Half of a Debate about the Existence of Jesus
Joe Hinman has requested that I debate him about the existence of Jesus, and I have agreed to do so. We will not, however, attempt to answer the BIG question: Did Jesus exist? But we will be arguing about a significant issue closely related to that question: Does the external evidence warrant the belief that … Half of a Debate about the Existence of Jesus
Thomas Friedman gets it Right on Islam and Terrorism
What is the connection between Islam and terrorism? Any answer you give will likely draw strident and intemperate criticism. If you say that there is a connection, you will be charged with Islamophobia. If you say that there is no connection and that terrorism has only political, social, and economic causes, then you will be … Thomas Friedman gets it Right on Islam and Terrorism
After Orlando: The Uses of Anger
My previous post in the aftermath of the Orlando massacre urged an angry response that calls bigots to account, a response like the eulogy given by Dave Dennis in 1964 at the funeral of murdered civil rights worker James Chaney. Some comments on the post raised the issue of when anger is justified and what … After Orlando: The Uses of Anger
After Orlando: We need a Dave Dennis Moment
In the “Freedom Summer” of 1964, young activists went into the Dante-esque netherworld that was the state of Mississippi to register African-Americans to vote. For a hundred years, racist goons, often wearing the uniforms of police or state troopers, had used violence and intimidation to prevent black people from exercising their Constitutional right to vote. Three … After Orlando: We need a Dave Dennis Moment
Did Jesus Exist? Paul Maier’s Complete Failure
Christian apologists often write CRAP, crap that is taken by sheeple in the pews to be POWERFUL ARGUMENTS. I suspect that Christian apologists often write crap precisely because they write for a generally ignorant and highly biased audience who will buy their books by the millions and show deference to the GREAT SCHOLARSHIP in the … Did Jesus Exist? Paul Maier’s Complete Failure
Rice Chemist says that we Know Nothing about Pre-biotic Chemistry
James Tour, a synthetic chemist and nanotechnologist at Rice University, recently spoke at Waterloo University in Canada and delivered a vigorous castigation of anyone who presumes to think that we know anything about abiogenesis: http://www.evolutionnews.org/2016/06/on_prebiotic_ch102902.html This report is from Evolution News, which should more honestly be called Intelligent Design Theory News since it is an … Rice Chemist says that we Know Nothing about Pre-biotic Chemistry
What Does “Supernatural” Mean? Part 2
====================== Keith Augustine Perhaps in lieu of starting from scratch on this issue, readers might want to consider what others have already said on this issue. … ====================== I plan to take Keith Augustine’s advice, just not this week. Maybe next week, or maybe next month. See his comments on the first post in this … What Does “Supernatural” Mean? Part 2
What Does “Supernatural” Mean?
The word “supernatural” appears in the Mission Statement for the Secular Web (emphasis added): The Secular Web is owned and operated by Internet Infidels, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization dedicated to defending and promoting a naturalistic worldview on the Internet. Naturalism is the “hypothesis that the natural world is a closed system” in the sense that “nothing … What Does “Supernatural” Mean?
Does God Exist? Part 3
I’m still working on development of an analysis of the question “Does God exist?” that would help to organize systematic investigations of the question. In the Part 1 post in this series I suggested an analysis in terms of logical possibility, logical necessity, certainty, and probability (click on image below for a clearer view of … Does God Exist? Part 3