I’m off to a conference in Ireland, and I’ll be doing some touristing around while I have the chance. And when I get back, I take off again, now to California, in a few days. We’ll see if anyone else picks up the slack, or if this will be a quiet June on this blog.

Time, once again, to advertise the “Jesus and Mo” online cartoons.

It’s easy to get pissed off at religion, particularly the conservative monotheistic variety. Think of the Catholic hierarchy, or your favorite set of mullahs. Get your blood boiling over the misogyny, the homophobia, and the general attitude toward sexuality that is always stuck in ancient agrarian social realities. Roll your eyes at the boneheadedness regarding … What’s wrong with faith per se?

Sorry for another long absence. I’ve been working on a project, and a draft of part of it is below. I present part of Robin Collins’ defense of the fine-tuning argument (FTA) and a brief response. Comments would be appreciated. Statement of Collins’ Argument …we will focus on his defense of the FTA against what … Robin Collins on the Fine-Tuning Argument

Some Muslim stereotyping: And a generic salvation story. Africans play the lead roles, but there’s nothing specially African about it.

Here is an example of moral reasoning that appears to illustrate the theistic theory of ethics and moral reasoning proposed by Dianelos Georgoudis: 1. God is kind and loving. (directly perceived truth about God’s moral character)2. An action is morally good if and only if it makes the moral character of the person performing the … Perceiving Moral Truths? Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJG-7s1e5eM For non-USAnians who might be reading this, I have to point out that all the US is not as crazy as this (Alabama). Or perhaps I should phrase that differently. We may well be all as crazy as Alabama Christian conservatives, but we’re not always crazy in exactly the same ways. California-crazy is different … Anti-evolution political ad

Academia can be a rich source of weirdness. Personally, I’m fascinated by paranormalist physics-abuse as it percolates through popular culture, and, let’s face it, quite a few places outside of physics. Here’s a lovely example: somebody presented a paper at a conference called “The Semiotics of Time.” From the announcement on H-Net: Some scientists believe … High weirdness by H-Net

Chris Hedges’s column today, “After Religion Fizzles, We’re Stuck With Nietzsche” claims that mainstream Christian and Jewish religion is in decline, and that the kind of secular options that might replace religion are nothing to be enthusiastic about. I think he underestimates the resilience of religion—particularly the right wing, magical-thinking, enthusiastic forms of religion he … If religion were to fizzle out

In every possible world, modal logic is a useless waste of time.