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Recent Posts
Monthly Archives: June 2010
How Free is Your Speech if You Are an Instructor at a Publicly Financed School?
According to the ACLU website, if you are a public school teacher your free speech latitude depends on two things: where you are expressing yourself (in or out of the classroom); and whether you teach minors or adults. Here’s the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged 1st amendment, America, censorship, college, free speech, Iago, Politics, religion, school, social psychology, university
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The view from my window
The American flag, burning.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged America, American flag, Buddhism, dawn, flag burning, life, patriotism, sunrise
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Is going to church a form of weakness (a way of not dealing with what life is)?
In a recent thread, Trishothinks moves in the direction of deism and says the following: I hate to say this (because of my strong Christian upbringing), but now I believe that people who go to church are “weak”. They need … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheist, Christianity, church, God, Jesus, Nietzsche, nihilism, philosophy, religion, social psychology
32 Comments
The soccer ball and the witch doctor
In Spiegel this weekend there was a report on witch doctors in Africa messing with soccer games. A taste: “They bend the lines, bewitch the ball, befuddle the referees (and) paralyze goal keepers,” Bartholomäus Grill, the Africa correspondent for weekly newspaper Die … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged africa, atheism, atheist, Ayn Rand, critical thinking, Jesus, magic, occult, reason, Sarah Palin, superstition, witch doctors
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American Soldiers Gunning Down Two Reuters Reporters and Numerous Unarmed Iraqis: The Bradley Manning Video
I frankly thought more than twice about posting the following video. It includes American soldiers gunning down two Reuters reporters, a number of unarmed Iraqis, and shooting into a vehicle containing children. The actions are barbaric, obviously war crimes, and are worthy … Continue reading
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Tagged America, bradley manning, human rights, Iraq, military, reuters, war, war crimes
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Repent, for the Singularity is Near? Has Ray Kurzweil Started a Secular Religion?
In a recent New York Times profile of Ray Kurzweil’s Singularity Movement, I can’t help but see parallels with religion. Indeed, it appears to be an atheist eschatology cult led by a gnostic elite. Based on the New York Times piece, here are … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged atheism, eschatology, God, Jesus, Nietzsche, noah's ark, pseudoscience, ray kurzweil, religion, science, technology, the singularity
7 Comments
Thinking about the Fifth Dimension (the Imagination and the Musical Group)
In a world where God is dead (or at least silent), what dimension should you live in? In other words, should you live in ”reality” (whatever that really is) or might you skip the reality quest and spend your life mostly in the realm of imagination? Here’s … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, balloons, Dionysus, imagination, Jesus, Nietzsche, Paul, peter pan, romanticism, St. Paul, the fifth dimension, the imagination
3 Comments
Entering the Fifth Dimension (the Imagination) with Nietzsche, Don Quixote, Rod Serling, and Lawrence Krauss
One of the insights of Friedrich Nietzsche—at least in my reading of him—is that imagination is a dimension, apart from reality, that you can live in. This, of course, is also Don Quixote. And Rod Serling in the Twilight Zone: There … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, don quixote, imagination, lawrence krauss, Nietzsche, peter pan, philosophy, reality, rod serling
4 Comments
Steven Pinker is skeptical of new media skepticism
At the New York Times this week, Steven Pinker has a not-to-be-missed op-ed on new media skepticism. A taste: Media critics write as if the brain takes on the qualities of whatever it consumes, the informational equivalent of “you are what … Continue reading
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Tagged criticism, doubt, media, reason, skepticism, steven pinker, technology
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The Doubting Thomas Award: Who Would I Give a Prize for Being a Model Doubter?
In a world where God is not there (or, at the very least, is not talking plainly), the two things that redeem existence from being a very, very large mistake are just two things: morality aesthetics By morality I mean … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, atheist, Camus, doubting thomas, Jesus, Nietzsche, PZ Myers, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Thomas Jefferson
4 Comments
On science v. religion, Stephen Hawking nails it
In a recent Diane Sawyer interview, Stephen Hawking looks at the state of play between religion and science and sees checkmate in religion’s future: There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged agnostic, agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, atheist, God, Jesus, Mohammad, philosophy, religion, science, Stephen Hawking
17 Comments
Tea Partier Sharon Angle wants to abolish the Department of Education, end Social Security and Medicare, and get the United States out of the United Nations
And she’s just won the Republican primary in Nevada. Harry Reid’s camp has to be smiling about this:
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged America, Democrats, harry reid, health care, Nevada, Politics, Republicans, right wing, sharon angle, social security, tea baggers, tea partiers
19 Comments
Catholic Priest, Father James Martin, fails to see the beauty of a fast moving woman in New York City
Catholic priest, James Martin, offers this incident as illustration of the richness of (his) existence that our plugged-in culture is bypassing: Not long ago, I was walking through a park in New York City. Racing across Union Square to an … Continue reading
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Tagged beauty, Catholicism, feminism, God, imagination, Keats, philosophy, psychology, reification, solitude, William Wordsworth, women's equality
2 Comments
A critical thinking question: what do you do when experts collide?
On the question of whether the United States is headed for an inflationary period or a deflationary period, highly trained economists are divided. This today at the Economist: Last week, we launched our economics channel with a debate on whether inflation … Continue reading
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Tagged Allen Ginsberg, critical thinking, economics, epistemology, evolution v. creation, experts, life, reason, skepticism
14 Comments
Michael Ruse laments New Atheist meddling in his once cozy relationship with the Templeton Foundation
In the Nation’s recent profile of the Templeton Foundation, I notice that A.C. Grayling and Michael Ruse are quoted. Here’s the relevant passage: A.C. Grayling, a British philosopher and former columnist for New Scientist magazine . . . accuses the foundation … Continue reading
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Tagged a.c. grayling, atheism, atheist, michael ruse, religion, science, spirituality, templeton foundation
2 Comments
Life on Titan?
According to Ars Technica, new atmospheric data, and two new science papers, are pointing to some things that are consistent with life on Titan: Something strange is afoot in the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan, according to data sent back … Continue reading
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Tagged aliens, belief, critical thinking, evidence, faith, life, life on titan, moons, reasoning, saturn, science, titan
1 Comment
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of $60,000 a year?
It appears that if your goal in life is to experience a pretty consistent sense of present “happiness,” then you should try to work your way into the top 20% of income earners in the United States and make $60,000 … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged America, economics, existentialism, goals, happiness, hindu cows, life, money, Nietzsche, overgoing, Thomas Jefferson, wealth
2 Comments
Thinking about Nietzsche: does truth matter?
One thing that the religious fundamentalist and the secular scientist agree on is this: what is actually true matters. Or, as they say on the X Files, ”The truth is out there.” I’m not interested in denying that the world really … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged atheism, Ayn Rand, epistemology, existentialism, freedom, hippies, imagination, lies, Nietzsche, the counter-enlightenment, truth
9 Comments
