beliefs, you protect it from harm. You do this instinctively and unconsciously when confronted with attitude-inconsistent information. Just as confirmation bias shields you when you actively seek information, the backfire effect defends you when the information seeks you, when it blindsides you. Coming or going, you stick to your beliefs instead of questioning them. When someone tries to correct you, tries to dilute your misconceptions, it backfires and strengthens those misconceptions instead. Over time, the backfire effect makes you less skeptical of those things that allow you to continue seeing your beliefs and attitudes as true and proper.

From the book You Are Now Less Dumb: How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself, by David McRaney. I've added this book to the list of others describing the same phenomena. LINK.

Samson and Delilah, By DarkMatter2525

A Torturing Faith?

Dr. Hector Avalos has written a newspaper column about the role of religion in the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program.

Doubting Jesus' Resurrection: A Naturalistic Explanation of Christian Origins - Free Kindle book

 

Doubting Jesus' Resurrection: What Happened in the Black Box?

This excellent book on the naturalistic origin for Christianity is available free today for Kindle. *edit, no longer free.  Current price $8.99*

Author Kris D. Komarnitsky's main thesis is that the early Christian movement was spurred by cognitive dissonance reduction in the disciples after the crucifixion.  Everything involved with the origin and growth of Christian beliefs can be explained via well known (and well documented) psychological phenomena. 

If you would like a brief overview of the author's case, see his article on the secular web here.
William Lane Craig has responded to this book.  And the author interacts with Craig's reply here.

Meet brmckay: A Religious Philosophical Bullshitter Trying to Reinvent God

“I can be quite foolish at times.”

Theists come in many forms and this blog has had some great examples in the classic sense of the word.  But in all honestly, I have never come across a man who could twist the semantics of the English language in such a way the after reading almost one-hundred of his comments on different blogs (mostly under those supporting atheism), neither I nor most anyone he engages with have yet to understand his philosophical bullshit.  If you need some examples, simply click on his Disqus Profile, then under Recent Activity, read a dozen or so of his ramblings for yourself or (better yet) read some of the responses from people he engages with who keep asking what he's trying to express.  

Irish Comedian Dave Allen Tells a Series of Religious Jokes, Some LOL Funny

Quick Rebuttals to Common Christian Claims

Richard Carrier concisely rebuts six common claims apologists make. 

00:28 "Spacetime had a beginning" 

1:38 "The Universe is fine tuned for life" 

3:43 "Life requires a creator" 

5:20 "Consciousness requires a spirit/soul" 

7:34 "God is needed for objective moral values" 

9:07 "Jesus was resurrected" 

This is part of a "Case Against Christianity" playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf113iNh-64ba5FppqyEFnuJLf3UY5tDR

The full Richard Carrier vs Lenny Esposito debate can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS2z3WCHJ5Y

Dear Christian: How Does Either a Believer or Atheist Get God to Function?

Facing Reality is Hard

“God is weak and powerless in the world.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1944

Let’s face it, the totality of a functioning Biblical God is anchored both the distance past and future that without any proof the Biblical mighty acts of God are true, leaves this record built on a mythical past and future; not reality.

Time and time again, I’ve challenged believers to tell me how to make their God (or Jesus Christ) function.  In other words, how can one provoke God into action just like God did in the Biblical past (Old Testament, Gospels and Acts) or the future (Revelation)?  (Oddly, St. Paul seems not to be able to make God function either.)

Happy Holidays to One and to All

Happy Holidays to one and to all (except people killing in the name of god and other ne'er do well folks). Happy times to you! Be safe. Collect warm fuzzy memories. Have fun. Be good (and you know what I mean).

The John Loftus/Bill Cunningham Interview

The John W. Loftus/Bill Cunningham interview on Cunningham's National Premiere Radio Networks Show, on 700wlw

Have Yourself A Merry Little Mythmas

Quote of the Day, By Former Bishop John Shelby Spong

Christian churches in first world countries are facing problems in dealing with churches in third world countries, not unlike how modernized Muslims are facing problems in dealing with barbaric Muslims in the Middle East. In those churches homosexuality is "taboo" at best, and a crime requiring death at its worst. So what do first world churches say about this? Some of them are afraid to offend these churches out of fear of being patronizing and/or racist, even though this means not speaking out boldly on behalf of the LGBTI people.

When Walter Kasper, a catholic cardinal/theologian, said some patronizing things about churches in Africa he felt the heat of these accusations so much he even lied that he said such things. But what he said was caught on tape, sorry about your luck, Walt. LINK. Now that's some pressure, right? This is quite the contrast to what Spong said in response to some patronizing remarks he said in 1998. He had said of those churches: "They’ve moved out of animism into a very superstitious kind of Christianity. They’ve yet to face the intellectual revolution of Copernicus and Einstein that we’ve had to face in the developing world: that is just not on their radar screen." When asked if what he said was patronizing, Spong fired back, “If they feel patronized that’s too bad. I’m not going to cease to be a 20th-century person for fear of offending somebody in the Third World.” LINK.

An Excellent Atheist Ad Placed In the South Bend Tribune: "The Great Christian Deception"

From books to blogs to broadcasts to billboards and beyond, believers can no longer hide their heads in the sand. They are being confronted daily with the arguments and the presence of the godless. Here is an a advertisement recently placed not far from where I live, in The South Bend Tribune. South Bend, Indiana, is home to Notre Dame University, Catholic territory. Imagine one day looking through the newspaper and coming across the following Ad. What do you do? I was told by the friend of mine who placed the Ad that some parishioners in local churches have asked their priests and pastors to answer it. One of them is struggling to do so.

Books Won't Save School Children's Lives; Drones, Just Might

I have written before about my respect for Malala Yusufzai, the Pakistani girl shot in the face by the Taliban for simply wishing to have an education. I have also said that courage and vision, of which she has plenty, do not translate into infallibility, and Malala's campaign for education and against violence, which has won her a Nobel Peace Prize, is based on extremely shaky views. The sad news from her own country today only shows how misguided the pacifist mindset is when it comes to Islamist militants.

Technically Speaking We Cannot Prove or Disprove the Existence of Trolls, Fairies or Elves

A Christmas Debate for You

A few years ago, around the time of the release of my book The Nativity: A Critical Examination, Reasonable Doubts hosted a radio podcast debate, pre-recorded, between myself and Randal Rauser. Here is the fruits of our labour, detailing the arguments for and against the historicity of the Nativity accounts. Let me know what you think:

Church Members Hoped to Beat Gay Member Straight (More News from the Bible Belt)

"Man: Parishioners beat him in church to cure homosexuality"

SPINDALE, N.C. "Five members of a Rutherford County church have been indicted by a grand jury for kidnapping and beating a man because he's gay.  

(To see the mug shots of those accused in the beating, click here.)

The five people belong to Word of Faith in Spindale, a church that has been accused of enforcing extensive control over its congregation.      

The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office said the grand jury returned the indictment this week.       

Matthew Fenner said Thursday he was beaten in the church last year after a service. He says it was part of the church's way of trying to cure him of being gay.       

Word of Faith was investigated twice in the late 1990s for its treatment of children, but was cleared of any wrongdoing.  Church leaders have not yet commented on the indictments.

Spindale is about 40 miles north of Spartanburg."