Here’s a rough draft of half of a chapter I am contributing to an edited volume. Comments and feedback please. Very best Stephen What are science and reason?   Humanists expound the virtues of science and reason. But what are science and reason? And we should we think it wise to rely on them?   … Draft for comments please

Check this out: This is terrific! I note that Scientology lies in the intersection of all four categories of nonsense. I guess that means that it is the most irrational of all.

This post is mostly addressed to nontheists who engage in online debate with theists. If you discuss a topic as controversial as religion in a public forum, you will get challenged. The resulting debates are sometimes intellectually stimulating, instructive, and fruitful. Other times…not so much. Here at SO I recently engaged in two discussions on … A Taxonomy of Interlocutors

Hot news from Oxford, England: Noted atheist scientist and author Richard Dawkins has declared that he is no longer an atheist and has become a Christian. Dawkins, author of The God Delusion was quoted as saying, “Really, there is just a bit too much evidence of design in living things to attribute it all to … Richard Dawkins finds Jesus

An interesting post over at Prosblogion.

Dr. Maarten Boudry performs a ‘Sokal-style hoax‘ on two theology conferences. Here is the abstract: The Paradoxes of Darwinian Disorder. Towards an Ontological Reaffirmation of Order and Transcendence. Robert A. Maundy,  College of the Holy Cross, Reno, Nevada In the Darwinian perspective, order is not immanent in reality, but it is a self-affirming aspect of reality … Boudry’s Hoax on “Sophisticated Theologians”

I have a cartoon on my office door showing a pie chart representing religious affiliation in the U.S. Of course, by far the largest section of the pie is labelled “Christian.” All others are represented by small slivers. A speech balloon from the Christian part says “Help! We are being oppressed!” The rhetoric of oppression … Debunking the Myth of Persecution

This brand new video exposes in some detail the absurdity of William Lane Craig’s ongoing attempt to defend his silly, unscientific views regarding animal pain (his view is that animals other than higher primates are unaware they have it – which is a great comfort to animal lovers like himself). This video responds to Craig’s … William Lane Craig’s silly views on animal pain further debunked

Why would an atheist be interested in this question? The answer is personal. Self-righteous hypocrites piss me off. I guess that is something I retain from youthful Sunday school lessons. Jesus inveighed against sanctimonious hypocrites more than any other group. “Whitewashed sepulchers,” he colorfully called them (Matthew 23:27), “…which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are … Who is a Real Christian?