This is the 16th part of this series, reading The Qur’an; A New Translation by Abdel Haleem. We’ll occasionally compare that to other translations and with tafsirs for clarification. We’re also reading each “chapter” [surah] in order of revelation rather than the order in which they are typically printed. If you missed some of this series, you can see: my 1st post on surahs 1 & 2. my 2nd post on surahs 96, 68 & 73. my 3rd post on surahs 74, 111 & 81. my 4th post on surahs 87, 92, 89, 93, 94 &… Read more

I think it’s funny when someone demands that I explain the entire evolution of life “from molecules to men”—on Twitter. My video series to answer that question takes 47 episodes at an average of ten minutes each, but my would-be interlocutors expect me to explain all that in a single tweet of 240 characters or less?! Twitter is NOT the place to have an intellectual discussion of any depth about anything. Likewise, debates on Facebook are similarly frustrating even without… Read more

This is the 15th part of this series, reading The Qur’an; A New Translation by Abdel Haleem. We’ll occasionally compare that to other translations and with tafsirs for clarification. We’re also reading each “chapter” [surah] in order of revelation rather than the order in which they are typically printed. If you missed some of this series, you can see: my 1st post on surahs 1 & 2. my 2nd post on surahs 96, 68 & 73. my 3rd post on surahs 74, 111 & 81. my 4th post on surahs 87, 92, 89, 93, 94 &… Read more

This is the 14th part of this series, reading The Qur’an; A New Translation by Abdel Haleem. We’ll occasionally compare that to other translations and with tafsirs for clarification. We’re also reading each “chapter” [surah] in order of revelation rather than the order in which they are typically printed. If you missed some of this series, you can see: my 1st post on surahs 1 & 2. my 2nd post on surahs 96, 68 & 73. my 3rd post on surahs 74, 111 & 81. my 4th post on surahs 87, 92, 89, 93,… Read more

So I opened my front door last Sunday, and there’s this huge, polar bear-looking dog right there walking up my front porch smiling at me, and he just goes on into my door like he’s home. We already have two dogs; one is a Louisiana leopard dog and the other is a dachshund-corgi mix; both rescue dogs. The catahoula was an adorable young puppy on her last day at the pound before they were gonna put her down. So we… Read more

This is the 12th part of this series, reading The Qur’an; A New Translation by Abdel Haleem. We’ll occasionally compare that to other translations and with tafsirs for clarification. We’re also reading each “chapter” [surah] in order of revelation rather than the order in which they are typically printed. If you missed some of this series, you can see: my 1st post on surahs 1 & 2. my 2nd post on surahs 96, 68 & 73. my 3rd post on surahs 74, 111 & 81. my 4th post on surahs 87, 92, 89, 93,… Read more

Someone sent me the following image on social media, and I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to crash this church service. I looked into it and someone else quickly shared a link to the very seminar that this guy has been repeating all over the country for years now. I listened to it and realized immediately that he is actually the least competent of all the semi-professional creationists I’ve ever encountered, and that’s saying something! Remember that I’ve already debated… Read more

Even in Texas, the bigger cities tend to be less traditional than most rural communities, especially Austin, Houston and Dallas, which are actually quite forward-thinking, at least for Texas. But Fort Worth is one of the most overtly religiously conservative urban areas. So there was quite a reaction when Metroplex Atheists hung a bunch of banners all over downtown Main Street saying, “In No God We Trust”. Not surprisingly, the reaction to this was an immediate uproar. I mean, any… Read more