A couple of months ago I posted a piece here on SO titled “Just How Religious is the Religious Right?” I argued that despite their ostentatious affirmations of their own religiosity, supporters of the religious right drop their proclaimed religious values faster than Jericho’s walls tumbled when those values become politically inexpedient. Nothing demonstrates this … Trump, Evangelicals, and the Single-Issue Voter

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Roy Moore’s supporters are standing by their man, despite highly plausible claims of sexual impropriety with girls in their early teens. Damn liberals! Roy is a good ol’ boy! He was just tryin’ to put a little fun in his fundamentalism. Question: How often did the famously homophobic Moore condemn gays because they allegedly target … Stand by Your Moore (Roy, that is)

I am a free-speech fundamentalist. That is, I hold that public forums, including public universities, should be open to the free expression of opinion. Period. Even when the opinion is offensive and obnoxious. Especially when the opinion is offensive and obnoxious. There can be no free speech if it is required that the speech not … Why I am a Free-Speech Fundamentalist

Through most of the history of Western philosophy, skepticism has been the specter haunting epistemology. I am teaching an introductory course in epistemology, and every introductory textbook has a chapter, usually near the beginning of the book, on how to “deal” with skepticism. The assumption seems to be that skepticism is not so much a … How to “Deal” with Skepticism

As you may have noticed, it looks like the next U.S. Senator from Alabama, taking the seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, will be former judge Roy Moore. Moore won the Republican primary, defeating the appointed incumbent, Luther Strange. Strange, an obsequiously loyal Trump supporter, was apparently not conservative enough for Alabama voters. Moore was twice … Roy Moore and the Tide of Irrationality

I recently conducted a typically inconclusive discussion with Victor Reppert in the comments section of my post “Can Brains Think?” While I doubt that we will ever agree (each of us in in his mid-sixties), I think I can identify one issue that keeps coming up again and again. Repeatedly Victor pointed to the difference … The Laws of Physics and the Laws of Logic

Victor Reppert and I have been arguing for forty years. Our first debates took place when we were both students at Candler School of Theology, Emory University way back in the seventies. For a while, we even lived down the hall from each other in the same house. (Among other things, I learned that you … Can Brains Think?

Note: This is off topic, but because of recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia and elsewhere I thought it might be of interest. I was born in Macon, Georgia in 1952, the fourth generation of the Parsons family to be born in Georgia.  My great-great grandfather Parsons was born in London, England, and in 1844 he … Confederates in the Closet