I finally listened to the April 18 episode of Science Friday, featuring scientist, mathematician and author, Amir Aczel. His new book is entitled, Why Science Does Not Disprove God. I enjoyed the interview, which lasted about 25 minutes, though I think Ira Flatow could have done a better job pressing him on a few points. For instance, I would have challenged him to explain just when and where scientists have claimed that they could disprove god. I’ve never heard any... Read more
The fact that a majority of religious Americans switch religions at some point during their lifetime has been well documented. But what about atheists? How many people who are raised without faith and religion remain so throughout their lifetime. An article at Vox.com yesterday entitled “Your atheism isn’t going to keep your kids from believing in God,” draws on a 2008 Pew Religious Landscape Survey that indicates that only 46% of those raised “unaffiliated” remain so as adults. Of course, “unaffiliated” is... Read more
I have done some research and come away with unassailable, empirical evidence for my earlier hypothesis. Atheists do gather! Some of them, anyway. Seven hundred, in fact, met over Easter weekend in Salt Lake City, under the energetic leadership of David Silverman, president and spokesperson extraordinaire for American Atheists. I was honored to meet David a month or so ago at a friend’s house and he graciously invited me to be his guest at the American Atheist Convention. It was... Read more
A new poll out today from WIN/Gallup International addresses the question of whether or not religion plays a positive role in society. The results are mixed and tend to confirm what we have generally come to expect. Overall, 59% of respondents said that religion plays a positive role in society while only 22% say it plays a negative role, for net positive* of 37%. Taken as a whole, the world is still very religious and most see this as a... Read more
I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be spending four days with David Smalley, host of Dogma Debate, touring five locations, screening and discussing My Week in Atheism, doing live Dogma Debate shows and interacting with audiences from Atheists United to the Zion Hill Baptist Church of Los Angeles. If you live in or near Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside or Orange County please come out and join us for one or more of these events next month. See the... Read more
My Year Without God is about to get very exciting! Since early January when I first learned of the American Atheists National Convention, I have been hoping to attend. After meeting David Silverman (president, American Atheists) at my friend Steve Hill’s house, I got the personal invitation. How could I say no? So, starting Thursday afternoon I’m making the 10-hour drive from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City. The line up of speakers looks fantastic. I’ve corresponded with folks like... Read more
Warning: spoilers ahead. I took my girls to see Noah (written and directed by Darren Aronofsky) on Saturday night, mostly because we’d been cooped up all day and needed to get out. It looked like a fun, big screen action film and naturally I am very familiar with the biblical story. I wanted to know what all the hullabaloo was about, but honestly, I just wanted to see a good movie and I had heard it was entertaining from a... Read more
We all know the pain of losing someone we love. It threatens to swallow us alive. Like a black hole from which no light can escape, this existential pain sucks all joy and hope into it’s dark heart. In that moment nothing can escape its grip. This morning my daughter was playing some music in our apartment and the song, “Say Something,” by A Great Big World, came on. It’s been a sort of theme song for me this year,... Read more
I was going through some old photos in my iPhoto today and ran across this, dated May 14, 2013, which I sent to my best friend shortly after I wrote it. I guess I was anticipating this journey much earlier than I remembered. Read more
Yesterday I purchased Barbara Ehrenreich’s new book, Living with a Wild God: A Nonbeliever’s Search for the Truth About Everything, after it came to my attention on one of my news feeds. This morning a friend pointed me to an interview that Ehrenreich did with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air. I highly recommend it. Two quick observations from this interview that deserve more consideration as I’m dashing off to work. 1. Terry Gross suggests the existence of a world—a reality—ordinarily... Read more
Year Without God
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