Schrödinger’s Rapist and Schrödinger’s Racist

January 16, 2012 By 90 Comments

Under the pen name “Phaedra Starling”, a woman a couple years ago wrote a widely read and debated article about a concept she dubbed “Schrödinger’s Rapist”. In it she addressed well meaning men who take personal offense when their attempts to initiate conversation (or more) with strange women in public are met with cold caution or [...]

Filed Under: Feminism, Feminism, Prejudice, Racism, Rape, Women's Issues Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , 90 Comments

Yes, We Can Blame People For Their Feelings, Not Just Their Actions

November 24, 2011 By 21 Comments

“You can’t blame people for how they feel, only for what they do.” “You have every right to be offended, but you don’t have the right to censor others just because you’re offended.” In this post and the next one, I want to explain why I think these two common moral sentiments are quite mistaken—or, [...]

Filed Under: Ethics, Ethics, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues, Intellectual Virtues, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Prejudice, Racism, Virtues, Virtues 21 Comments

What Can An Atheist Love In People’s Religiosity?

February 15, 2011 By 13 Comments

Earlier today, I argued that atheists can vigorously and outspokenly oppose bad faith-based ideas, values, and behaviors, but still love other aspects of the religiosity of their religious friends (and of religious people in general). I argued that religion can be as central to personal identity formation as sexuality is and that to indiscriminately hate [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, Love, Love, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Prejudice, Religion, Religion, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Secularism, Virtues, Virtues 13 Comments

Can You Really Love Religious People If You Hate Their Religion?

February 15, 2011 By 15 Comments

Atheists do not exactly claim to “love sinners but hate sins” (if for no other reason than that most, if not all, of us reject the category of “sin” as a meaningful or valuable way to talk about ethical failure). Also, atheists may be more realistic than to think that we really do, or feasibly [...]

Filed Under: Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Love, Love, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Prejudice, Psychology, Psychology, Religion, Religion, Religious Rights, Religious Rights, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Secularism, Virtues, Virtues 15 Comments

Why “Loving The Sinner But Hating The Sin” Is Not An Option When Dealing With Gay People

February 14, 2011 By 10 Comments

Many a homophobic religious person has infamously claimed that when it comes to gays he “loves the sinner but hates the sin” and many a defender of the full dignity and ethical lives of gay people has judged such a compromised offer of love inadequate (if not insincere). This cannot be because it is impossible [...]

Filed Under: Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Homophobia, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy, LGBTQAA, Love, Love, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, Prejudice, Psychology, Psychology, Religion, Religion, Same Sex Marriage, Same Sex Marriage, Sex Tagged With: , 10 Comments

Sex And Apostasy

February 9, 2011 By 8 Comments

Drew Dyck has written a book called Generation Ex-Christian: Why Young Adults Are Leaving the Faith. . .and How to Bring Them Back. I want to focus on just a few passages from his interesting five page article from last fall in last November’s Christianity Today. Unlike many Christians who, despite living in a culture [...]

Filed Under: Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Autonomy, Autonomy, Christianity, Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Prejudice, Psychology, Psychology, Religion, Religion, Secularism, Sex, Social Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology, Sociology, Why I Am Not A Christian, Why I Am Not A Christian Tagged With: , , , , , , 8 Comments

Unreal Discrimination?

October 11, 2010 By 2 Comments

Reggie objects to National Coming Out Day: As a black American I’m old enough to remember what real discrimination was like(I once got bit by a police dog on a peaceful march), as we tried to be judged by our actions. How is the brutality that gays suffered at the hands of policemen in the [...]

Filed Under: Civil Rights, Gay Marriage, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Prejudice, Racism, Same Sex Marriage, Same Sex Marriage 2 Comments

Prejudice

July 2, 2010 By 5 Comments

Here’s a reflexively smarmy, condescending pat on the head to the members of a maligned minority group: I once stayed in a black person’s house when I went to another place for a few days. It was interesting experience to go to an African American’s house because the black person housed us, fed us, treated [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Ethics, Prejudice, Religion, Religion Tagged With: 5 Comments

Rational Passional Persuasion

June 25, 2010 By 3 Comments

Andrew writes: So atheists don’t have emotions which inform them of the truth of something? And their rhetoric is completely dispassionate to the point where logic and reason are not fully objective? I have addressed the proper ways to consult the emotions in looking for truth in the post, Disambiguating Faith: Heart Over Reason, so for [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Civil Rights, Featured, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Prejudice, Same Sex Marriage Tagged With: , , , , , 3 Comments

Judge This: No Gay Kissing On Modern Family?

June 24, 2010 By 5 Comments

I am a bit late on this story but wanted to offer a contrary viewpoint to the dominant one of the outraged blogosphere. Though I have never seen the show, I was interested in the controversy over the show Modern Family which apparently features a gay couple among its lead characters.  The controversy centers not [...]

Filed Under: Applied Ethics, Culture, Cutural Criticism, Ethics, Featured, Homophobia, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Love, Moral Psychology, Morality, News Discussion, Pop Culture, Prejudice, Psychology, Same Sex Marriage, Sex, TV Tagged With: , , 5 Comments