Let’s try something different. This weekend, you’re the blogger.
What did you recently find that was interesting on the ‘net? What’s on your mind? Let us know!
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“This weekend, you’re the blogger.”
Ohhh, Daniel, that’s a dangerous thing to say to a man like me. I’m addicted to both the blogosphere and to pontification.
Well, let’s see. Richard Carrier has a extensive review of the first weekend of the Jesus Project. If you want to see the directions that historical Jesus scholarship is moving, it’s worth a read. I’d just like to point out that I predicted that Robert Eisenman’s lecture would suck before it happened.
http://richardcarrier.blogspot.com/2009/01/amherst-conference.html
In the same vein, Robert Price has a review up of Paul Rhodes Eddy and Greg Boyd, “The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition.” I’m sure we’ll soon be hearing from apologists who’ve read this book. Price shows no mercy on this one. He’ll treat works like “The Secret” more gently than he does apologists.
http://www.jesus-project.com/articles/rev_price_jesus_mirage.htm
If you liked that piece, check out Price’s work as “The Bible Geek.” He’s got a series of short question-and-answer podcasts that you should be able to download for free through Itunes, Juice or a similar program.
http://webulite.com/node/882/blogs/robert_m_price
I’ve mentioned Stephen Law before, but he’s worth checking out as an approachable atheist philosopher. I’ve mentioned his “God of Eth” piece before, but I don’t believe I’ve linked to his “Could It Be Pretty Obvious That There’s No God?” It’s clever rather than brilliant, but it’s a fun inversion of the usual apologetics. http://stephenlaw.blogspot.com/2008/12/could-it-be-pretty-obvious-theres-no.html
The whole methane on Mars in pockets meaning either life on Mars or an active core was pretty big news.
CNN is having a 10AM-7PM “The Obama Express” special, which is verging on ridiculous.
“Yes, the national mall is practically empty but imagine what it will look like once people are actually here.”
Before Obama’s train ride to the inauguration, he:
Sounds interesting. I wonder if it will be suggested to get rid of any “God talk”.
Interesting, McB, since he invited that bozo Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration. Not sure how that squares with being “free from ideology.”
swansont linked to this awesome satellite photography
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/earth_observed.html
Following Digital Dame
Obama is “free from Ideology” as he swears in with one hand on old book of bronze age myth.
hmmm. Still, he has to be better than the last guy…
Stuff that perked my interest this week, but not enough to cobble up my own blog post on:
1) Bus driver in England who objected to driving a vehicle with the Atheist bus ad on it. You’re paid to drive the damn bus, not adjudicate the ads, idiot.
2) Some poor sod in Beamsville, Ontario (roughly Niagara Falls area) who lost $150k to Internet confidence swindlers. He trusted them because they seemed like such good, honest, Christians.
A friend of mine relayed a story the other day of a couple of friends of his who had recently had a miscarriage. He explained that the baby got some sort of infection that could have spread to the mother and killed her. But since the baby died, the mother was okay. After explaining all of this he said “I guess it was god’s plan.”
Now, I understand what he was trying to say – that the “plan” was to let the baby die so that the mother could live. But what I don’t understand is why only that part of the situation was the plan.
Wouldn’t god’s “plan” have been to let the couple get pregnant, let them fantasize about having a new child together, let them feel good and happy for 5 months before having the baby die? Wouldn’t his plan all along have to be for the situation to result exactly the way it did?
It reminded me of the numerous comments I’ve seen here about how god is always thanked for the good things but never blamed for the bad things.
Anyway, I thought I would relay that little story since the mic is open. :)
Obamicon me:
http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/entries/new.html
Aubrey, that is so tragic, I can’t even imagine the sense of loss and grief. In this case the “god’s plan” is a coping mechanism to help them deal with a terrible loss, whether they actually believe it or not. This is when religion is most convenient, giving solace at a time of unimaginable loss. Next step is they will assume god was teaching them a lesson by letting them suffer this terrible loss. What that lesson is ever determined to be is the big mystery.
Well, sure, I’ve got something to blog that I don’t particularly want on my own site.
I was a longtime Christian. Specifically, a Reformed Presbyterian. Funny thing about the PCA. They manage to be fundamentalist in some aspects–adamantly creationist, theonomist, etc. But they have some hermeneutical tricks up their sleeve to avoid literalism on some of the super evil things.
Anyway, another curious thing is that, at least in my church, they deny most mainstream apologetics, and cling tenaciously to presuppositionalism. If you’re not familiar with it, presuppositionalism is an apologetic that rests on two arguments. 1) Conclusions are contingent on presuppositions (think a very poorly understood, non-technical understanding of subjective probability theory, ie, Bayes’ Theorem for dummies). 2) Therefore, arguments should be judged based on internal consistency rather than evidence alone.
Then they bust out the Transcendental Argument for God, which demonstrably shows that all materialistic worldviews must be completely inconsistent forever and ever, amen. How so? Hume’s problem of induction, that’s how! You see, an atheist cannot give an account of why induction is justified without making flat assumptions or relying on pragmatism, but a Christian can. Induction works because God says it works. God provides nature with uniformity. Of course, if you ask a presuppositionalist why the Christian God rather than any other God, they predictably give answers confining themselves to major religions rather than the infinite number of imaginable Christianity-like religions.
A while back on my blog, I made an entry about bias and an argument I had read in a Christian book. I thought it was trivial and kind of obvious, but someone from my old church wanted to pick a fight, and trotted out the Transcendental Argument. Scouring the internet for more info–which took quite a while, considering how rare presuppositionalists and their critics are–I came across the perfect refutation. All of which is a long way of saying, I’d like to share it.
You can read it here:
http://leeharrison.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/the-transcendental-argument-for-the-existence-of-god-%E2%80%93-why-it-fails-part-2/
I’m even in a minifight with a presupper in the comments. Join the fray if you like!
Alison Singer, Executive vice president of communications and awareness at an organization in the U.S. called Autism Speaks resigned her post because she claims she was no longer comfortable with the way the organization was pandering the anti-vaccine crowd.
Well this one tickled my fancy for a bit of light relief on a Sunday …
http://www.laterralane.com/siems/antichristianbias.htm
Though not national news, Aubrey, I think your story is the best one on here. A very similar thing happened to a couple that are good friends of mine. However, they are atheists and were lucky enough to not have to put up with christian (lack of caps intentional) “logic” for why the miscarriage happened.
I, personally, could not imagine having to go through with that and having christians configure some sort of theological explanation and not be upset over the deal.
I know channels like this and many others promote positive atheism (as do I) and would like to limit violence, but I must say that sometimes it just might be okay to punch someone in the face for saying something along the lines of, “oh, it’s okay that your baby is dead ’cause god said so.”
I am a fan of non-violence, but I am also a fan of conditioning. Perhaps if certain assholes were punched in the face for things they say they may realize that making asshole comments may result in a bloody nose and a bloody nose is not pleasant.
Jabster,
That was just my kind of sarcasm…LOVED IT!!
@Steve
“I am a fan of non-violence, but I am also a fan of conditioning. Perhaps if certain assholes were punched in the face for things they say they may realize that making asshole comments may result in a bloody nose and a bloody nose is not pleasant.”
Heh… I’m down with that.
@DD
I didn’t know much about Rick Warren, except that he hosted that Civil Forum thing. I just read about him on Wiki, and I can see he is off his rocker. Although he has some crazy views in my opinion (like with the Terri Schiavo case), I wouldn’t expect anything less from a famous evangelical. Particularly one that runs a megachurch. One commendable thing it says is that he no longer takes a salary from the church, and has repaid his pay from the last 25 years. Not many famous megachurch pastors can say that.
Jabster, that was pretty funny. I laughed at this one:
31. Insurance companies refer to natural disasters as “Acts of Darwin”.
Many CEOs famously forgo a salary, but they still get millions in stock and bonuses. Warren is getting millions from his books and speaking engagements, no need to take the salary too. Even if he “reverse tithes” and lives on 10%, I bet that’s still millions. His Purpose Driven Life book has reportedly sold over 30 million copies at $18 a pop, and he’s milking that cash cow with related journals, audio CDs, wall calendars, daily inspiration books, etc. Dude is making bank. Not to mention all his other books and paraphernalia. He is a corporation unto himself.
That’s funny, his own Web site said he wants to tackle “egocentric leadership.”
Jabster,
That list was hilarious. Well, not so hilarious once you consider what it’s really saying…
The Obamanation. Is it just me, or does anyone else find this gala about to occur in Washington ludicrous and a huge waste of money, especially in these difficult economic times? My suggestion – a dignified swearing in ceremony in the oval office followed by a quiet celebratory dinner by the Obama’s, and then get to work Wednesday.
@Teleprompter
I was going to write a short post (very clever of Daniel to get other people to write his blog for him!) about how Christians are not being persecuted in society and in fact have privileges denied to others but this list summed it up much better than I could.
Here is a piece that just came out about research into group think and how the brain tends toward majority opinion. (I found this interesting as a plausible cause as to why belief systems “stick”.) It also points out though than a single dissenter who overcomes his own brain chemistry to conform can influence the dynamics.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/15/social.conformity.brain/index.html
I have to be having a pretty phenomenally boring weekend before I resort to the internet.
I just assumed everyone used the internet to avoid doing boring stuff midweek like I do.
Translation of Not Delusional:
“I don’t like who got elected, so no one should be allowed to have a party.”
@ Not Delusioned
I was in DC yesterday, and while it’s all a bit overblown and ridiculous, it’s still kind of amazing to see the enthusiasm that Obama has created. I saw an entire city, both residents and non-residents who were all very excited about what is happening right now.
And, not gonna lie, the service businesses in DC are making bank right now. So, all of the hooplah over the inauguration is benefiting some sectors of the economy.
Jabster: It’s a funny article, but some of the points don’t make sense to me.
What would an “atheist meeting center” or “atheist book center” look like? How would they differ from any other public space / bookshop?
@wintermute
I would imagine they would be a bit like Bedlam as it’s a well know fact that atheists have no moral values and are only constrained in their actions by fine upstanding religious types … :-)