On Evolution by Rational Selection

January 1, 2012 By 3 Comments

Almost all atheists are surely aware of Darwinian evolution, which is evolution by natural selection, and which explains the history of life on earth.  Universal Darwinism is the thesis that evolutionary principles operate beyond earthly biology.  Of course, not all things have genes or compete for survival in ecosystems.  More general evolutionary theories need not [Read More...]

Filed Under: Arguments Against The Existence of God, Atheism, Cosmology, Featured, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Philosophy, Physics, Rationalism, Religion and Science 3 Comments

Question about Atheists and Self-Consistency

December 31, 2011 By 43 Comments

[Please head over to the newer post On Defining Atheism and Atheists.] Consider the following description of a human being X: X believes that a personal God exists and X believes that a personal God does not exist. I’m interested in which of these options you’d say is correct: (A) There is no person who [Read More...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Featured 43 Comments

On Preachers Who Don't Believe in God

December 31, 2011 By 40 Comments

As a counterpoint to the infamous posts on atheists who believe in God, I offer Dennett and LaScola’s work on preachers who don’t believe in God. Here is a Dennett and LaScola paper and here is their forthcoming website called The Clergy Project. But wait!  Surely no atheist would believe in God!  And surely no [Read More...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Daniel Dennett, Featured 40 Comments

The Logic of Creation

December 31, 2011 By 15 Comments

At a very high level of abstraction, Sabin characterizes the god and goddess as symbols for two aspects of natural creative power (natura naturans, being-itself as the power to be).  She says that “The God represents, among other things, power unmanifest; the spark of life.  The Goddess gives this power form” (2011: 117).  We experience [Read More...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Cosmology, Featured, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Paganism, Philosophy, Religion and Science, Wicca 15 Comments

Creation Stories

December 31, 2011 By 1 Comment

Many religions have creation stories.  The Judeo-Christian creation stories are found in the first chapters of Genesis, which is the first book of the Bible.  There is no need to repeat the Genesis stories here.  It can be agreed that there are some metaphorical or analogical correspondences between the Genesis stories and our best science.  [Read More...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Cosmology, Creationism, Evolution, Featured, Intelligent Design, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Paganism, Philosophy, Rationalism, Religion and Science, Wicca 1 Comment

More on Religious Diversity among Atheists

December 30, 2011 By 38 Comments

[I did a short post on this two days ago; I’ve since dug further into the full Pew report and found more and stranger religious diversity among atheists.] The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life conducts the US Religious Landscape Survey.  The survey is statistically sound, and thus its percentages can be reasonably extrapolated [Read More...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Culture, Featured, Law & Politics, Philosophy, Rationalism, Religion, Religion and Science 38 Comments

Revelation versus Manifestation

December 30, 2011 By 5 Comments

This is a guest post by Eric Steinhart, Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University. The Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are religions of revelation.  As is well-known, these religions are derived from the experiences of religiously privileged individuals (prophets, messiahs, inspired writers) to whom it is alleged that God spoke.  These religions say [Read More...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Epistemic Justification, Evidence, Featured, Naturalism, Paganism, Philosophy, Rationalism, Religion and Science, Wicca 5 Comments

Wiccan Theology and Sexual Equality

December 30, 2011 By 5 Comments

This is a guest post by Eric Steinhart, Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University. An intriguing feature of Wicca is that sexual equality is built directly into its theology.  The Farrars stress the balance of male and female polarities in the divine (1981: ch. XV).  Buckland urges gender equality: “both the God and the [Read More...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Ethics, Featured, Feminism, LGBTQAA, Paganism, Sex, Wicca, Women's Issues 5 Comments

The Increasing Prevalence of Woo

December 29, 2011 By 22 Comments

This is a guest post by Eric Steinhart, Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted a survey which reports on the percentages of belief among respondents.  The survey is statistically sound and thus indicates that similar percentages hold in the American public.  The percentages are: 24% [Read More...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Epistemology, Featured, Philosophy 22 Comments

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