The four-inch long nail is thought to be one of thousands used in crucifixions across the Roman empire. Archaeologists believe it dates from either the first or second century AD. The nail was found last summer in a decorated box in a fort on the tiny isle of Ilheu de Pontinha, just off the coast of Madeira. Pontinha was thought to have been held by the Knights Templar, the religious order that was part of the Christian forces which occupied Jerusalem during the Crusades in the 12th century. The knights were part of the plot of Dan Brown's best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Bryn Walters, an archaeologist, said the iron nail's remarkable condition suggested it had been handed with extreme care, as if it was a relic.
, and Jason Long's book, The Religious Condition: Answering And Explaining Christian Reasoning
. As you can see, my favorite skeptical books are not scientifically or philosophically related primarily because of what I think about Natural Theology. There are many others. What others are your favorites?
Dear Mr. Loftus,Glad to know people are reading my book and think it's informative and hopefully helpful. Thanks for your thoughtful question. I wrote the book over a decade. Some of the chapters began as handouts in classes which I later revised for the book and so you can see development in it. The chapter on prayer was originally written for a church study group. As my thinking changed I tried to harmonize everything with my later perspective, but was probably unsuccessful. The fact is that we cannot say time began. There was no cosmic singularity so we don't know what took place before. So while our universe began to exist we cannot say that it did not come from out of a previous black hole explosion or through tunneling from another universe. The point about the Kalam argument is that it does not show our universe had a beginning in time. To repeat. Our universe began to exist but we cannot say time began to exist with our universe. My argument against the Kalam is that it doesn't show time began to exist either.
I have just started your very informative book, “Why I am an Atheist.” I am trying to better understand your arguments. You said on page 83 that the big bang theory shows that “our universe began to exist.” Then, on page 85 you state, “Craig’s second premise is that the universe began to exist. It too has difficulties.” This seems to be a contradiction. Could you help me understand what you mean by these statements? Did our universe begin to exist or not? You seem to be saying that science proves the universe did begin to exist when refuting Thomas Aquinas, but that it did not begin to exist when refuting William Craig.
is a page turner. You see, it's not just the harm that some priests did to children. It's the massive cover-up that is so horrendous. The Catholic church even knowingly sent molesters to parishes in Alaska where nearly every boy was molested. That is, the church facilitated these molesters.
and book editor for the Skeptic
Magazine, John Shook, myself, and recently Daniel Florien all think there was an original historical founder to the Jesus cult. I'm wondering if the major impetus for atheists to think otherwise came from the movie The God Who Wasn't There. It was handed out for free to people who took the Blasphemy Challenge which in turn catapulted this line of thought among atheists. In any case, this is a historical question that people disagree on, and that's it. What I find interesting is that people are so passionate about this one way or another. It's like church all over again where denominations have split over inconsequential issues. You see, we all have this tendency to want conformity, and THAT is something you shouldn't expect in the freethought society because we're, well, freethinkers. It's like trying to herd cats.
It happened in America. It happened in Ireland. Now, it seems that another major Catholic sex abuse scandal is about to break open - this time in Germany....this story has punched another hole in the Catholic church's flimsy pretext of being able to speak with moral authority to the rest of us. They are a whited sepulcher, whose ornate facade conceals only moral rot and corruption within, and a cabal of wicked old men more concerned with preserving their own power than with any harm they allowed to be inflicted on innocents. They do not deserve the continued allegiance or support of any thinking person. Link: Daylight Atheism
The catastrophe has driven a wedge between Haiti’s religions as Christian groups make inroads among shaken Voodoo followers — some drawn by the steady flow of aid through evangelical missions and others frightened by a disaster they saw as a warning from God.
, on "The Explanatory Power of Conversion-Visions." Listen to this short BBC interview where he explains why he could no longer believe.