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Recent Posts
Monthly Archives: September 2009
Poet Kate Gale Reflecting on Philip Garrido
Just when I think I’m getting warm and fuzzy towards religion, I encounter testimony like this. Poet Kate Gale grew up in a cult, and the whole creepy Philip Garrido incident gave her a bit of deja vu : It … Continue reading
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Tagged agnostic, atheist, authoritarianism, Christianity, cults, kate gale, philip garrido, poetry, religion, women's rights
1 Comment
An Emily Dickinson Poem
Emily Dickinson’s “Much Madness is divinest Sense —”: Much Madness is divinest Sense — To a discerning Eye — Much Sense — the starkest Madness — ’Tis the Majority In this, as All, prevail — Assent — and you are … Continue reading
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Tagged eccentricity, Emily Dickinson, life, nonconformity, poem, poetry, self assertion
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The Hamlet Syndrome (“to go or not to go”): Should I Attend the International Atheist Conference This Weekend in Burbank, California?
Dang! Check out the speaker line-up for the International Atheist Conference being held in Burbank, California this weekend! It’s close to where I live. And it’s at the same Marriot Convention Center as the UFO conference that I went to just a … Continue reading
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Tagged agnosticism, atheism, atheist, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, PZ Myers, Richard Dawkins, russell blackford, Sam Harris
2 Comments
The Richard Dawkins Delusion is Coming to LaLa Land
Biologist Richard Dawkins, the author of the God Delusion, will be coming to speak (in early October) in my neck of the woods (Southern California), and his soon visit prompts me to ask a simple question: What might it actually … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, atheist, Charles Darwin, evolution, God, Los Angeles, philosophy, psychology, religion, Richard Dawkins, science
4 Comments
What Agnosticism Means to Me (and Why I’m Not an Atheist)
I think my agnosticism extends, when it really comes down to it, to keeping an open mind to the possibility that mind precedes matter in some fashion—or even that there might be something recognizably human at the end of the … Continue reading
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Tagged agnostic, agnosticism, atheism, atheist, biology, God, philosophy, psychology, religion, science, universe
5 Comments
Rick Strassman, a Pioneer in the Field of DMT Research, on the Pineal Gland and Near Death Experiences
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Tagged altered states, consciousness, dmt, hallucinogens, life after death, near-death experiences, philosophy
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Evil is the Shadow Cast in the Very Creation of the Universe?
Does God, by his (or her) very existence, necessarily cast an evil shadow? And does the creation, to even exist, cast an evil shadow? The youthful Einstein’s observation (echoing Thomas Aquinas) strikes me as very close to the gnostic idea that … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheist, einstein, God, philosophy, physics, psychology, religion, theodicy
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These Three are One? The Theological, Philosophical, and Scientific Mind
I don’t know who made the above video, but I find it moving, and I like the take-away message from it. The philosophical questions of religion, because they dwell upon issues of infinity and moral reasoning, can assist in the … Continue reading
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Tagged albert einstein, apologetics, atheism, atheist, Catholic, children, philosophy, Protestant, psychology, religious schools, science
1 Comment
The Atheist Emperor Has No Clothes?
Author Gil Dodgen, a lifelong atheist, asked some of the same basic questions I’ve been raising lately, and he ultimately drifted into theism: I was raised an atheist, and was very devout as a kid. I studied astronomy, cosmology, and the origins of … Continue reading
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Tagged agnostic, agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, atheist, faith, God, philosophy, psychology, religion
18 Comments
Swine Flu (H1N1): Children, Atheism, Transcendence, and Near Death Experiences
I’ve noticed, since having kids (they are three and five), that I’ve been unusually anxious about flu seasons (something that, when I was single and kidless, I barely thought about). And this season, with swine flu (H1N1) out there without … Continue reading
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Tagged agnosticism, atheism, atheist, death, fitness, flu, H1N1, health, life, near-death experiences, Reinhold Niebuhr, swine flu
5 Comments
Swine Flu (H1N1): Tip of the Iceberg?
Swine flu (H1N1) is starting to hit young people hard. According to the Washington Post today, 49 children have died in the U.S. so far. If you don’t get flu and pneumonia vaccine shots this year (for you and your … Continue reading
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Tagged children, fitness, flu season, God, H1N1, health, Jesus, psychology, science, swine flu
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What Questions Would You Ask Richard Dawkins?
Most (though not all) of the questions I’ve heard asked by interviewers of Richard Dawkins seem to me tedious and uninspired. Generally, the same basic questions are asked about his atheism and about evolution, and he rehearses back the same … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheist, charlton heston, eugenics, genetics, God, jerry coyne, planet of the apes, PZ Myers, Richard Dawkins, science
19 Comments
Meat Eating Combined with Running Makes You Smarter?
Well, not exactly. But according to Harvard scientist Dan Lieberman, it was a big factor in making you smart in the first place. Here’s his syllogism: Starting about two million years ago, our ancestors’s ever increasing ability to run long distances … Continue reading
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Tagged anthropology, biology, contingency, Dostoevsky, evolution, fitness, health, Kant, running, science, vegetarian, vegetarianism
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She was an Atheist. And Angry. Then She Found Herself Out of Her Body!
I like her intensity and articulateness. She seems to be a wise person and to know something:
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Tagged atheism, atheist, body, clarity, death, life, near death experience, religion, soul
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I Like What These Two Women are Saying
This woman experienced mystical and poetic Blake light energies for months after her near death experience: And this woman says love is what life’s about: I’m listening. If God exists, S(he) is the groovy hippie ground of being in love with … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, atheist, God, hippies, joy, life, love, meaning, near-death experiences, peace, psychology, women
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This Man’s Near Death Experience Has a Moving Turn at the End
From my vantage, people who have had near death experiences have a certain “street cred” when they claim that death is nothing to be frightened of. We believe human testimony in many other matters, and unless we are philosophically committed … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged atheism, atheist, death, despair, freedom, God, hope, life, near-death experiences, Revelation
3 Comments
