This is continued from a discussion I am having with John Loftus of Debunking Christianity. It may be easier to understand if you read part 1 and/or the post that prompted the discussion first. Atheism, at its most basic, is boring. It is the claim that no God(s) exist. It’s an assertion I believe to be true and, given the state of the world I live in, one that I believe it is important to assert. But, taken in isolation,... Read more
I’ve been engaged in a back and forth with John Loftus over his proposed questions for a Christian interlocutor, and I think we’ve both ended up a little frustrated. Therefore, I want to take a moment to explain in more detail why I disagree with Loftus’s methods and questions, and why I’m not inclined to just let them lie as a difference of opinions. I still think Loftus’s choice to focus his questions on nitpicks for biblical literalists is problematic,... Read more
–1– As a true blue Democrat, the events of Tuesday night were a little hard for me to take, so I’m going to need the blogging equivalent of chocolate (good for Dementors and defeats) to be able to go on. Here goes: From a photo caption from a story about Merle Haggard (via Jeff Weintraub): The documentary was filmed over three years. Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall. –2– Oh man, even amusing... Read more
UPDATE: I’ve taken a second look at the language I used at the end of this post and revised it. The revision and the reason are now present at the end of the post. There’s an update on John Loftus’s book of debates with a Christian scholar (I mentioned it before when he was soliciting possible topics on Debunking Christianity). He’s picked out the first six questions they’ll be addressing, and I’m really disappointed with the one’s he presumably picked... Read more
This is part of a series of posts answering Michael Egnor’s eight questions for atheists. I am taking the questions out of order, as suits my fancy, but you can see all questions and my responses here. On the question Why is there Anything? my answer is nearly identical to Luke’s from Common Sense Atheism: I will say it has always struck me as an odd question. The assumption seems to be that non-being (“nothing”) is somehow more fundamental than being... Read more
This is part of a series of posts answering Michael Egnor’s eight questions for atheists. I am taking the questions out of order, as suits my fancy, but you can see all questions and my responses here. I can default to the standard atheist response to this question and reply that the probability of regularity in nature, conditional on my own existence as a living conscious creature is one, but I’d like to go into a little more detail on why... Read more
jo John Loftus of Debunking Christianity is working on a new book and is looking for chapter ideas. He describes the premise here and seeks suggestions in the comments. I had previously mentioned that a Christian scholar and myself are co-writing a book. We’ve just made it out of the planning stage. We had to have a book proposal with a promise of appealing to readers. Well, we’ve settled on one tentatively titled “God or Godless? Fifty Five Minute Debates.”... Read more
–1– Halloween’s coming up, so let’s start with something spooky. The video below is of a Japanese robot that was designed to emulate human facial expressions and is startlingly good at it. (h/t Gizmodo) –2– For me, the fright comes from the fact that I’m pretty sure I would have a difficult time telling the robot in the video apart from an organic human in many contexts. The movements in the video were a little herky-jerky, but it... Read more
The Discovery Institute’s Michael Egnor has posted eight questions as a challenge to New Atheists. I’ve been a little overwhelmed for the past two weeks in rehearsals for the production of Iolanthe I’m co-directing, so I’m going to adopt these questions as a new posting sequence while I’m in rehearsal, and I’ll be answering the questions out of order, depending on how much time I have each day. Eight Questions for Atheists Why is there anything? What caused the Universe?... Read more
–1– I’ve been terribly deficient w/r/t blogging this week, so I pledge to make it up by posting this weekend (especially the promised response to Peter Somerville’s criticism of my post on the (im)morality of drone strikes). For today, I shall fill out the remainder of my seven takes with paired posts. –2– Disappointing Democrats (Part 1) Like pretty much everyone in the atheist blogosphere, I’m extremely upset by the new attack ad that Democrat Jack Conway is running against... Read more
Unequally Yoked
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