religion

Religious Belief Systems of Persons with High Functioning Autism

Abstract: The cognitive science of religion is a new field which explains religious belief as emerging from normal cognitive processes such as inferring others’ mental states, agency detection and imposing patterns on noise. This paper investigates the proposal that individual differences in belief will reflect cognitive processing styles, with high functioning autism being an extreme Religious Belief Systems of Persons with High Functioning Autism

Hillarious Summary of the Argument from Shotgun Weddings Against Same-Sex Marriage

Over at Preliator pro Causa, Joe McKen presents a hillarious summary of what has to be one of the absolute worst arguments ever made against same-sex marriage. Marriage should be limited to unions of a man and a woman because they alone can “produce unplanned and unintended offspring,” opponents of gay marriage have told the Hillarious Summary of the Argument from Shotgun Weddings Against Same-Sex Marriage

Freedom of the Press Foundation

Nonbelievers have a strong interest in free speech and a free press, particularly where freedom to publicly criticize religion in concerned. This is particularly clear in Islamic contexts, where religion is socially very powerful. Since censorship is usually deployed by the powerful in protection of their interests, it’s understandable that Muslim countries are often in Freedom of the Press Foundation

One Reason Why Strong Pro-Gay Marriage Supporters Should Be Worried

Whether the United States and the States should authorize same-sex marriage, in my opinion, should remain a matter of federal legislative public policy, and of state constitutional law and/or legislative public policy. Therefore, I strongly oppose the thesis that the United States and/or the states as a matter of federal constitutional law are obliged to One Reason Why Strong Pro-Gay Marriage Supporters Should Be Worried

Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi: Morality and Immorality among the Irreligious

Courtesy of Google books, the entire chapter by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi is available online for free.  Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, “Morality and Immorality among the Irreligious” in Atheism and Secularity (ed. Phil Zuckerman, ABC-CLIO, 2009), 113-148. You may need a valid Google account in order to access the content. Also, you will probably need to scroll down to Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi: Morality and Immorality among the Irreligious