The American magazine is once again at the heart of a controversy thanks to an article by Jeet Heer, a…
On Skeptic Ink, James MacDonald recently wrote about what some people call “the fallacy of relative privation”, arguing that it…
In the last week or so, creationist Kent Hovind was released from prison after 9 years. When I was first getting into the whole evolution “controversy”, Hovind was perhaps the most well-known advocate of young-Earth creationism. I present, from memory, my top three Kent Hovind debates.
I was angered by the executions of eight prisoners recently by Indonesia. I’ve been strongly opposed to the death penalty my entire life; it was the very first political issue I took a position on, and though many of my other political views are in a state of flux I am practically certain that this one won’t change.
The thought that these people were shot through the heart – deliberately and permanently destroyed after ten years of successful rehabilitation for a stupid mistake is deeply sickening, and I fail to see how anyone could be content about it. However, many people seem to have no problem with what happened, and I’ve read various defenses of the killings. I’ll briefly deal with the main ones.
How should we deal with professional trolls? The same way we deal with regular trolls; by refusing to feed…
Should atheist groups try to appeal to conservatives? Not for the first time, the American Atheists are at…
This question often comes up when Islam is being discussed, with critics of Islam (either in general or just…
The excellent Steven Pinker has an article in the Boston Globe today defending free speech. It’s an incomplete defence,…
Here are some thoughts on the brutal slaughter yesterday at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris (I don’t pretend that…
Free speech in the UK is getting worse. More and more, taking offense is often followed by a report to…