‘Rationality is useless if it is not sound. This is what Martin Luther meant when he called reason a “whore”. Pick the wrong premises, and rationality is utterly screwed. Therefore, merely that someone is “rational” means absolutely nothing about whether that person is well-connected to reality.’
Childhood poverty and chronic stress may lead to problems regulating emotions as an adult, according to research published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Aaron Adair, as you well know, has recently written a book which I edited and which is getting rave reviews. Here is a presentation on the historicity of Jesus which he recently gave which looks at the whole broad topic, touching on the Star later in the talk. This is a fascinating talk, though am only part way through so far. Check it out!
I am exceptionally grateful that John Loftus thought of me when shortlisting potential contributors to his latest anthology Christianity Is Not Great. Not only that, but my chapter on atheological morality, which I wrote a few months ago for him, was one of the chapters used in the proposal to Prometheus Books. And they have just accepted the project! Fantastic! Here is what John has just announced:
El Salvador has one of the toughest anti-abortion laws in the world. A side-effect is that women who suffer miscarriages are sometimes suspected of inducing an abortion – and can even be jailed for murder.
As you will know from a couple of previous posts, I have edited a book by Aaron Adair about the…
Check out this map. In this day and age, this is nothing short of a shocker. I simply cannot believe…
This is a disgrace. This is what our schools are coming to given the government’s insistence that anyone can set up schools (Free Schools). This is just an excuse for ideological indoctrination. Here is an email the British Humanist Association sent me:
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So, us in the rest of the world can see that the Republican Party in the US are several sandwiches…
[Just to remind readers that the book I have recently edited, written by contributor Aaron Adair, called The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical View. is out now in all formats from a variety of sellers. It is a great book, and one which Richard Carrier has said is “awesome”. Please support our work by buying it! It’ll make an awesome Christmas present! Over to Aaron’s launch piece for those who missed it – JP]
In refutation of the argument for “free moral agency,” Ingersoll once used the following illustration, — itself an argument as clear as it is unanswerable: —
“It is insisted that man is free, and is responsible, because he knows right from wrong. But the compass does not navigate the ship; neither does it in any way, of itself, determine the direction that is taken. When wind and waves are too powerful, the compass is of no importance. The pilot may read it correctly, and may know the direction the ship ought to take, but the compass is not a force. So men, blown by the tempests of passion, may have the intellectual conviction that they should go another way; but of what use, of what force, is the conviction?”
SO this is a few years old now, but this debate is great. Jeremy Beahan, presenter on Reasonable Doubts podcast and radio show, calmly deconstructs every argument this rather smarmy apologist gives. I enjoyed listening to this one, and I hope to hear Beahan do more debates. Good stuff.
Shocker. Absolute shocker. Such ignorance. As the Huffington Post reports:
A teenage girl in France narrowly survived a violent week-long crucifixion-style exorcism.
On the 17th October, teachers in my area will be striking. Here are the reasons why I support this strike…
OK, so this is the world’s greatest moustache. But this guy put his life on the line for it in the face of religious extremism. Shit, he even put his family second to the mighty facial hair. Here is Salon.com’s take on it (H/T Reasonable Doubts):
I can’t remember if I let anyone know, but my talk on the Nativity given to the Portsmouth Skeptics in…
Many liberal Catholics have been encouraged by Pope Francis’s comments about sexual ethics in a recent interview. His general point was that these are lesser matters, not to be emphasized at the expense of the church’s essential message of healing and salvation.
I know that I have said this before, but I am very sorry for being scarce on the blog just now. Work is full on just now, as well as having heaps to do on the writing and editing front (and a talk to do at Bournemouth University tonight). One book I am editing is in the final stages. The book is by James A. Lindsay and is called Dot, Dot, Dot: Infinity Plus God Equals Folly. I have managed to get Vic Stenger to write the foreword for it, too, which is great.
I gave a very short amazon review which will hopefully be a precursor to a longer more in depth view of John Loftus’ excellent book, The Outsider Test for Faith:
A letter from the president of the BHA. Very welcome news.
Dear all,
Many of you will know that a long-standing campaign of the BHA has been to get the Scout Association and Girlguiding UK to change their membership pledges, known as Promises, to be inclusive of the non-religious. Until recently, both organisations have required all members to pledge to ‘do my duty to God’ (or some variant). We were thrilled when both organisations announced last December that they were to consult on changing their Promises, and even more so when both organisations approached us to work with them in this.