The insurance company is bound to claim this was an act of God.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/15/king-of-kings-ohio-jesus_n_612360.html … [Read more...]

Martin Gardner died at age 95 on Saturday, May 22nd."This past weekend the world darkened with the loss of one of its brightest lights: Martin Gardner, polymath extraordinaire, founding father of the modern skeptical movement, and a friend. R.I.P. Martin." - Michael ShermerInterview of Martin Gardner by Michael Shermer:http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/10-05-26/#tributeNY Times Obituary:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/us/24gardner.html?scp=1&sq;=Martin%20Gardner&st;=cse … [Read more...]

"This human world of ours would be inconceivable without the practical existence of a religious belief. The great masses of a nation are not composed of philosophers. For the masses of the people, especially faith is absolutely the only basis of a moral outlook on life. The various substitutes that have been offered have not shown any results that might warrant us in thinking that they might usefully replace the existing denominations. ...There may be a few hundreds of thousands of superior men … [Read more...]

Here is an example of moral reasoning that appears to illustrate the theistic theory of ethics and moral reasoning proposed by Dianelos Georgoudis:1. God is kind and loving. (directly perceived truth about God's moral character)2. An action is morally good if and only if it makes the moral character of the person performing the action more like God's character. (fundamental normative assumption)3. Giving generously to the poor and hungry people of the world would make my moral character more … [Read more...]

Sorry, but I cannot let this Good Friday pass by without making a comment on my favorite topic: the resurrection of Jesus.I am uniquely qualified to write about Good Friday, because, unlike most human beings, I have been crucified. Actually, technically, I crucified myself. That probably sounds horrific, or at least a bit kinky, but it is true, and, obviously, I lived to tell the tale.In case you are not aware, nobody knows how crucifixion causes death. There are competing theories about this, … [Read more...]

It seems to me that selection of a moral point of view is similar to selection of a car to buy. There is no such thing as "the right car to buy", although there are probably lots of "the wrong cars to buy." Selection of a car is neither a purely subjective matter, nor is it a purely rational and objective matter. Selection of a moral point of view is also neither a purely subjective matter, nor a purely rational and objective matter.There are reasonable criteria that can and should be … [Read more...]

This article includes some background info on the issue of legal protections for faith healing:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27844314 … [Read more...]

I'm planning to write many posts that are focused on criticism of Christianity, and especially on the alleged resurrection of Jesus. The first in a series called "Resuscitation of the Swoon Theory" has just been posted on my blog : http://crossexamination.blogspot.com/ … [Read more...]

On the one hand there are the pro-reason folks: atheists, skeptics, naturalists, humanists, and Marxists. On the other hand there are the pro-faith folks: theists, mystics, supernaturalists, religious believers, New Agers, and Existentialists. The pro-reason people are anti faith and the pro-faith people are anti reason. The big question is:Q1. Which is better, reason or faith?This is, of course, an oversimplification. Some of the pro-reason crowd thinks that faith has its place in life, and … [Read more...]