Here's a chpt of my book The Philosophy Gym on gay sex. It's topical again given current traumas in Church of England.Mr Jarvis, a Christian, was asleep in bed, dreaming of the Last Judgement. In his dream, Jarvis found himself seated next to God in a great cloud-swept hall. God had just finished handing down judgement on the drunkards, who were slowly shuffling out of the exit to the left. Angels were now ushering a group of nervous-looking men through the entrance to the right. As the … [Read more...]
Good and bad ways of influencing the beliefs of others
January 4, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Plantinga’s Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism refuted
December 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof:yes;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; … [Read more...]
Israel, Palestine, and Terror
November 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
(This is content is a bit tangential to secularism issue, but it is not entirely unrelated, so I hope I'll be forgiven for posting it here.)Prof. Jerry Cohen's chapter from my book Israel, Palestine, and Terror is available on-line here. I think it's one of the strongest pieces in the book. My own contribution (three thousand words) is pasted in below.Terror in Palestine: A Non-Violent Alternative?Stephen LawIn this volume, the philosophers Ted Honderich and Tomis Kapitan argue that … [Read more...]
Atheist Prayer Experiment
November 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Justin Brierley reviews the results of an experiment in which atheists pray for 40 days for God to reveal himself to them. Go here.Thanks to The Atheist Missionary for drawing attention to this on twitter.This is a win-win experiment to set up for the purposes of evangelizing of course.Reasons why you should perhaps expect some positive reports include:(i) Atheists who agree to sign up to this fairly onerous prayer regime are more likely to think there might be something to religious belief (one … [Read more...]
Darwin Gets Write-In Votes in Georgia
November 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
http://news.msn.com/politics/darwin-gets-4000-write-in-votes-in-gaUnfortunately, Darwin lost the election. … [Read more...]
Video Commentary on my debate with William Lane Craig
November 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Someone was kind enough to take the trouble to make this video going through some of the exchanges between myself and Bill Craig in our debate.There is an error. The creator of the video says that the subject of the debate was the existence of the Christian God. In fact, the question before us was simply "Does God exist?"However, the points made in the video remain valid, as Craig, in the debate itself, actually defines God as being necessarily good. Hence, if I can show there is no good God, … [Read more...]
Myself, Peter Atkins, Richard Swinburne, Ard louis,(and Richard Dawkins) in conversation
October 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Here is a fairly long video of a discussion between myself, Richard Swinburne (philosopher), Peter Atkins (chemist), Ard Louis (physicist), and also Richard Dawkins (who was in the audience) at one point. The theme was Life, The Universe and Everything - The Quest for Truth.My main contribution is at 39 mins 30sec.(nb. Dawkins is at 1hr 18 min 20 sec [he has a pop at Swinburne and me] and my response to Dawkins at 1hr 24 min 30 sec).I posted on this before, shortly after the recording. Go … [Read more...]
William Lane Craig: “Animals aren’t aware that they’re in pain”
October 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Recently, some theists have attempted to deal with that part of the problem of evil generated by horrendous animal suffering found in nature - including hundreds of millions of years of animal suffering before we humans even showed up - by saying that animals aren't aware that they are in pain. They maintain this is what "science" has shown. That helps bring the problem of suffering down to size!Indeed, that animals aren't aware that they are in pain is a remarkable "recent scientific … [Read more...]
The Tapescrew Letters
August 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
What follows is a cautionary bit of fiction, inspired by C.S. Lewis's fiction The Screwtape Letters, Letters from a Senior to a Junior Devil, which are fantastically entertaining and often very insightful. I don't claim my mirror letters are as good as Lewis's, but they are offered in the same cautionary spirit. 9,000 words,This is adapted from the final bit of my book Believing Bullshit. I refer in places to specific mechanisms explained in the book, such as "I Just Know!" and Going … [Read more...]
Follow Patheos
Atheist: