Ozzy's Powerful Line
There are no unbeatable odds;
There are no believable gods.
Apologist Josh McDowell: Internet the Greatest Threat to Christians
[Written by John W. Loftus] According to Josh McDowell,
The Internet has given atheists, agnostics, skeptics, the people who like to destroy everything that you and I believe, the almost equal access to your kids as your youth pastor and you have... whether you like it or not.
Now here is the problem, going all the way back, when Al Gore invented the Internet [he said jokingly], I made the statement off and on for 10-11 years that the abundance of knowledge, the abundance of information, will not lead to certainty; it will lead to pervasive skepticism. And, folks, that's exactly what has happened. It's like this. How do you really know, there is so much out there... This abundance [of information] has led to skepticism. And then the Internet has leveled the playing field. Link
About Randal Rauser's Blurb for "The End of Christianity"
Someone questioned why a Christian professor would blurb an atheist book. Here is his response. Listen up, if God does not want informed people then this is a very sad commentary on the state of Christian affairs. As I said before, you must actively seek out disconfirming evidence if you really want to know the truth. Disconfirming evidence is decisive. At least Dr. Rauser knows this, even if we still disagree.
It's Ignorant to Say "There is No Evidence for a Historical Jesus"
Okay, having watched James McGrath and Tommy Baker duke it out with the fanatical mythicists (not all are fanatical), I want to put to rest the ignorant claim that “There is no evidence for a historical Jesus.” There most definitely is. It's called "confirming evidence" or evidence of things we would expect to find if there was a historical Jesus, and it is Legion.
Dr. James McGrath: "My Criticisms of Mythicism Must Be On Target"
That's his claim. See what you think. He even links to something I wrote that he considers relevant.
Spiritual Warfare Monger C. Peter Wagner: "Japan is Cursed"
This is the kind of crap that needs to be eradicated from a civilized society. I'm just glad no one is our President who thinks this way. Sarah Palin anyone? Christians, police your own ranks. Link
Quote of the Day
The probability that God inspired the Bible is inversely proportional to the probability that it developed in ways indistinguishable from a purely human process (i.e., the more probable it looks like a purely human process then the less probable it has God as an author), and there is overwhelming evidence that it looks indistinguishable from a purely human process. -- John W. Loftus
Disconfirming Evidence is Decisive
[Written by John Loftus]
I actually saw the Pool of Siloam for myself when I was in Jerusalem in 1989. What follows from this? The archaeological evidence is consistent with the Gospel stories about Jesus sending the blind man there who was healed (John 9:1-7). But it does nothing to show Jesus healed the man. Roswell, New Mexico, is an actual city too. Is this evidence of the existence of aliens? Both cases are equivalent. The existence of the Pool of Siloam and the city of Roswell are what we would expect to find if such claims were true, but that's all it shows. This is called confirming evidence.
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| Pool of Siloam |
Delusional on a Grand Scale, My Review of Michael Licona's book, "The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach"
Link. It's sure to be hotly contested.
God and Evolution Don’t Mix, by Dr. John Shook
If God was trying to produce us through evolution, what does that tell us about a God that would use that method? Here’s some suggestions:
Dr. Avalos on the Minnesota Atheists Radio Show
Dr. Avalos talks about biblical slavery and ethics with Minnesota Atheists Talk in anticipation of his forthcoming book, Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Ethics of Biblical Scholarship.
Science, the Flood, and the Bible, Oh My!
Today's assignments boy and girls are to 1) Study a chart on Belief in Evolution versus National Wealth. 2) Read Phil Senter's article, The Defeat of Flood Geology by Flood Geology. 3) Read an essay or two from Thom Stark on Religion at the Margins. 4) Then you can take a trip to Israel vicariously with Dr. James McGrath who is our guest teacher today.
Does Higher Criticism Attempt to “Destroy the Bible”?
Hey Bible thumpers, if you won't listen to me then listen to one of your own:
One of the dodges by some Christian “philosophers”, theologians, fundamentalists, and others, is to suggest that the goal of higher criticism is to “destroy the Bible” or “destroy faith.” Typically, this is a rhetorical device intended to dismiss higher criticism in its entirety. This kind of argumentation is important as it leaves the person suspicious of higher criticism with a feeling of comfort, and much more importantly: they never have to consider any of the procedures or evidence of biblical criticism.
Dr. Avalos vs. Dr. Weikart: The Rematch
Dr. Avalos debates Dr.Richard Weikart on whether Darwinism or Christian anti-Judaism better explains the Nazi Holocaust. Enjoy.
The OTF Exemplified In Practice
Here is a debate between Valerie Dennett an atheist, Zakir Deedat a Muslim, Greg Turkel a Christian, Hugh Talmage a Mormon, and Moritz Duam a Jew. This is what I'm talking about!
Two Milestone Rankings Passed Today
The first one is that The End of Christianity
reached a ranking on Amazon below 1,200th.
It may get even better before it's over. The question is how long it will stay down there. Hopefully for a couple of months or more.
reached a ranking on Amazon below 1,200th. It may get even better before it's over. The question is how long it will stay down there. Hopefully for a couple of months or more.
God Cannot be Contrary to his own Predictions.
Here is a criticism about God’s omniscience and omnipotence based upon a point made by John D. Barrow in Impossibility, drawing on the work of cognitive scientist Donald Mackay. To put it into simple terms, it might be easier to state it as follows:
The Continued Quest for a Historical Jesus
Jesus research is in a new and exciting period. There is the Renewed New Quest and the Third Quest for a Historical Jesus. Many are very optimistic with theses conflicting but complimentary movements. The Renewed Quest sees a non-Jewish Jesus and comes from the Jesus Seminar of Robert Funk.
By This Time Monday DC Will Be #1 in Biblioblogger Rankings
I've always suspected that Jim West and Joel Watts had a higher ranking than their comments indicated. Why, for instance, did Joel have 1/10th the number of comments that DC did if he outnumbered DC in hits? I loathed the way Jim West continually crowed about being number one and I promise I will not do the same. But it'll be nice to unseat them both. Their days of crowing are over. Thanks goes to the new effort to have a legitimate hit count where I climbed 2000 hits more than Joel in one day:
Atheist Tom Verenna Defends Jim West
Just when I thought the Biblioblogger world couldn't get any crazier I was wrong. Link. I have never, ever, even in jest said we should go back to the days when they threw Christians to the lions, and I would be repulsed by such a thought too. What is it he just doesn't get?
Biblioblogger Jim (Unaccredited) West's Proposal for Dealing with Heretics
My ‘modest proposal’ for dealing with heretics: public drownings in the summer (so the spray cools us) and burnings in the winter (so we can warm ourselves on the boiling blistering flesh of the godless). LinkHe claims this is humor, tongue-in-cheek, but this isn't funny. The church really did this to people like me. And it's utterly ignorant since yesterday's heresy is today's orthodoxy. What if he joked about lynching blacks? Is that a laughing matter? If civility is a new criteria for inclusion as a Biblioblogger then I demand an apology to atheists, or kick Jim West off the Biblioblogger list. And I see no reason for him not to be fired from being a Professor of Biblical Studies at Quartz Hill School of Theology. Am I overreacting? I think not. This is hate speech.
SBL's New Biblioblogger Ranking System Shows DC Rules!
Switching from Alexa to a new system where we place badges in the sidebar to keep track of actual hits seems to be working fine. I got my badge 2-3 days ago. Previously I had expressed unwarranted fears about the change. But as you can tell below, I don't have them anymore. DC rules! Well, almost. ;-)
Genesis 3-Thank "God" for the Snake
Genesis 3 is a very important chapter in the bible. It has helped shape and re-shape Christian views on human nature, the state of the world and the relationship between good and evil. It has affected and influenced philosophers, theologians, writers, politicians, historians, artists and the average person on the street. When I examine Genesis 3 I see a story that has been paramount in underwriting the conflict between faith and free thought, which has raged throughout history. This story serves as a precedent for religion’s continuous attempts to suppress reason among its followers and for its attack on anyone brave enough to examine their god and their faith through the lens of rational thought.
How we Create Illusions Like a Soul and Thought
I think "external material world" is a dualistic habit we continue to carry from religious language. It presupposes that there is some homunculus that is presented the external world in a mental theatre inside our head. But it serves our syntax well . The use of a subject and predicate places the I in the brain by tradition. Our language almost insures it. But if we posit a monism would not the only difference between a physical monisim and a mental one be semantics? What would be the means of comparison? What is internal to that mental "external world?" Does the idea of a spirit comes form all of this?
Seeking Power, From Boobquake to Elevatorgate
I am a mere man. I'm also a die-hard feminist to the core. It's one of the main motivators for what I do. Women lack power and privilege in our white male Christian dominated society. So any conscious raising is a very good thing. I could go on and on about this. Now the same atheist women who sexualized themselves in Boobquake and in a sexy skeptic calendar understandably want to raise the issue of sexism with Elevatorgate. Human beings seek power, all of us. So it stands to reason women will use whatever it is to their advantage, one day flaunting their sexuality and the next day by condemning men as sexists for saying they are pretty. Ya gotta love 'em. We are not much different though. We all use what we've got. It's who we are. Men don't usually understand this.
Who's the Arrogant One?
As an atheist one of the most common and tiring accusations I find myself facing from Christians is that of being prideful or arrogant. At times it seems it is impossible to question a person’s faith without them thinking you are hard headed and arrogant. I was talking with an old friend of mine and she was asking me about pride, in particular mine. She asked me if my current disbelief in the Christian god wasn’t simply a matter of being prideful/arrogant? Basically who am I to judge God? Of course that meant her god and her beliefs about him.
My Story-Taking the OTF and Not Even Knowing It
My name is Zach and I am a recovering evangelical Christian. It was about two and a half years ago, shortly before graduating from a Christian seminary with my Master’s in theology that my eyes (mind, heart, etc.) were opened and I saw my Christian faith for what it was; false.
Thomas Riskas in "Deconstructing Mormonism" Uses the OTF
In his massive 480 page book, Deconstructing Mormonism: An Analysis and Assessment of the Mormon Faith
, published by American Atheist Press, Thomas Riskas is the first author to use my OTF against a different religion, Mormonism. On page xxxiii he writes:
, published by American Atheist Press, Thomas Riskas is the first author to use my OTF against a different religion, Mormonism. On page xxxiii he writes:Rethinking PZ Myers on the Accomodation vs Confrontation Debate
I am re-thinking this whole debate in order to come to a better understanding of it. See what you think of this exchange between Douglas Kirk and myself.
Why Christians Should Read This Blog and Our Books
Dr. Hector Avalos said it best:
Debunking is an important part of the scientific and historical enterprise. That is why most educated people today don't believe in a flat earth or in exorcism as a medical treatment. LinkGiven that people are so prone to confirmation bias they OUGHT to seek out the naysayers just to keep them honest.
Who Answers Prayers?
[Written by John Loftus] Christians claim that any prayer request granted for other believers in different religions is done by their God out of compassion, because only one God exists, theirs. The reason Christians think this, despite the fact that only prayers offered in Jesus' name are to be prayed, is because their own answered prayers have no more evidence for them as the others. So their God becomes the explanation for the answered prayers of a Muslim, or an Orthodox Jew, or a Fred Phelps, or a Roman Catholic, or a liberal Christian, or a Jehovah's Witness, or a Mormon, or a Satanist, or a Hindu. But believers in these other religions will take answered prayers as evidence that their faith is true. This means God, the Christian God, is providing confirming evidence against the truth of Christianity to other believers in false religions who will be condemned to hell. So Christian, either give up the belief that your God answers the prayers of other believers, or admit he is helping to send them to hell. And if you give up the belief that God is answering the prayers of other believers, then show us why your own answered prayers have more evidence for them than theirs.
"possibly_maybe" put it a bit differently but very effectively:
"possibly_maybe" put it a bit differently but very effectively:
A Muslim man prays to Allah to have his cancer cured. The prayer is answered, and the Muslim man is strengthened in his faith in Allah. After all it was Allah who he was praying to, and who healed him right? And so the man, as a devout Muslim, endorses stoning of adulterers, killing of apostates and cutting limbs off of thieves...This is the issue right here. When Christians say that it is their God who answers all prayers in the world, they are basically saying that the Christian God intentionally mystifies people from other religions into believing their false religions even more (and in their faith making sins, that will never allow them to be saved). In other words, the God who answers all prayers supports the violence/sins in the name of other religions.
Why the Q Hypothesis Works
Mark 1: 21-39 presents Jesus going to Simon Peter's house and curing Peter's mother-in-law. She has a fever which Jesus "cures'. She then gets up and serves them. That evening people brought the demon possessed and sick to the house. The whole city gathers about the door.
Who or What is a Biblioblogger, Here We Go Again Folks
If being ignored as an accomodationsist by PZ Myers (or other reasons left undetermined) isn't enough, I fear another round of debates trying to exclude me as a bibiloblogger. Didn't we already have this debate before? *Sigh*
I stand in the gap. It seems I really do. Some on the scientific atheist side think of me as an accomodationist, which is a gross misunderstanding of who I am, while the Christian side is threatened by me. Each side would rather preach to their own separate choirs. It has been my goal to reach out to Christians in ways they can understand, but I had hoped more on the atheist side would see the value I bring to the table. Oh well. I am very thankful for the overwhelming support I have received. I wish the atheists at TAM in Las Vegas this week would have a debate on how we can best change the religious landscape rather than droning on and on about Elevatorgate, but who am I?
I stand in the gap. It seems I really do. Some on the scientific atheist side think of me as an accomodationist, which is a gross misunderstanding of who I am, while the Christian side is threatened by me. Each side would rather preach to their own separate choirs. It has been my goal to reach out to Christians in ways they can understand, but I had hoped more on the atheist side would see the value I bring to the table. Oh well. I am very thankful for the overwhelming support I have received. I wish the atheists at TAM in Las Vegas this week would have a debate on how we can best change the religious landscape rather than droning on and on about Elevatorgate, but who am I?
A Unified Atheism?
Why is there a lack of unity among atheists? I think that it is because atheism is not ultimately a philosophy though it can be. It is not a belief though it can be. It is not responsive to religion but it can be. It is not responsive to philosophy but it can be. How so? Because anyone who says they do not believe in a god is an atheist. They may not know a hill of beans about science, religious claims, philosophy or even atheism.
What PZ Myers Fails to Understand
Up until recently I have not criticized other prominent atheists. I have tried to be accommodating so we could provide a unified front. But that has been shattered, especially with the feeding frenzy over the insensitive comments of Richard Dawkins to the concerns of women like Skepchick. Listen, I am a feminist to the core. It's one of the main reasons why I seek to rid our world of religion, especially Christianity, my niche. But since the united atheist front is gone I've decided to speak out against my own side when it seems one of them is not helping with this goal. I take no pleasure in this. But I must.
Just Imagine
Imagine how the following stories would differ if Christianity did not exit. Rewrite them if you'd like and present the changes you think would be likely.
Don't Buy My Book, WIBA. It's Very Bad Some Recent Reviews Say
I have become inured from these kind of reviews. Link. Perhaps it's what you'd expect when someone is not preaching to the choir.
PZ Myers on Appeasing the Elves of Iceland: "Dynamite the Elves"
I like how he writes. I've mentioned the Elves before. Sheer nonsense it is, idiocy. Take a stand for reason and science Icelanders, now.
An Ideological Turing Test for Atheists and Christians
Leah had contacted me about this while she was working on it, but I didn't find time to post about it. Luckily Hemant Mehta did. Check it out and vote.
Personified Myth or Mythologized Person?
Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord's brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. (Galatians 1:18-20)
What writings of the New Testament are actually from Paul? I know of no serious scholars that deny that Paul wrote Galatians. In fact you will read in any search or book that is of any reputable scholar that Galatians is authentic. Paul claims in these verses to have met James, the brother of the Lord.
I'm Serious About the Poll at Right
When faced with the probability that all I'll ever be is an atheist author/blogger making a few hundred bucks every six months along with some money every month from Amazon referral fees, I'm at a crossroads in my life. Do I continue with hope (not faith) that I can make a living at this, in addition to my carpet cleaning business in a small town where a significant minority of people won't hire my services because they know I'm an atheist? Or get a different job, or a second job, severely limiting my effectiveness as an atheist author and blogger. I have made some sacrifices willingly with no expectation of reward. It's what I wanted to do. Now what? Don't pat me on the back. Be honest.
Results of the poll:
Haven’t I Already Done Enough?
No, we need you more than ever 52 (15%)
What you do still helps 69 (20%)
First finish up a few things 5 (1%)
Take a needed break, relax 114 (33%)
Yes, move on with your life 65 (18%)
We can get along fine without you 38 (11%)
Results of the poll:
Haven’t I Already Done Enough?
No, we need you more than ever 52 (15%)
What you do still helps 69 (20%)
First finish up a few things 5 (1%)
Take a needed break, relax 114 (33%)
Yes, move on with your life 65 (18%)
We can get along fine without you 38 (11%)
I Struggle Doing What I Do.
I struggle with the loss of purpose today, having already written and edited three books that people on both sides have recommended as the best of their kind. What's left to say I wonder, if they don't help change the religious landscape? Taken together with other recent books and those that are forthcoming, there is no where left for the deluded to hide, that is, if they really want to know the truth. I am gradually feeling the need to make some needed money to live my life out with a few more extras. You can help stave off what I see as the inevitable by donating to keep me writing and blogging. To anyone who thinks I'm getting rich off my books I challenge you to write one and see how far a few hundred dollars goes every six months. If what I do has helped you in some small way and you have the means to give back, click here, or keep track of your donations by clicking on the ChipIn link in the sidebar. Please. I am really embarrassed to have to ask. Thanks goes out to several people who have done so in the past. It means a lot to me.
Sex, Sex, and More Sex
which can be read on Amazon, that sex will be the undoing of Evangelicalism. These kind of programs will have more to do with the undoing of Evangelicalism than probably any book debunking it. Mark my words.The Implications of Evolution are Enormous
I've previously quoted from Jerry Coyne where he tells us evolution is a fact. Here are a few of the implications: The God-hypothesis for the creation of human beings is unnecessary at best; the Adam & Eve story is a myth; human beings are not special nor even the highest creation; when we die we cease to exist just like every other species does. There are many others. Religion itself becomes an unnecessary hypothesis.
The First Review of "The End of Christianity"
Nicholas Ryan Covington is the first to review my new anthology, The End of Christianity. He mentions The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails
and says, "I doubt that any rational person could remain a Christian after being informed of the arguments in these two books." So let me put it to you: Are people who believe despite overwhelming evidence and arguments being irrational?
. He mentions The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails and says, "I doubt that any rational person could remain a Christian after being informed of the arguments in these two books." So let me put it to you: Are people who believe despite overwhelming evidence and arguments being irrational?A Very Brief Who's Who List of Recommended Skeptical Scholars
When it comes to science I highly recommend the work of people like Victor Stenger, Michael Shermer, Jerry Coyne, PZ Myers, Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, Phil Plait, Neil deGrasee Tyson, Taner Edis, and others. They know science so I defer to them. They make what I do possible, for without them it would be hard to make my case against Christianity.
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