Category: Atheism
Should atheism be included in religious education?
| September 16, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Education, Intelligent Design, Religion |
That’s being suggested in Britain: Humanists UK welcomed the recommendation that humanist beliefs and values be taught. In general, the commission’s conclusions were a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to save the academically serious teaching of religious and non-religious worldviews in our schools”, said Andrew Copson. But the Catholic Education Service said the report was “not so much […]
Sam Harris, atheists, and charitable giving
| September 2, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Culture, Intelligent Design, Naturalism |
Researcher: Across the board, in every category, accounting for every variable, no matter how you slice the pie, the single biggest factor behind charitable giving is . . . religious faith.
Which side will atheists choose in the war on science?
| August 13, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Culture, Mathematics, Science |
From Denyse O’Leary at MercatorNet: In June, I wrote a piece here at MercatorNet, “A shambolic atheist community faces some tough choices,” reflecting on the discontent of some members of that community. It attracted a good many comments and at least one riposte shortly afterward. The riposte garnered 114 comments too. Clearly, the piece struck […]
Well, why DOES Sam Harris matter?
| July 29, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Culture, Intelligent Design, Religion |
Readers will recall Sam Harris, an atheist who tried thinking for himself and ended up on the dark internet with Jordan Peterson. A meltdown is happening among materialist atheists, mainly over progressivism, and some of the fallout is quite revealing. From Samuel Buntz at The Federalist: Atheists are divided against each other. This is not […]
Biologist: Science and philosophy do NOT offer more for grief than religion
| July 29, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Culture, Religion, Science |
Wayne Rossiter, author of Shadow of Oz: Theistic Evolution and the Absent God, responds at his blog to a claim by Paul Thagard at Psychology Today that science and philosophy offer more for grief than religion does: Thagard’s view is that religion is false comfort, and that science (and philosophy) can do better. He begins […]
President Duterte, this is what it means to say that God is the necessary being at the root of reality
| July 29, 2018 | Posted by kairosfocus under Atheism, Darwinist rhetorical tactics, Logic and First Principles of right reason, Philosophy, Selective Hyperskepticism |
Recently, President Duterte of the Philippines issued a challenge to prove the existence of God. About a week ago, I showed that to believe in God is reasonable and responsible; indeed, he credibly exists. (BTW, the hits:comments ratio was interesting.) Today, I will explore a bit on what it means for God to be the […]
A thoughtful cartoonist wonders, who has a problem with evolution?
| July 23, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Culture, Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design, theism, theistic evolution |
Closing out our religion coverage for the week, there is an interesting series of cartoons from Jordan Collver at Nautilus, on why people do or don’t “believe in” evolution. Here’s one panel: Some notes: The girl at middle left seems to be a fan of Berra’s Blunder (describing the outcome of alleged unintelligent natural processes […]
Yes, President Duterte, God credibly exists
| July 23, 2018 | Posted by kairosfocus under Atheism, Darwinist rhetorical tactics, Epistemology (the study of knowledge and its conditions), faith, Food for thought, Mind, Philosophy, Religion, Selective Hyperskepticism, theism |
. . . given what it takes for us to be here as credibly responsible, rational, morally governed creatures. This is of course my response to UD News’ recent articles on the challenge to “prove” the existence of God, as was recently issued by the President of the Philippines, His Excellency Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Of […]
Hugh Ross’s five best arguments from nature for the existence of God
| July 22, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design, theism |
And some objections. Via Mark Tapscott at HillFaith, from Hugh Ross at Reason to Believe: 1. origin of space, time, matter, and energy 2. origin of life 3. human exceptionalism 4. fine-tuning of the universe, Earth, and Earth’s life to make possible the existence and redemption of billions of humans 5. Genesis 1’s predictive power […]
Atheists sense design in nature?
| July 22, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Design inference, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design |
From Clay Routledge at National Review: As I discuss in my new book, Supernatural: Death, Meaning, and the Power of Invisible World, the decline of any particular religion does not reflect a decline in people’s orientation toward supernatural questions, curiosities, and beliefs. Most people still believe in God or a universal spirit. The majority of […]
What about the broader view of naturalism? (And how does this tie in with methods of science?)
A handy source on the broader view of naturalism (as a bit more elaborate than a dictionary and a tad more credible than Wikipedia) is Encyclopedia Britannica: >>Naturalism, in philosophy, a theory that relates scientific method to philosophy by affirming that all beings and events in the universe (whatever their inherent character may be) are […]
On the absurdity of “naturalism” (and the equal absurdity of its censorship of science and education)
A little while ago, UD’s News noted on the tenth anniversary of Louisiana’s science education law, and an exchange has developed on the significance of “methodological” and “philosophical” “naturalism” in science, education — and by implication society. A crucial issue is the July 2000 statement of the US National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) on science […]
From Philip Cunningham: Atheistic Materialism vs Meaning, Value, and Purpose in Our Lives
| July 9, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Philosophy |
Here. Paper. See also: From Philip Cunningham: Darwin’s theory vs. falsification
Sam Harris on taboo topics, Jordan Peterson, and getting sent to PC hell
| July 1, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Culture, Intellectual freedom, Intelligent Design, Naturalism |
Readers will remember Sam Harris as one of the Four Horsemen of the atheist apocalypse (with Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens). Recently, he fell out with the progressives and ended up on the Dark Internet. He talks with Dan Hall at the Independent: Sam Harris is a neuroscientist, best-selling author, philosopher and host […]
Maybe atheists really ARE into the paranormal and superstition…
| June 30, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Intelligent Design |
Otherwise how do we explain this? From Matthew Olson at Digg: This Collaborative Map Of The Paranormal In Seattle Is The Best Thing Online This Week Founded by Seattleites Garrett Kelly (@boontdustie) and Jeremy Puma, the Liminal Seattle map is the region’s new go-to tool for tracking “fairies, ghosts, bigfoot, time travelers, extraterrestrials, ultraterrestrials, crow […]
William Lane Craig: Is there meaning to life?
| June 24, 2018 | Posted by Denyse OLeary under Atheism, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, theism |
William Lane Craig offers some thoughts at YouTube: More. Relevant article: Man, writes Loren Eiseley, is the Cosmic Orphan. He is the only creature in the universe who asks, “Why?” Other animals have instincts to guide them, but man has learned to ask questions. “Who am I?” man asks. “Why am I here? Where am […]
Does lack of a good father figure promote atheism?
| June 24, 2018 | Posted by Denyse OLeary under Atheism, Culture, Evolutionary psychology, Intelligent Design, Psychology |
From Wintery Knight Here’s a lecture by New York University professor Paul Vitz to explain a connection between atheism and fatherlessness: Wintery Knight also suggests an article by Paul Copan which points out how father presence/absence and father quality affects belief and disbelief in God: Seventh, the attempt to psychologize believers applies more readily to […]
Silicon Valley atheists falling for new age spiritual flimflam
| June 17, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Culture, Intelligent Design, Religion |
Further to a recent call for evolutionary psychologists to study atheism, from Caroline McCarthy, a Silicon Valley veteran, at Vox, writes about receiving an invite to a tech entrepreneur event: “We are bringing together the sacred plant medicine ayahuasca with leaders at the world’s most innovative startups,” the email said. “Together we will go on […]
Call for papers: How did atheism evolve? Evolutionary psychologists now want to study atheism
| June 10, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Culture, Evolutionary psychology, Intelligent Design |
Is it due to natural selection acting on random mutations (Darwinian evolution)? Is it adaptive? A byproduct? A stop on the road to extinction? Papers wanted here: — Evolutionary perspectives on atheism/unbelief Despite increasing secularization and a decreasing role played by institutionalized religions in the western world, many scholars within the study of religion – […]
You can’t be an honest atheist and a progressive at the same time.
| June 6, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Culture, Intellectual freedom, Philosophy, Science |
From Denyse O’Leary at MercatorNet: … She worries about the fact that some prominent atheists are attracted to the intellectual dark web, “an alliance of heretics” making “an end run around the mainstream conversation” (New York Times). The dark web includes figures like Jordan B. Peterson, Steven Pinker, and Bret Weinstein,) who want to discuss […]
