Jesus Given the Boot Tonight from all County School Board Meetings

Pickens County School Board decides to end 'Jesus' in all meeting prayers. (Pickens is about 20 miles from Bob Jones University, in the next county to the south.)

News Video Here

Jesus Hates You - This I Know; For the Bible Tells Me So!

Where the Bible is proving to be an embarrassment. 

Let’s quickly review Bob Jones University’s past as a God fearing, Bible believing, Christ honoring institution:

  A. The Bible is against race mixing.  Thus, all black and dark skin students will not be allowed to attend any of the BJU schools from kindergarten to graduate school.  Bob Jones, Sr. was an active supporter of the Klu Klux Klan who viewed the Klan as Biblical.  So, “If God is for us, who can be against us?"  (Romans 8: 31) right?  

Quote of the Day, by TimeWarper On the Catholic Church

"If this was any other institution, I bet Catholics would denounce it. But since it's not they make excuses. Go figure."

The Catholic Church's New Scandal, Banking Practices, Oh My!

Gerald Posner's new book, God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican is now a bestseller after being released a month ago. Well, who would have guessed that behind the Inquisitions, Crusades, Witch Hunts, wars, and child molestations that the Catholic Church was also financially corrupt?! Read this description for yourselves:

New Book: The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case against Life After Death

Michael Martin and Keith Augustine's massive book on the afterlife is now available. See it by clicking on it here: The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case against Life After Death.Dr. Martin is the author of the book, The Case Against Christianity,and Augustine is executive director and scholarly paper editor of Internet Infidels. The description of their 708 page book can be read below:

10 Secrets the Catholic Church Hopes You've Forgotten

Here. "Considering the catastrophic harm of the Catholic Church over the last half century, there is simply no justification for its continued existence." - Nathan Phelps, chapter 20 in Christianity Is Not Great: How Faith Fails.

David Marshall Is Mad, Reviewing the Madman's Work

Marshall wrote a book length response to my book, The Outsider Test for Faith: How to Know Which Religion Is True.As I said yesterday, "It surprises me the lengths Christians will go to mischaracterize an argument. It takes madness." This describes David Marshall's book. I wrote a review of his book on Amazon titled, Marshall's Book Is Completely Irrelevant To The Truth of Christianity and He Doesn't Even Realize It. If you like what I wrote any upvotes would be very appreciated.

It Takes Madness

It surprises me the lengths Christians will go to mischaracterize an argument. It takes madness. I argue they should not trust their brain. It's lying to them. It didn't evolve to search for truth. The first step is to know this. The second step is to train it to think like a scientist. The brain seems to find truths inadvertently through trial and error. Science augments the truth finding capabilities already in our brain.

Quote of the Day, by ephemerol on Reformed Epistemology

Plantinga's "Reformed Epistemology" is a specifically christian "epistemology." It isn't general. It won't work for everyone. If you want a "warrant for rationality" in believing in some other equally epistemically ludicrous set of metaphysical garbage, you'll have to reform epistemology for yourself, like so:

[Insert Religion] Epistemology shows that [Insert Believers] can be rational in having a "full-blooded [Insert Religion] belief" in the "the great truths of the [Insert Text]" ... because ... we [Insert Believers] have a sensus divinitatis within us, and a [Insert Religion] spirit guide who guides us to know "the great truths of the [Insert Text]."

But under this schema, there won't be just one "epistemology," like there's one "chemistry," or one "astronomy." We'll end up with a new "epistemology" for each shared delusion. So, then, that would beg the question, why doesn't each religion need it's own chemistry or astronomy too? By the rubrik that there is only one periodic table, and that we all gaze up at the same sky, likewise, as members of the same species we share essentially the same sensory and processing aparatus, so there can only be one epistemology, christian claims of a specifically christian "sixth sense" notwithstanding. Plantinga is basically saying, "You can't expect me to live in your oppressive reality, man." Is this supposed to be "rational"? Problem is, Plantinga needs another "warrant for rationality" for this. And then it's turtles all the way down

More On Reformed Epistemology

It is one thing to have a warranted belief that we are reading the Bible, so long as we’re reading it with cognitive faculties functioning properly in the right kind of cognitive environment. It is something entirely different to be reading the Bible and claim “God is speaking to me.” That additional claim is miles and miles away from what any rational person can conclude from the actual experience of reading the Bible itself. For that additional claim depends on the rationality of believing that all the ancient documents in the Bible are truly God’s word, that what they say about God, the nature of nature, and its workings are true, and that how one interprets them when reading them is correct. Since the rationality of claiming “God is speaking to me” depends on the rationality of accepting these other claims, it should be shown that it's rational to accept these other claims before one can rationally claim “God is speaking to me.” Until then the rational conclusion from reading the Bible is “I am reading the Bible,” not “God is speaking to me.”

Christian, How Do You Know You're Not Delusional When Others Clearly Are?

Reformed Epistemology Requires Psychic Abilities!

I'm trying to meet a deadline for a new book I'm writing by the end of this month. I think I'll make it. Below are 2200 words out of a 10,000 word chapter on Christian apologetics. See what you think.

All You Need to Know About The Shroud of Turin But Were Afraid To Ask

-- Read Antonio Lombatti's review of the CNN documentary on the Shroud of Turin.

-- Read Charles Freeman's article in History Today, The Origins of the Shroud of Turin.

-- Read Jerry Coyne's take down of the Shroud of Turin right here, who highlights Charles Freeman's article.

-- Read chapters 7-10 of Joe Nickell's book, Relics of the Christ.

-- Read chapters 18-20 of Joe Nickell's book, The Science of Miracles: Investigating the Incredible. I wrote a blurb for this book located on the back cover.

Let's have done with this nonsense shall we? The Shroud of Turin is a fake, okay? It's a fake.

To see this for what it really is just consider the many other supposed sacred relics. The Christianized medieval world was filled with them. Bones, heads, bodies, skin, and fingernails were produced, faked, bought and stolen because they were highly revered. Producing preserving promoting and presenting sacred relics to the populace was a cottage industry for the medieval Church. To climb up high on the religious prestige ladder was to have one. The more important the relic the more important the church who had it. Crowds came from around the known world to venerate these relics. They brought with them their donations. Why, you could build a cathedral with one of them! So you had to have one. A sacred relic meant a lot of power, prestige and paychecks.

The Rhetoric of the 99% and the Rise of Christianity

One of the arguments frequently used by apologists is that Christianity must be true because there is no other plausible explanation for the rise and rapid spread of the Jesus cult except for the resurrection. This argument is a favorite of William lane Craig. It is apparently so compelling that even Anne Rice found it an impetus for faith until the obvious malfeasance of the Catholic Church drove her away.[1]

Beyond An Absence Of Faith - deconversion accounts

With John posting about Bruce Gerencser's deconversion account the other day, I thought it would be opportune to mention that his full story is published in a great book I edited called Beyond An Absence Of Faith: Stories About the Loss of Faith and the Discovery of Self which documents some sixteen deconversion accounts from different religions and denominations. Let me tell you about a few of them.

15 Famous Women Atheists in Celebration of International Woman's Day

LINK.

Getting Our Facts Straight: Why Do You Believe the Bible While I Don’t?

When I was in undergraduate and graduate school, certain facts about Christianity were totally glossed over.  We students were led to believe the scholarly opinions of most all Ph.Ds working in seminaries and universities training mostly Christians on how to make a living in the religious profession were solidly founded on facts and not faith.   Looking back now, basically I paid tuition to professors who were more interested in selling a religion than finding out if the Biblical source was indeed true (That is, their faith theory that the Gospels began to be written down about forty years after Jesus’ death (Mark) which begs the question as to why it took so long, forty years for a major event in history to get recorded?). 

This is How Science Works: How the Sahara Desert Was Made

I think many believers denigrate science as coming from mad scientists who set out to destroy their faith, because they just don't understand how science works. Here bitches! ;-)

Good News! Americans are Turning Away from Organized Religion in Record Numbers

Politicians beware, "One thing is certain: voting nones are making their presence felt in politics." Hooray! LINK.

Your Brain Lies To You, What To Do?

The evidence is in, your brain lies to you. LINK. What's the solution? Train your brain to think better. It can be done. Be willing to question everything. Make doubt a habit. Where there is scholarly disagreement between peers then suspend judgment. Accept only sufficient objective evidence concerning matters of fact. Think exclusively in terms of the probabilities. Think like a scientist.

What ISIS Really Wants

An excellent essay with the above title was written by Graeme Wood for The Atlantic. In addition to it read What The Atlantic Left Out About ISIS According To Their Own Expert. Both essays are very instructive. The advice is to let ISIS slowly bleed itself to death. See what that means.

Jerry Coyne Reports This Was Banned by Facebook

Sam Harris On Evidence and Logic

Bruce Gerencser's Deconversion Story

As a former Pastor, Bruce mentioned some authors that helped him deconvert (as it's called). Just today Jerry Coyne wrote about his story and stressed the value of published books, which apparently is my specialty. We're making a difference!

It’s None of Your Damn Business! Financial Corruption in Modern Christianity

The Grahams: Three Generations of  Wealth and Greed

"Share Jesus with your friends." (Then have them share their wallets with us!)

I can’t count the number of times have I've heard stated (while pointing out the rich life styles of big time evangelists such as Benny Hinn,  Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Myers and Jesse Duplantis (to name but a few)); that while there are some Televangelist who exploit their position for monetary gain, Billy Graham has been the poster evangelist for truth and honesty . . . one of the truly great Christian preachers who is only here to preach Christ.