Martin Gardner died at age 95 on Saturday, May 22nd. “This past weekend the world darkened with the loss of one of its brightest lights: Martin Gardner, polymath extraordinaire, founding father of the modern skeptical movement, and a friend. R.I.P. Martin.” – Michael Shermer Interview of Martin Gardner by Michael Shermer:http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/10-05-26/#tribute NY Times Obituary:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/us/24gardner.html?scp=1&sq;=Martin%20Gardner&st;=cse

“This human world of ours would be inconceivable without the practical existence of a religious belief. The great masses of a nation are not composed of philosophers. For the masses of the people, especially faith is absolutely the only basis of a moral outlook on life. The various substitutes that have been offered have not … Hitler on Faith

I’ve been in Ireland a week now. Interesting. The only person walking up to me to say “Jesus loves you” was an immigrant from Africa. We had a tour guide in a ruined abbey who had a great sense of humor about Catholicism. And most of the big impressive historical churches in the country belong … Ireland

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