Naturalism
Einstein Quotes on Ethics & Morality: Humans, not Gods, Define Morality
An important principle of most theistic religions is that morality originates with their god: there is no morality apart from their god and, in particular, apart from obedience to their god. This leads many to say non-believers cannot behave morally and/or cannot be moral. Albert Einstein denied that morality required or [...]
17Aug2010 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Family, Faith, and Unconditional Love
Third, all parents should respect the developing autonomy of their children. If parents attempt to force their faith, agnosticism, or atheism on their children, they are failing to respect the developing personhood of those children. Children have an interest in becoming autonomous and rational, and the manner in which parents raise [...]
17Aug2010 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Absence of Evidence Is Evidence of Absence
Even the most pious believer has to admit that there is no scientific evidence for God or anything else supernatural. If there were, it would be in the textbooks along with the evidence for electricity, gravity, neutrinos, and DNA. This doesn’t bother most believers because they have heard many times that [...]
17Aug2010 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Praying away the oil leak | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine
Praying away the oil leak | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine
A man in Boulder — yes, my home town — is trying to meditate the oil leak away. His idea?
“The basic concept is to try and get as many people to visualize that the valve is actually functioning and is working and closing.”
This is part [...]
Foppery
Eric MacDonald says:
What a disturbing piece of intellectual foppery! For someone who criticises the quality of argument in the writings of the New Atheists, this diatribe - for that is what it is - contains incredibly little, if any, argument at all - an astonishing display of rude confidence in the [...]
Liberals and atheists smarter? Intelligent people have values novel in human evolutionary history, study finds
ScienceDaily Feb. 24, 2010 — More intelligent people are statistically significantly more likely to exhibit social values and religious and political preferences that are novel to the human species in evolutionary history. Specifically, liberalism and atheism, and for men but not women, preference for sexual exclusivity correlate with higher intelligence, a new study finds.
Read [...]
Deborah Strod - Should Humanists Do Rituals?
It is winter, the season of ritual! It seems there are more religious celebrations packed into these months than any other time of year: Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, and a bit earlier, Diwali and Eid. There are religious rituals you’re invited to out of friendship and other rituals you may feel obligated to join [...]
3Apr2010 | will | 0 comments | Continued
Church leaders unite against ‘idolatry’ of atheism | The Australian
The Atheist Foundation of Australia said yesterday that Dr Jensen’s claims were “preposterous” and condemned Christianity for a spate of child sex abuse scandals. “He seeks out a scapegoat and attacks atheism without any understanding of what he is saying,” foundation president David Nicholls said.
“To state we hate his god or are attacking his god [...]
Myth: Abstract Concepts are Immaterial, Depend on God & Theism - Are Atheists, Materialists Unable to Account for Abstract Concepts?
Myth:
Atheists must borrow from the theistic worldview to account for the existence of anything non-material. In denying the Creator, the atheist ought to throw out everything that is contingent on a theistic worldview. In effect, by using abstract concepts, they have thrown out the baby, kept the bath water, and now try to explain why [...]
Joseph and Mary in bed – obscene or illuminating? – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs
A billboard showing a somber Mary and Joseph laying in bed together with the caption “Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow,” is controversial, but not obscene, according to a decision by New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Authorities.
The billboard, posted outside St. Matthew-in-the-city Anglican Church in Auckland, New Zealand, sparked outrage and vandalism by [...]
Atheists question spirituality award at National Academy of Sciences - Science Fair: Science and Space News - USATODAY.com
The award of a prize celebrating spiritual scientists at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences headquarters this week has irritated some atheist science-bloggers .
The 2010 Templeton Prize Laureate will be announced Thursday at the NAS headquarters in Washington D.C. at 11 a.m. ET. The $1.5 million prize is given by the John Templeton Foundation. [...]
What is Freedom From Religion? Freedom of Religion Requires Freedom From Religion
Conservatives insist that the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion, and argue against strict separation of church and state. Too often, though, conservatives seem to have a flawed understanding of what freedom from religion really entails and fail to realize that freedom from religion is crucial to religious liberty in general.
It is [...]
Critics of Cecil Bothwell cite N.C. bar to atheists | citizen-times.com | Asheville Citizen-Times
By Jordan Schrader • December 8, 2009
ASHEVILLE — North Carolina’s constitution is clear: politicians who deny the existence of God are barred from holding office.
Opponents of Cecil Bothwell are seizing on that law to argue he should not be seated as a City Council member today, even though federal courts have ruled religious tests for [...]
Are we better off without religion? | Sue Blackmore | guardian.co.uk
Popular religious belief is caused by dysfunctional social conditions. This is the conclusion of the latest sociological research pdf conducted by Gregory Paul. Far from religion benefiting societies, as the “moral-creator socioeconomic hypothesis” would have it, popular religion is a psychological mechanism for coping with high levels of stress and anxiety – or so he [...]
9Dec2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Last Thursdayism - SkepticWiki
Last Thursdayism
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[edit] Definition
Last Thursdayism, also Last Tuesdayism and Last Wednesdayism, is the unfalsifiable belief that the whole of the universe was created Last Thursday with the apparent age of an ancient universe.
[edit] Discussion
The belief, much like the belief in the Invisible Pink Unicorn, is a parody of one of the many [...]
Joey Nelson: Atheists Have No One to Thank on Thanksgiving
I read a lot of material written by religious theists — mostly Christians — about atheists and atheism. I see a lot of different myths, misconceptions, mistakes, and even outright lies. Too many to count, in fact. One characteristic which I see that is common to so many different myths and lies, though, is the [...]
25Nov2009 | Admin | 1 comment | Continued
In defense of Atheism
Over the past few months an organization called the United Coalition of Reason (United CoR) has begun putting up posters and billboards supporting atheism. They display very poignant statements like: “Good without God? 40 million Americans are.” Also: “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.”
In many cases, billboards are vandalized with some words removed [...]
The Associated Press: Atheist student groups flower on college campuses
AMES, Iowa — The sign sits propped on a wooden chair, inviting all comers: “Ask an Atheist.”
Whenever a student gets within a few feet, Anastasia Bodnar waves and smiles, trying to make a good first impression before eyes drift down to a word many Americans rank down there with “socialist.”
Bodnar is the happy face of [...]
Row erupts over humanist poster in Belfast
THE war of words between atheists and religious believers has entered a new chapter with the launch of Northern Ireland’s first ever humanist advertising campaign.
The British Humanist Association (BHA) yesterday unveiled a billboard with the slogan:
Please Don’t Label Me. Let Me Grow Up And Choose For Myself.
Located on one Belfast’s busiest routes, the poster is [...]
Evolution to be compulsory subject in primary schools - Times Online
Evolution is to become a compulsory subject for study in all state primary schools. The Government announced yesterday that Darwin’s theory of how life evolved through natural selection would be a legal requirement in science teaching from September 2011, although it will be left to schools to decide how this is done.
The move, which was [...]
The Atheist Blogger » 101 Atheist Quotes
The following 101 quotes are some that I have stumbled upon on the web, or seen in books / popular culture. Each quote was either written by an atheist, or is about atheism / religion in general.
1. The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the [...]
European Court Bans Crucifixes in Italian Public Schools - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News - FOXNews.com
STRASBOURG, France — Europe’s court of human rights ruled Tuesday the display of crucifixes in Italian public schools violates religious and education freedoms under the continent’s rights convention.
The ruling, which could force a Europe-wide review of the use of religious symbols in government-run schools, rejected arguments by Italy’s government that the crucifix was [...]
Skeptic » Reading Room » A Tribute to Carl Sagan: Our Place in the Universe
Carl Sagan was a scholar and a visionary. He changed the world. His work still does. As I think back on the time I got to spend in his classes, I realize now what made him the best science communicator of his day. He loved discovery, he encouraged exploration, and he celebrated science. That last [...]
17Nov2009 | will | 0 comments | Continued
Godless Children and the Future of Atheism: Raising Godless Children - How Can Godless Parents Today Affect the Future of Atheism?
Question:
What does raising children in a godless, irreligious environment mean for the future of atheism in America?
Response:
It’s a simple fact that the godless children being raised by atheists today are likely to be at the forefront of atheism in the future. What’s not so simple is what godless parents are going to do about this [...]
CBT = Existentialism? | Psychology Today
I’ve recently come to the conclusion that cognitive behavioral therapy, the empirically-demonstrated gold standard for treating depression and a host of other problems, necessitates a belief in existentialism, a philosophy holding that we live in a meaningless universe.
How can happiness derive from appreciating the fundamental pointlessness of existence?
Existentialism (at least atheistic existentialism) does not argue [...]
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A Chameleon Sky
The sands of time are running out for the central star of this the Hourglass Nebula. With its nuclear fuel exhausted, this brief, spectacular, closing phase of a sun-like star's life occurs as its outer layers are ejected and its core becomes a cooling, fading white dwarf. In 1995, astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to make a series of images of planetary nebulae, including the one above. Here, delicate rings of colorful glowing gas (nitrogen-red, hydrogen-green, and oxygen-blue) outline the tenuous walls of the 'hourglass.' The unprecedented sharpness of Hubble's images revealed surprising details of the nebula ejection process and may resolve the outstanding mystery of the variety of complex shapes and symmetries of planetary nebulae. Image Credit: NASA, WFPC2, HST, R. Sahai and J. Trauger (JPL)
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