You know those people who have the “God Is My Driver” bumper sticker on their cars? I’m always scared when I see that bumper sticker. I can imagine those people letting go of the wheel of their cars and just trusting in The Lord Above to steer them right. This sticker is indicative of a broader attitude in life, of letting things take their own course by believing they are all predetermined anyway – fatalism. Now, it’s not only the... Read more
Jainism is an atheistic religion that’s mostly about pacifism and nonviolence–but that doesn’t keep Jains from unleashing the occasional Hitchens-level critique of supernatural belief. The 1200-year-old Mahapurana of Acharya Jinasena includes an anti-creationist throw-down that could have been blogged yesterday: Some foolish men declare that Creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill-advised, and should be rejected. If God created the world, where was he before creation? If you say he was transcendent then, and needed no support, where is he now?... Read more
The 2016 Republican primary race seems to have been conceived by a coked-up Hollywood satirist. I can just imagine the pitch. And then the egomaniacal tycoon character turns the race into a reality show, he he he. The more outrageous his statements, the higher he rises in the polls, while the mainstream candidates get voted off the island one by one. He threatens protesters with a punch in the face, and the crowd cheers for more. What’s next, American Presidential... Read more
By Gleb Tsipursky How can you find purpose and meaning from a secular perspective? Mike meets regularly with friends and acquaintances from his neighborhood in a large building. There, he enjoys listening to presentations about big life questions: on the meaning of life, on the nature of morality, on ethical behavior, etc. He participates in study circles that engage with these questions in more depth. Mike sings, dances, and enjoys musical performances there. Together with others, he volunteers to... Read more
Part 3 in a series on the mangling of Darwin’s Autobiography Back to Part 1 | Part 2 I majored in physical anthropology in college — not for the dazzling job prospects, but to fill in my sketchy understanding of evolution. In addition to changing and deepening my grasp of what it means to be human, a fuller knowledge of evolution led me to wonder how traditional religion could be made to fit with it at all. I also wondered what Darwin thought about... Read more
Part 2 in a series on the mangling of Darwin’s Autobiography Back to Part 1 | On to Part 3 An astonishing ability to pay attention may have been Darwin’s defining characteristic. Remember, this was the guy who found it possible to study barnacles for eight years straight. That superhuman capacity to observe and notice was the reason he could untangle the idea of natural selection. And as a result of this well-honed ability, the original manuscript of the Autobiography is bursting... Read more
Part 1 in a series on the mangling of Darwin’s Autobiography. Part 2 | Part 3 Charles Darwin wrote a great book. I loved it the first time I read it, then read it twice more. The more I read it, the more I liked it. Not everyone feels the same about this book. Some were so disturbed by what he wrote that they cut whole passages out before it was even published. As a result, most people didn’t get... Read more
I have long harbored a fantasy that President Barack Obama is not a Christian. No, I never believed the unfounded and revoltingly racist birther nonsense. They’re still waiting for him to lead that Islamic takeover of the US. Any day now… Not only isn’t President Obama a Muslim, neither was his father (not that there’s anything wrong with that, other than the whole religion thing). Barack Obama Sr. was raised a Muslim, but had become an atheist by the time... Read more
Dale McGowan penned a sweet, secular love letter to his wife for Valentine’s Day in his latest post. Typically, I wrote a bad poem. It’s deliberately bad…honest. The poems started years ago because I couldn’t find any unsappy Valentine’s Day cards. I thought, “I could do worse than this.” And a satirical tradition was born. When the tradition started, I hadn’t written a poem since I was a teenager. One of the poems I wrote then appears in the new... Read more
By Ron Garret Written in response to “Religious and Rational?” Spirituality and rationality seem completely opposed. But are they really? To get at this question, let’s start with a little thought experiment. Consider the following two questions: 1. If you were given a choice between reading a physical book (or an e-book) or listening to an audiobook, which would you prefer? 2. If you were given a choice between listening to music, or looking at the grooves of a phonograph... Read more
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