The Secular Frontier

We lost John Lennon 43 years ago today. Here is his great song about secularism: Imagine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkgkThdzX-8 ... Read Article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrTHa3IL_rU&t ... Read Article

THE CORE ARGUMENT FOR OBJECTION #5 As we saw in Part 14 of this series, the core argument for Objection #5 against the Swoon Theory has two premises: E. IF the Swoon Theory is true, THEN sometime after Jesus had been crucified, the eleven remaining disciples each had experiences that they believed were experiences of seeing a living and physically embodied Jesus in which Jesus appeared to those disciples to be a half-dead, staggering sick man who was badly in need of a doctor. D. It is NOT the case that sometime after Jesus had been crucified, the eleven remaining disciples each had experiences that they believed were experiences of seeing a living and physically embodied Jesus in which Jesus appeared to be a half-dead, staggering sick man who was badly in need of a doctor. THEREFORE: A. The Swoon Theory is FALSE. WHERE WE ARE In Part 14 of this series, I presented a careful analysis of the argument constituting Objection #5 (The Sickly Jesus Objection) against t ... Read Article

Brand new - Check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpnaR6RNvi0 ... Read Article

Checkmate, Atheists lol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4yBvvGi_2A ... Read Article

The problem of evil and suffering has long been a solid critique against theism. Recently, a conservative apologist has taken another swipe at this, writing: If science ever leads to the creation of fully functional AI robots, human beings will be the “creators” and will have the right to do with those robots what they will. Having created them from raw materials, whatever rights they are eventually given will be dependent entirely on the will, and wishes, of those who created them. See: Of course, this does not solve the problem but pushes the issue back as to when a sufficiently advanced AI robot becomes sentient, like in this clip from Star Trek TNG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol2WP0hc0NY ... Read Article

Above memes created and shared by @YoursMemely on Twitter for the purpose of defending Islam and being reposted. My position is if the founder of a religion took a child bride, this invalidates their status as an authority on how to live life. ... Read Article

From the article: Written by Scott McKay, a local Louisiana politics blogger, the book, “The Revivalist Manifesto,” gives credence to unfounded conspiracy theories often embraced by the far-right – including the “Pizzagate” hoax, which falsely claimed top Democratic officials were involved in a pedophile ring, among other conspiracies. The book also propagates baseless and inaccurate claims, implying that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts was subjected to blackmail and connected to the disgraced underage sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. SEE THE CNN ARTICLE HERE ... Read Article

Politically moderate and left-leaning evangelicals appear to have been most impacted by Trump-era: See analysis HERE ... Read Article

Did Jesus have the conservative evangelical inerrant view of scripture that nothing should be changed or added? Clearly not, he challenged conventional wisdom such as regarding the sabbath. Regarding love of neighbor he clarified "43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:43-44)." For my previous post on this topic see: Is The Bible Inerrant? 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ... Read Article

Reactions have certainly not all been positive: How will history judge him? ... Read Article

No, as near as we can figure Jesus taught forgiveness did not come through sacrificial payment, but rather repentance that then resulted in God forgiving. Ehrman will deal with this in his upcoming book and briefly outlines the issue here (SEE TIME 23:48-27:46): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-0aCD4lXm0 I have tried to delve into the details of this issue in two previous essays, and hopefully will do so again in future work: (1) A Critique Of Penal Substitution (2) Penal Substitution And Christ Mythicism ... Read Article

Conservative Christians may tell you the bible is inerrant, and cite as a proof text 4 Timothy 3:16-76: 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work. But, as Ehrman points out, scripture here refers to the Old Testament, not the new, and the key word here "inspired" literally means "God-breathed," and so doesn't suggest ideas of inerrancy later debated in the 19th century and beyond. Check out Ehrman's discussion here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-0aCD4lXm0 ... Read Article

THE CORE ARGUMENT FOR OBJECTION #5 As we saw in Part 14 of this series, the core argument for Objection #5 against the Swoon Theory has two premises: E. IF the Swoon Theory is true, THEN sometime after Jesus had been crucified, the eleven remaining disciples each had experiences that they believed were experiences of seeing a living and physically embodied Jesus in which Jesus appeared to those disciples to be a half-dead, staggering sick man who was badly in need of a doctor. D. It is NOT the case that sometime after Jesus had been crucified, the eleven remaining disciples each had experiences that they believed were experiences of seeing a living and physically embodied Jesus in which Jesus appeared to be a half-dead, staggering sick man who was badly in need of a doctor. THEREFORE: A. The Swoon Theory is FALSE. There are sub-arguments supporting each of the two premises of this core argument. WHERE WE ARE In Part 14 of this series, I presented a careful ana ... Read Article

New documentary out about the Roman influence creating Christianity featuring Robert Price and Robert Eisenman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHOK66qj9xc&t Relatedly, check out my essay on the Noble Lie Theory of Christian Origins ... Read Article