It's Possible to Change Minds Against the Overwhelming Odds
Well, I am (was) a five-point Calvinist, Reformed Baptist type, who recently lost my faith thanks to the two books by John Loftus (see? I didn't make it very far into the challenge). Losing your faith hurts a lot, and frankly, has made me angry because it feels like something very precious has been taken away from you. Then you think about it more, and it makes you even angrier and ashamed to be deceived into believing something so totally false and unworthy of the time and talents wasted on it. Then after some time, anger leads to depression. But I see a bright, glorious light at the end of the tunnel, and as far as I can see, it is not an oncoming train like the theists assured me I needed to fear. So, thank you, Mr. John Loftus. It's hurt like hell, but so far it's all been worth it! Link
The Free Will Fumble: Why Christians Treat it Just Like They do With Unanswered Prayer
Christians have developed so many ways to escape the force of the evidence that it’s frustrating to those of us who are trying to reason with them. I’ve written about several of them before. There is the big one I call The Omniscience Escape Clause. Another one I haven’t quite developed yet I call The Faith Trump Card, which is leaping beyond the actual probabilities of the evidence itself. No reasonable person can leap beyond what the evidence calls for. If Christians conclude it’s 51% probable Jesus arose from the dead then they simply cannot conclude they know he did. That’s an unjustified leap. If I thought it’s 51% probable the Colts will play in the Super Bowl and win it this year (fat chance) I would be ignorant to say I know this will happen, especially enough to bet all my meager life savings on it (which is zilch).
Who Says We're Wasting Our Time?
One day I was at a Barnes and Noble browsing around. I got to the Philosophy section, and picked up The Christian Delusion. Part 2 of the book is titled "Why the Bible Is Not the Word of God." After reading about some historical, scientific, and moral errors I went to the Christian Inspiration section of the store to get a Bible so I could read the context of each verse. Finally, hours later I renounced my faith. Link
The Chronicle of Higher Education: "Among the Evangelicals: Inside a Fractured Movement"
It appears that American evangelicalism is finally coming into its own as a subject of social research and academic attention well beyond the scope of those who identify with it as insiders...Yet as soon as evangelicalism becomes a subject, it splinters and splits. Indeed, taken together, recent studies by more-or-less outsiders show there is no such thing as evangelicalism. The term represents a broad range of significantly different theologies, practices, and religious movements within Christianity, and there are often tensions among and within them. Which is no revelation at all to most more-or-less insiders, who call themselves evangelicals, however qualified, and who argue as much with others who do the same as with those of us who don't. LinkApparently even among people who claim the Bible is God's word it's like herding cats!
JP Holding Has Reared his Ugly Head Again
The two questions for his Christian supporters are as follows: 1) Why does he continue to repeat these old accusations when I have already reasonably answered them? and, 2) Why doesn't he stick to the arguments? See for yourselves. Sheesh. To answer him drags me down into the sewer with him. Sorry about this.
I’m Ready to Go With New Suit and Passport in Hand
I want to thank the people who donated for me to get a new suit and a passport. The suit is a Calvin Klein one from Macy’s. The passport is for when I speak in Toronto, Canada, at CFI's Extraordinary Claims Panel Discussion. This means a great deal to me in the midst of the worst financial crisis I’ve ever experienced this past Fall. We’re climbing our way out of it with your help. Now if I could only get enough to pay for a new computer (see the ChipIn widget). Every little bit helps and will be equally appreciated. If not, I still appreciate the wonderful encouragement I’ve received over the years here at DC to continue Blogging.
Atheist 2 Star Review of The Christian Delusion: "This is not an awful book"
Quote of the Day, by William Lane Craig
Anyone who fails to believe in God by the end of his lifetime does so only by a stubborn resistance to the work of the Holy Spirit in drawing that person to a knowledge of God. On the biblical view people are not like innocent, lost lambs wandering helplessly without a guide. Rather they are determined rebels whose wills are set against God and who must be subdued by God’s Spirit....The unbeliever is like someone dying of a fatal disease who refuses to believe the medical evidence concerning the efficacy of a proffered cure and who rejects the testimony of his doctor to it and who, as a result, suffers the consequence of his own stubbornness. He has no one to blame but himself. Question 191.And to think, some skeptics here are blasting poor little Debbie for saying the same kinds of things. I wonder where she gets these platitudes? Bill exhibits a stubborn refusal to actually listen to us as real people with real doubts, choosing to believe the Bible instead. What nonsense! Bill is the one who stubbornly refuses to see the truth written on our faces.
Labels: "Quote of the Day"
Jonathan Pearce's New Book on Free Will
Professor Johnnie Terry is Using "The Christian Delusion" in His Class
He's not the only one using my books. Christian professors are doing so. Dr. Dan Lambert from John Brown University is using my book, Why I Became an Atheist, as I wrote about before, and so is Dr. Richard Knopp of Lincoln Christian University, my Alma mater. If you're a Christian professor maybe you should consider doing the same by educating rather than indoctrinating your students. Cheers.
Sex, Sex Toys, Sexy Girls, Naked Girls, Strippers, Porn, XXX, Lesbians, Adult Games, Threesomes and Orgasms
Sex will be the undoing of Christianity.
Here are a few links for you to look at before getting back to business: ;-)
Labels: Sex
Quote of the Day by R. Joseph Hoffman
Hat Tip: James McGrath.
Labels: "Quote of the Day"
Ha! This is Funny But True, Beware of a Little Curiosity
Come on Theists, just admit it, you're a little curious. We know it. You know it. You wouldn't be here otherwise.
Just come out and admit it. It's okay. We're not bad... not really. ;) If you're a Theist and are spending time lurking on /r/atheism or Pharyngula or Debunking Christianity or any of the other Atheist websites out there, you're almost one of us already. If you're a Theist and are spending time actually COMMENTING on Atheist websites, you're just a half step away from being a full fledged baby-eating scourge of humanity. Link
What Happens When I Write So That More People Can Understand Me?
Alvin Plantinga Gives Philosophy a Bad Name
Jon Stewart: The Gretch Who Saved the War on Christmas
Shirley Phelps-Roper Interviewed
Dr. Matt McCormick, "Is Naturalism a Scientific Thesis?"
[I]s naturalism itself a scientific thesis? I think the right answer to this question is that naturalism is not a thesis at all, but an approach. The naturalistic philosopher is the Neurathian sailor, working within science to understand, clarify, and improve science... Link
The Top Ten Occupations That Lead People to Become Atheists
Why Do I Bother? It's Who I Am.
“10 Reasons I’m Extremely Hesitant to Debate Christians”
Atheism is Winning Despite the Fact That it Shouldn’t Be
Ten Reasons Why Atheism Can’t Win
Writer's Block and Open Mike Night
Extraordinary Claims Hogwash, Remix
Scientists Find the Fountain of Youth
Had this science been around a century ago my famous great grandfather could have lived longer. He died at the age of 53 from throat cancer. When I say he was famous I mean he's the stuff of a Hollywood movie. He was a lifelong friend of Charles Cominskey and also managed the Chicago Cubs (then the Orphans) under owner Albert Spalding (with part ownership). Had he lived longer he could've seen baseball enter the "live ball era" with the likes of Babe Ruth, and he could be as instrumental in that new phase of professional baseball as he was in the tumultuous phase he lived through. At least he was able to see the Cubs win back to back World Series a century ago!
Why I Don’t Believe the Bible is God’s Word.
Debunking Christianity Ranked in 5th Place on Both Sides of the Divide
Dr. James Sennett's Review of My Book, "Why I Became an Atheist"
He presents a compendium of well-reasoned arguments (wrapped together nicely in a steadily developed “cumulative case”) against the central beliefs of Christianity...Loftus’s arguments are not the easily-refuted caricatures so often offered in Bible college textbooks and Sunday school materials. They are the genuine article – clear, well-articulated statements of plausible arguments by one who finds them overwhelmingly convincing. I dare say very few preachers, teachers, and Bible students have its likes on their shelves. And it should be there.
A Discussion I'm Having with Dr. Thomas Talbott (and others)
Debate: Does the Universe Have a Purpose?
Let the War on Christmas Begin!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Thom Stark on the Joshua Delusion
Unbelief by Default and Selective Credulity
"This sounds like a fair criticism...but it misses the point that...unbelief by default is already the attitude many Christians have to most religions. To be more specific: many Christians, when they hear non-Christian supernatural claims–or even Christian supernatural claims made outside the Christian canon–are skeptical by default. Some even say so explicitly." Link.
How Science Leads to Naturalism (At Least For Me)
Six Anti-Secularist Themes: Deconstructing Religionist Rhetorical Weaponry by Dr. Hector Avalos
Labels: "Avalos"
Quote of the Day, by exrelayman
The natural world is all that we can detect with our 5 senses and instruments used to interact with those senses when the scale of perception surpasses the limitations of those senses. The supernatural world then would be that which we cannot detect with senses or instruments (at the present time). This means that at the present time there is no evidence which we can discern supporting the supernatural. If and when we become able to detect the supernatural, it will have moved into the realm of the natural, as we can then detect it.
Labels: "Quote of the Day"
David Eller's New Book on Religion and Violence
What You Can Find Here at DC
Labels: Loftus
Are We Angry Atheists?
I find this to be an interesting charge. People have said this before. Is it true? If it is, does it imply anything important?
I don’t think it’s true, at least not with me. I am not an angry atheist toward anyone. If I have ever shown anger it’s because I was responding to what I considered to be willful ignorance, idiocy and/or attempts to belittle me.
But what if I am angry, and what if others here are angry? What then?
Labels: angry atheists