I’ve been playing around with this analogy, but one of Keith Parsons’s latest comments made me want to think out loud about it. Could someone defending a privileged social and legal position for religion make an analogy between atheism and nudism, and justify a limited regime of tolerance of nonbelief, excluding it from the common … Is atheism like nudism?

While past studies have shown religious believers to be happier than nonbelievers, some new analysis shows that it’s not quite so simple. Luke Galen has found that the convinced non-religious are also quite happy, but people who are uncertain are the ones who are dissatisfied. Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn has analyzed data from the World Values Survey … Bad news for agnostics?

Here’s a nice little book I just laid my hands on: The Moral Fool: A Case for Amorality by Hans-Georg Moeller. Both our religious and philosophical traditions push us toward a notion of Morality—with a capital M. There have to be Moral Truths that are objective, absolute, binding, categorical, etc. etc. We think there is … The Moral Fool

Derek C. Araujo points out that Pakistan is using the definition of blasphemy used in the recent Irish law as part of the concerted Islamic effort to get the UN to urge member states to prevent defamation of religion. Now, let me make a not-so-wild guess and predict that in the medium term, we should … Blasphemy again

The US economy is in great shape—at least, Goldman Sachs is doing well, and politically that’s what counts. Still, unemployment is worrisome. Good Christian Americans might be distracted from the excellent work they’re doing in defense of health insurance companies. (At least, opposing any change in our wonderful health system seems to be a major … Economic salvation

I’ve started reading yet another Muslim book explaining why True Islam is a religion of peace that utterly rejects terrorism: Terror and Suicide Attacks: An Islamic Perspective, edited by Ergün Çapan. That’s fine and good: the more Muslims who reject jihadi ideology, the better. But immediately, the book gets off on the wrong foot. Fethullah … Murderers are as bad as nonbelievers!

Billboards advertising churches or proclaiming a Christian message are ubiquitous in American roadsides. But there are now some newcomers. I haven’t yet seen one in person, but billboards by atheistic and skeptical groups seem to be sprouting up as well. They usually appeal to the fellow nonbeliever, pointing out that they’re not alone. The reason … Infidel Billboards

Leonard Pitts wrote an article a couple of weeks ago noting that the editors of “Conservapedia” are preparing a “conservative” translation of the Bible that will eliminate all “liberal bias” in extant bible translations (Damn those pointy-headed, bleeding heart, knee-jerk liberal King James translators!). Woo Hoo! I can’t wait to see it! In fact, I … Conservative Bible???

I was recently offered an opportunity to debate a creationist, on the existence of God. I was intrigued by the idea at first, but then I took some advice and turned it down. There’s a stereotype of scientists taking on creationists with the naive notion of presenting some basic science and contributing something to the … Debates

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