Category: Atheism
No, life cannot have meaning in a random universe. Next question?
| November 11, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Intelligent Design, Science, theism |
In an excerpt from his recent book, Finding Purpose in a Godless World: Why We Care Even If the Universe Doesn’t, a psychiatrist explains how we can have meaning even though we don’t: People assume that our human sense of purpose is dependent on the universe having a purpose, and without such purpose they assume […]
Atheist historian combats claim that the Church persecuted classical learning
| November 11, 2018 | Posted by News under academic freedom, Atheism, Culture, Education, Intellectual freedom, Intelligent Design, Religion, Science |
A historian draws our attention this post from late 2016, a reflection on the survival of classical learning during the Christian era, in response to “Skep,” an energetic atheist blogger: But the usual way that those who are forced to admit that there were, in fact, many medieval natural philosophers studying all kinds of proto-scientific […]
John Gray: New Atheists don’t acknowledge their myths and beliefs
| November 4, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Religion, Science |
British political philosopher John Gray, author of Seven Types of Atheism (2018) and also of Straw Dogs, comments in an interview: Indeed. I’m a skeptic by nature, so I’m resistant to claims by anyone to have complete answers to intractable human problems. I’m particularly annoyed by what’s now called “New Atheism,” and I react strongly […]
Larry Krauss cites physics to fight back against sex harassment charges
| October 28, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Culture, Intelligent Design, Physics |
Readers will remember celebrity atheist physicist Larry Krauss. We first heard the story about the sexual harassment charges at Buzzfeed in February. Krauss announced his retirement last week but has also offered a lengthy rebuttal to the accusations. Among other things, he says the physics of some of the allegations doesn’t hold up: One piece of […]
Jerry Coyne is unhappy again. This time it is Templeton
| October 1, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Culture, Intelligent Design, Religion |
The most recent thing we had heard that Darwinian biologist Darwinian evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne was unhappy about was David Qualen’s book on Carl Woese. The Tangled Tree:A Radical New History of Life has far too much about horizontal gene transfer for a Darwinist’s liking. Before that, we heard that skeptical mathematician David Berlinski had […]
Is there an atheist value system, at odds with traditional ones?
| September 24, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Culture, Ethics, Intellectual freedom, Intelligent Design |
We are told so at Commentary, using the Soviet Union by way of demonstration: Bolshevik ethics began and ended with atheism. Only someone who rejected all religious or quasi-religious morals could be a Bolshevik because, as Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, and countless other Bolshevik leaders insisted, success for the Party was the only standard of right […]
Are atheists less tolerant than others?
| September 24, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Culture, Naturalism |
Make what you will of studies but this just in: A study of 788 people in the UK, France and Spain concluded that atheists and agnostics think of themselves as more open-minded than those with faith, but are are actually less tolerant to differing opinions and ideas. Religious believers “seem to better perceive and integrate […]
Britain appoints first Humanist as head chaplain
| September 23, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Culture, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Religion |
For a hospital in the National Health Service: Lindsay van Dijk will lead three Christian chaplains and a team of 24 volunteers, including a Catholic nun, a Buddhist and a Bahá’í, at the Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS trust. The world-renowned spinal injuries unit at Stoke Mandeville hospital is part of the trust. … Humanists do not […]
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 […]
