Some Satire: "Don't Blame God" the Apologist Pontificates

5 Religious Leaders Who Became Outspoken Atheists

More of us are changing our minds and becoming outspoken atheists. Check them out.

American Atheists Convention this Weekend!!

This should be fun at the 50th Anniversary of the American Atheists in Austin, Texas this weekend: Dinner with Atheist Stars. 

On Thursday, March 28, at 7:00pm American Atheists will host a Dinner with the Stars event during our 50th Anniversary National Convention. This dinner will feature luminaries of the atheist community and many of your favorite American Atheists. Following dinner, we will hold a fundraising auction with a number of exciting and rare items. To attend, please sign up when registering to attend the convention or contact Development Director Nick Fish. Tickets are $250. 

Special guests include: 

• Pete Stark, former United States Congressman
• Jay Jay French, Twisted Sister lead guitarist
• A.C. Grayling, Philosopher & Author
• Greta Christina, Author & Blogger
• Matt Dillahunty, Blogger & Vlogger
• Katherine Stewart, Author & Activist
• Dr. Hector Avalos, Biblical Scholar
• Teresa MacBain, Former Preacher
• Cristina Rad, International Blogger
• David Silverman, American Atheists President

Among the items to be auctioned are the following: 

• First Edition works of Robert Ingersoll
• Illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, signed by the late Douglas Adams
• One week accommodations for a Costa Rican vacation (airfare not included)
• Selected pieces of art from the American Atheists collection
• Mortality, by Christopher Hitchens with an autographed card

More information about the Costa Rica vacation villa, including pictures, is here. Previous guests include Daniel Dennett, who recently finished a manuscript there. The Costa Rica weeklong stay is valued at $3,600. 

Is Homosexuality Sinful?

The Fact of Religious Diversity and the Difficulties it Presents

There are two wonderful textbooks on the fact of religious diversity that I must recommend. Believers must understand the scope of the problem before they can ever hope to offer a solution, otherwise any solution they propose will be based in ignorance. Both books are published by Oxford University Press in the last eight years, with contributions by adherents in the various religious traditions around the world. Both are expensive. Both are enlightening. Both present serious challenges to anyone claiming more than that there exists invisible supernatural forces and/or supernatural beings. However, neither of them present the non-religious alternative, which as I'll argue below, is very interesting for two reasons. And neither of them offer an objective test to settle these religious differences, whereas I have offered the only one that can do so in my new book, The Outsider Test for Faith: How to Know Which Religion Is True.

Bill Maher On the Pope: Who Says Ridicule Isn't Effective?

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:

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: