One way of understanding “science” is that it is concerned with the discovery and verification of facts. If God exists, then the existence of God is a fact. If there is no God, then the non-existence of God is a fact. Either way, there is a fact to be discovered and verified. So, it looks … A Scientific Question? Part 9

There are four different possible kinds of questions, in relation to the categories of “scientific questions” and “historical questions” (prior to doing an analysis of these concepts):X.S…..H1. T…..T2. T…..F3. F…..T4. F…..F (1) both scientific and historical(2) scientific but not historical(3) not scientific but historical(4) not scientific and not historical I am going to make a … A Scientific Question? Part 8

Patheos is running a series on the future of religion, and this week they feature contributions about the Future of Humanism and nonbelief. I’ve got a short essay, as well as Ed Buckner, Chris Highland, Hemant Mehta, Ronald Lindsay, David Silverman, and Roy Speckhardt. In keeping with the demographics of nonbelief, all of the contributors … “Future of Humanism” on patheos.com

Some thoughts on the relationship between “scientific questions” and “historical questions”… Is the question “Was Bradley Bowen born on a Wednesday?” a scientific question? Could the answer to this question be discovered and confirmed (in principle if not in practice) purely by the use of scientific methods? I believe the answer to this question is … A Scientific Question? Part 7

John Loftus has published my review of Charles P. Pierce’s Idiot America on Debunking Christianity: http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com/ It has quite a bit of political comment, rather more than I judged would be appropriate here. I think this is an important book and a very enjoyable one. Pierce pulls no punches and I don’t either. Sometimes it … Idiot America

Michael LeBuffe has just revised his Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Paul-Henri Thiry (Baron) d’Holbach. The article focuses on Holbach’s positive metaphysics and ethics, rather than his arguments for atheism, which LeBuffe dismisses as neither “original” nor “especially well presented.”

From the New York Daily News, about the protests concerning the (non)Ground Zero (non)Mosque: Later a scuffle broke out at the site of the pro-mosque protest a when a mosque opponent held up a sign that read, “I can draw Mohammed if you can build a mosque.” That seems very reasonable to me. But since … “I can draw Mohammed if you can build a mosque”

Richard Dawkins’ Channel 4 program about faith schools in the UK: This is part 1/4. The rest will play automatically, in sequence. H/T: Why Evolution is True

The Center for Inquiry, one of the leading US organizations supporting skepticism about the paranormal and the supernatural, plus secularism and humanism, is in serious financial trouble due to a large donor not being able to contribute as much as usual. Please consider donating a small amount to help. CFI is the organization behind magazines … CFI needs help

In Rocks of Ages, Stephen Gould places a heavy emphasis on the fact vs. value distinction. According to Gould, science is concerned with facts, and religion is concerned with values. Values don’t imply facts, and facts don’t imply values, so there can be no conflict between a given set of facts (scientific teachings at a … A Scientific Question? Part 6