There’s an interesting group that was recently formed, the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. Other European countries (Germany, Netherlands, Scandinavian countries) also have such councils, formed by and appealing to secular people from Muslim backgrounds. This short speech by Maryam Namazie is particularly interesting: Such groups appear to defend an aggressive, affirmative sense of secularism. … Council of Ex-Muslims in UK

During her life, Mother Teresa wrote numerous letters which she asked to be burned upon her death. They were not burned, but have instead been published in the book Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. These letters show that “for the last nearly half-century of her life she felt no presence of God whatsoever.” At … Mother Teresa’s crisis of faith

When I learned in November 2006 that Prometheus Press would soon publish The Kalam Cosmological Argument for God [TKCAG] by Mark R. Nowacki, I immediately placed an order with Amazon Books. I was therefore very pleased to have finally received my copy in the first week of August of this year despite several unexplained deferments … A Brief Comment on Mark Nowacki’s Recent Book on the KCA

A Turkish journalist interviewing me pointed out, in a question he asked me, a recent poll published in Turkey. According to this poll, 59% of people who voted for AKP (the moderate Islamist party who won an overwhelming victory in elections in July) said that religious scriptures were more important than scientific books in order … Scientific books or religious scriptures?

The Secular Outpost’s Taner Edis is interviewed in a feature story at Salon.com about “The religious state of Islamic science,” a subject which he is extremely qualified to comment on. Also check out his book, An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam (2007, Prometheus Books).

An op-ed I wrote about Islam, “The Best and Brightest Fanatics,” has been published in a number of newspapers internationally. I thought the Secular Outpost readership might enjoy it as well. The sobering thought is that this op-ed, a short piece where I can do very little with detail and nuance, and where I address … The Best and Brightest Fanatics

On his Dangerous Idea blog Victor Reppert quotes an argument that supports a version of the Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR). When philosophers start going on about possible worlds, I usually catch a whiff of snake oil. Such is the case here. This is the argument: Reppert In the book In Defense of Natural Theology … Possible Worlds and the PSR