Way of the MindWay of the MindThoughts and contemplations - a philosophical blog. Emphasis on atheism and religion. Articles
Pope: "Atheism has led to the greatest forms of cruelty?"
2007-12-13 12:08:00 Source: MattBors.com Copyright © 2007 Way of the Mind More About: Atheism , Pope , Forms , Cruelty , Greatest
Are belief and unbelief morally neutral?
2007-12-12 11:31:00 Alonzo Fyfe of Atheist Ethicist wrote, more than once, that The proposition, “At least one god exists” and the proposition “It is not the case that at least one god exists” are both morally neutral. Taken at face value, they certainly are, and nowhere in this post will I imply something like “you can’t be a good ... More About: Belief
"The Fred Phelps of 1000 BC" :)
2007-12-11 22:38:00 A commenter to a post called The Church of Hate at Pharyngula wrote: Deuteronomy orders that disobedient children be taken to the city gate and stoned to death. Sounds pretty drastic and these days that would get you a long jail sentence. What struck me as odd, no one has ever found piles of ... More About: Fred , Fred Phelps
Belief System Selector - my results
2007-12-11 15:21:00 1. Secular Humanism (100%)2. Unitarian Universalism (93%) 3. Non-theist (78%) 4. Theravada Buddhism (75%) 5. Liberal Quakers (71%) 6. Neo-Pagan (60%) 7. Mainline - Liberal Christian Protestants (53%) 8. New Age (44%) 9. Taoism (41%) 10. Reform Judaism (37%) 11. Mahayana Buddhism (36%) 12. Orthodox Quaker (31%) 13. New Thought (27%) 14. Bahai (24%) 15. ... More About: System , Results , Belief
Christmas for Atheists?
2007-12-11 12:22:00 A couple of weeks ago, in a Portuguese technology mailing list, someone suggested organizing for a Christmas dinner, and someone else (over)reacted by saying “sorry, wrong religion”. I don’t even know if that guy is an atheist, or religious but not Christian (probably the latter). Obviously, an argument ensued, with that guy even accusing others ... More About: Atheists
The relief of religious deconversion
2007-12-07 11:17:00 Responding to No Way’s comment after I mentioned my relief when I stopped being a Christian: Now that intriques me. I would love to see that post sometime soon. After all, if I stopped believing the feeling would be the complete opposite of relief. I’ve written about it in the past (interestingly, in one of this blog’s ... More About: Relief , Religious
Hitchens on Genesis
2007-12-06 20:42:00 Here again one sees the gigantic man-made fallacy that informs our “Genes is ” story. How can it be proven in one paragraph that this book was written by ignorant men and not by any god? Because man is given “dominion” over all beasts, fowl and fish. But no dinosaurs or plesiosaurs or pterodactyls are specified, because ...
Does anyone ACTUALLY "hate God"?
2007-12-06 01:22:00 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. - Psalm 139:21-22 (King James Version) No, wait! I’m not going to use those verses in the way you are probably thinking (the ... More About: Hate
The "it seems designed for us, really!" error
2007-12-04 22:01:00 Continuing the argument started in the “The one in a million” fallacy post… as commenters immediately noticed (and you’ll note, from the last paragraph in that post, that I saw it too), each possible result — such as a “nice round number” — is as likely to occur randomly as any other, yes, but the ... More About: Error
The "one in a million" fallacy
2007-12-03 18:22:00 This is the first of a couple of posts dealing with No Way’s comment on my previous post. This one doesn’t deal with religion / atheism at all, so it may be refreshing for a change. The next one does, though. This one concerns this: the argument that the combination of conditions necessary for life ... More About: Million , One in a million , Fallacy , Alla
"The universe exists" as evidence for God
2007-11-30 14:26:00 It is quite common for theists, when asked to provide some evidence for their belief in God, to reply, "why, the fact that we are here, that the universe exists, is more than enough evidence!". I don’t know if most theists have really thought about what they mean when they say that. Think about it: when ... More About: Universe , Evidence , The Universe , Univers
I see, the hairdryer is supposed to make all the difference?
2007-11-27 10:46:00 The President of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. Now, if he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ludicrous or more ... More About: Make , Difference , Diff
Fun with the Church Sign Generator
2007-11-26 12:35:00 Try it yourself: the Church Sign Generator ! Copyright © 2007 Way of the Mind More About: The Church
I don?t like Microsoft?
2007-11-19 17:53:00 … so when do I take their side? Why, when they’re attacked by homophobic fundamentalist Christians, of course! You can’t make stuff like this up (any emphasis is mine): A black conservative Christian pastor of an evangelical megachurch has vowed to take over Microsoft by packing it with new shareholders who will vote against ...
Avast, ye landlubbers! Shiver me timbers!
2007-09-19 15:39:00 Yes, today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Ahoy there, and all that. Copyright © 2007 Way of the Mind More About: Vast , Hive
Moderates and Extremists
2007-09-11 22:37:00 While this post hasn’t got any replies so far (mainly, I believe, because the image has already been posted by other members of Planet Atheism, so it’s probably not new to readers of this blog), its equivalent on my technology blog did draw a few ones, which inspired me to write this (right here, because ... More About: Moderates , Rate , Moderate , Trem , Remi
9/11 again
2007-09-11 13:33:00 This year, I’ll be brief: (With thanks to Non Credo Deus) Copyright © 2007 Way of the Mind More About: 9/11
Why non-belief is the rational position to take
2007-09-09 17:08:00 The “Is There a God?” has a new post called I?m not an atheist, I?m areligious. I was writing a comment there, but it was getting too long, so I’m posting it here. While I agree with most of the post (that religion is to blame for the Crusades, the Inquisition, 9/11, Hitler’s anti-semitism, and so ... More About: Rational , Belief , Posi , Position
Dawkins on "atheism takes as much faith as theism"
2007-09-07 19:09:00 Other people have already mentioned this review of Hitchens’ “god is not Great” by Richard Dawkins , so merely telling you about it is fairly useless. However, I just have to share this bit with anyone who didn’t read the full article: The onus is not on the atheist to demonstrate the non-existence of the invisible unicorn ... More About: Atheism , Faith , Theism
Religion and Smoking
2007-08-30 01:05:00 There’s a very nice new post on A Load of Bright about the similarities of religion and… smoking. I absolutely loved this part: Isn?t if funny how only smokers crave cigarettes? Non-smokers don?t come out of a stressful meeting with a customer and say ?I?m so stressed, I need to unwind. If only I smoked!?. ... More About: Religion , Smoking
How does "the universe exists" imply Christianity?
2007-07-30 13:19:00 C. S. Lewis wrote, in 1945: I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. Now, I perfectly understand that, if natural science isn’t among your interests, then the fact that the world around you seems so complex, sometimes so ... More About: Universe , The Universe , The U , Exist
My attempt at Hemant?s "Short and Sweet" questions
2007-07-22 18:54:00 Hemant of Friendly Atheist, recently, challenged atheists to come up with very short answers to a number of common theist questions. A couple of bloggers have already answered them on their blogs, and now it’s my turn. I’m trying not to be influenced by other answers I’ve read. I think this is an interesting project, ... More About: Questions , Sweet , Short , Temp
Fundamentalists to "militant" atheists? and agnostics
2007-07-19 15:13:00 Readers of Planet Atheism have probably seen this several times today: Fundamental ists: believe 2+2 =5 because It Is Written. Somewhere. They have a lot of trouble on their tax returns. “Moderate” believers: live their lives on the basis that 2+2=4. but go regularly to church to be told that 2+2 once made 5, or will one day ... More About: Atheists , Fundamentalist , Theist , Gnostic
Gullibility Test
2007-07-18 12:46:00 Hermann Klinke emailed me recently about this Gullibility Test . It’s relatively short, and may be educating in some areas. I got a “91% free thinker” result, which is quite good, but then again I’ve always been a little paranoid, and it helps on this. The best part of the test, IMO, is the results page, ...
A suggested reply to "America is a Christian nation"
2007-07-02 23:41:00 Years ago, it was also a “slavery nation”. Your point…? (inspired by vjack’s post, and a little of Peter David) Copyright © 2007 Way of the Mind More About: America , Christian , Nation , Este
8 random things about me
2007-06-27 13:30:00 Like I said in the previous post, I’ve been tagged by several other members of Planet Atheism, a couple of times (3 times here, one on the PA announcements blog). I’m supposed to write 8 random facts about me, and then tag some other bloggers. As for the first part, let’s see… I love all things zombie. ... More About: Random , Things , Thing
About being tagged: tomorrow! :)
2007-06-26 21:59:00 I’ve been tagged by other atheist bloggers at least 3 times now (one for the PA blog, two for this one), so, just so you all don’t think I’m ignoring you (since these things can actually be fun), I’m going to write my “8 random facts” tomorrow, OK? Copyright © 2007 Way of the ... More About: Tagged , Tomorrow , Bein , Being , Morrow
"If you honor Rushdie, we?ll honor Osama!"
2007-06-22 16:27:00 From this news article: Meanwhile a group of hardline Pakistani Muslim clerics bestowed a religious title on Osama bin Laden as a tit-for-tat revenge for the slight. The Pakistan Ulema Council has given bin Laden the title “Saifullah”, or sword of Allah. “If a blasphemer can be given the title ‘Sir’ by the West despite the fact ... More About: Honor
Science vs. the Bible, and the God of the Gaps? again
2007-06-20 18:59:00 Science, much like species, evolves; it’s not based on dogma, so, when evidence contradicts a theory (even a cherished one), the theory must be discarded. This is science’s greatest strength, and, yet, according to creationists and other theists, it’s a “weakness”, since God’s words “don’t change”… One of the theists’ arguments goes like this: “science explains ... More About: Science , Bible , The Bible , The Go , The G
If you offend the kind, sensitive suicide bombers, YOU?RE the monster!
More articles from this author:2007-06-18 19:35:00 Isn’t this absolutely disgusting? From the article: ?If somebody has to attack by strapping bombs to his body to protect the honour of the Prophet, then it is justified,? Pakistani Religious Affairs Minister Ijaz-ul-Haq told the national assembly. and: ?If someone blows himself up he will consider himself justified. How can we fight terrorism when those who commit blasphemy ... More About: Suicide , Monster , Bomb , Sens , Suicide Bomber 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
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