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Monthly Archives: April 2010
Question of the Day: What was probably the original reason for a ban on Mohammad image making?
I’m an Enlightenment-positive secular liberal, and I like the below marble statue of Voltaire at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). It’s one of the few large marble depictions of Voltaire in the world. I recall reading somewhere that … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged atheism, cartoons, God, idolatry, Islam, Jesus, matt parker and trey stone, Mohammad, religion, social psychology, south park, the Bible
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Genetics researcher Francisco Ayala argues against intelligent design
In a recent interview with the Washington Post, genetics researcher Francisco Ayala makes the Argument from Imperfection in support of evolution by natural selection: Nothing in the living world is really intelligently designed; if it was, it would be designed by … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheist, biology, Charles Darwin, evolution, francisco ayala, Genesis, God, science
13 Comments
Author Tayari Jones: Hell no, she won’t go (to Arizona)
Author Tayari Jones is boycotting Arizona, a state in which she once resided. In a letter to the organizers of the Pima Summer Writers Conference in Tucson, Arizona, she explains her decision to avoid the state: Due to the passage of … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged America, arizona, California, freedom, immigration, justice, life, racism, tayari jones, tea partiers, the united states
7 Comments
Taking your medicine science free
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Tagged andrew weil, biology, chemistry, chinese medicine, comedy, critical thinking, health food store, homeopathy, medicine, New Age, reason, science
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Matt and Trey could equal an earthquake in LA!
. At least that is the implied claim of the Pakistani-born Muslim I took a picture of above (as he was passing out free copies of the Quran). The picture was taken this weekend during the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged cartoons, earthquakes, fundamentalism, Islam, matt parker and trey stone, Mohammad, Muslims, philosophy, south park, the Enlightenment, theo van gogh, Voltaire
5 Comments
While you were sleeping, Europe’s Greece crisis was deepening
This at the UK’s Guardian: “The crisis in Greece could pose as big a risk to the global economy and financial markets as the collapse of Lehman Brothers did in September 2008”, said Julian Jessop, of Capital Economics. He added: … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged debt, economics, global economy, gold, Great Depression 2.0, niall ferguson, panic, recession, silver
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Philosopher Russell Blackford on “the hopeless Argument from Contingency”
Philosopher Russell Blackford efficiently dissects David Hart’s recent claim that God is the one logically necessary being that makes all contingent beings and things (including the universe as a whole) possible: Much of the rant consists of an attempt to … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheist, critical thinking, God, jerry coyne, Jesus, philosophy, psychology, russell blackford, the Bible
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The inane “reasoning” that supports the recent claim that Noah’s ark has been found
Don’t believe the hype? Yesterday, some media outlets reported that Noah’s ark may have been found somewhere in the Ararat mountains, and they quoted one of the lead discoverers as being “99 percent” certain that what was discovered is the legendary vessel. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged apologetics, atheism, Charles Darwin, creationism, critical thinking, evolution, Genesis, Noah, reason, Santi Tafarella, science, the Bible
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Werner Herzog turns “Where’s Waldo” into a haunting existential enigma
Where to begin?
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged atheism, Camus, comedy, existentialism, experience, godless universe, humor, innocence, life, Nietzsche, Sartre, werner herzog
2 Comments
A great Henry David Thoreau quote
No method nor discipline can supersede the necessity of being forever on the alert. What is a course of history, or philosophy, or poetry, or the most admirable routine of life, compared with the discipline of looking always at what … Continue reading
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Tagged college, education, Henry David Thoreau, life, literature, philosophy, poetry, psychology, vision, walden, William Blake
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Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, and Critical Thinking
At TruthDig last week, Chris Hedges reported on his interview with Noam Chomsky. Here’s what Chomsky told Hedges about the importance of critical thinking: “I try to encourage people to think for themselves, to question standard assumptions,” Chomsky said when … Continue reading
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Tagged Chris Hedges, critical thinking, dialogue, justice, noam chomsky, philosophy, reason, Richard Dawkins, Socrates, thinking, William F. Buckley
2 Comments
Is the Noah’s Ark hypothesis the best one for making sense of a WorldNetDaily article claiming that a boat has been found high on Mount Ararat?
In the great battle between scientific experts and young Earth biblical literalists, shall we score one today for the anti-evolutionists? If you believe this WorldNutNetDaily article posted this morning, then the answer is yes, for Noah’s Ark has been found! Really. And … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheist, david hume, evolution, Genesis, God, hypothesis testing, Jesus, Noah, noah's ark, the Bible
12 Comments
David Hart v. Kevin Drum: Is God Completely Full of It?
A plenitude is something or someone completely full of it (whatever it happens to be). And so the question arises: is God best defined as a plenitude, as when David Hart calls God “an absolute plenitude of actuality”? In other words, is … Continue reading
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Tagged agnostic, agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, atheist, God, Islam, Jesus, language, psychology, religion, the wizard of oz
3 Comments
Kevin Drum sasses David Hart for sassing the New Atheists
David Hart’s oh-so-high-minded critique of the New Atheism pretends that any atheism that does not confront Thomas Aquinas and Nietzsche head-on and with the nuances that they deserve, should earn, not our praise, but our contempt, to which Kevin Drum … Continue reading
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Tagged agnostic, apologetics, atheism, atheist, Christopher Hitchens, God, Jesus, Nietzsche, philosophy, religion, Richard Dawkins, Thomas Aquinas
2 Comments
David Hart and Nietzsche v. the New Atheists
I don’t like the snarky and dismissive tone of David Hart’s recent critique of atheism, but I think that, in his essay, he nevertheless hits his mark here and there. He prefers, for example, the sobriety of Nietzsche to the comfy … Continue reading
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Tagged agnostic, agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, atheist, Camus, existentialism, God, humanism, Nietzsche, Richard Dawkins, Sartre
8 Comments
Six years later, I collapse (my defenses) and listen to Jared Diamond present the broad outlines of his book, “Collapse” (Viking 2004)
Back in December of 2004, when Jared Diamond’s Collapse came out, I decided that I wouldn’t buy it. I simply didn’t want a Paul Ehrlich-1970s-style-downer book about the environment marring my otherwise sunny disposition. I’m not brave Oedipus: I don’t necessarily … Continue reading
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Tagged America, collapse, conservatism, consumerism, ecology, green movement, Greenpeace, jared diamond, life, the environment, UCLA, vegetarianism
1 Comment
The view from my window
Inspired by Andrew Sullivan’s “The View from Your Window” feature at his blog (in which he posts what his readers see from their windows), I thought I might periodically start putting, on my blog, posts titled: The view from my … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Andrew Sullivan, California, images, life, negative capability, photography, photophraphs, santa monica, Santi Tafarella, the view from my window, views, windows
1 Comment
A bumper sticker I saw today: “The next time you claim to be perfect, try walking on water.”
And my retort: The next time you claim that Jesus walked on water, try providing evidence.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged agosticism, apologetics, atheism, atheist, Christianity, critical thinking, fundamentalism, God, Jesus, religion, walking on water
2 Comments
Prometheus Unbound 