God's characteristics God's Love This short piece is another one from my friend Julian Haydon. Again, concise and pointed. GOD'S LOVE God: all-knowing; all powerful and all good. A loving Father, just, forgiving and merciful. Before the Creation God broke his endless rest and created mankind from innocent nothingness. We were thereby
Religion and Society Who Would Jesus Bomb? As I mentioned in my previous post, my friend Gareth Howells of the local band Bemis has a very talented 15-year-old son, Louis, who ended the book launch evening for Filling the Void: A Selection of Atheist and Humanist Poetry at the Book Shop in Lee-on-the-Solent with a wonderful version
atheism On Reading Humanist Poetry in Public I am sorry that this week has been crazily busy. I have had to debate the EU referendum in Bournemouth, and then had a poetry reading with music and whatnot, followed by a four hour book signing for my new zombie fiction book yesterday. Before I get back to talking
Filling the Void Some Humanist Poetry to Celebrate Tonight's Book Launch Filling the Void: A Selection of Humanist and Atheist Poetry is a rare but thoroughly absorbing collection of thought-provoking poetry that I released a few months back. Rather belatedly, I am holding an evening of poetry and songs at a small local book shop. To remind people of this fabulous
God's characteristics The Whole Christian Story in 101 Words My friend Julian Haydon has these words of summary. What think you? THE WHOLE CHRISTIAN STORY (In 101 Words) This sorrow-filled life, thrust upon us without consent or knowledge of its final peril, is but a trial. One day, Jesus will decide based on what we believed about him, whether
Dorset Humanists My Opening Speech in Last Night's EU Debate As mentioned, I was on a three person panel defending remaining in the EU against three others arguing for leaving. The debate was in the context of humanism, especially as it was hosted by the Dorset Humanists, in Bournemouth. I was tasked with going first for Remain, and thought I&
Economics The EU, Free Market Economics, Regulation and Vacuum Cleaners. Sorry I have been a bit quieter than normal recently, but I have had to prepare for a public debate on the EU referendum obsessively concerning the UK at the moment. I was on a three person panel defending remaining in the EU against three others arguing for leaving. The
Aaron Adair Interview with Dr. Aaron Adair on Biblical History and the Star of Bethlehem A few years back, I edited a book by Dr. Aaron Adair called The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical View. It is a fantastic book that Richard Carrier described in this way: Required Reading on the Subject, December 20, 2013ByRichard C. CarrierThis review is from: The Star of Bethlehem: A
Debate On the Panel for an EU Debate for Dorset Humanists Just to let anyone know here that I am presenting in an EU debate in Bournemouth tonight. It is taking place at the Green Hotel for the Dorset Humanists. The details follow: Humanism shares many values with the European Union (EU) such as liberty, equality, human rights, democracy, the rule
atheism Deconversion Facebook Post from Lead Singer of Christian Band, Order of Elijah This as a recent and interesting facebook post from the lead singer of a christian metalcore band, The Order of Elijah. Makes for interesting reading (Friendly Atheist has some interesting commentary): The Order of Elijah 21 May at 17:50 · WARNING: This is a novel. Well I'm not
atheism Study Shows People of No Religion Outnumber Christians in England and Wales The Guardian's front page news headline today is happy news for those nonreligious of us. I even heard it on local radio this morning: The number of people who say they have no religion is rapidly escalating and significantly outweighs the Christian population in England and Wales, according
equality House Erupts as GOP Blocks Measure To Protect LGBT Americans This is an embedded facebook video so you may need to turn your adblockers off as they often block these. This is a shocker and American GOP politicians should be ashamed of themselves and a system that allows this to happen.
John W. Loftus I've a Chapter on Free Will in Loftus' Excellent New Anthology John Loftus has another superb-looking anthology coming out, and I am proud to have written what I think (obviously) is a really good chapter on free will. It documents both the philosophy and science undermining libertarian free will (LFW), and shows how this affects Christian belief. I also look at
Alan Duval Welcoming a New Guest Contributor: Alan Duval Alan Duval has already given us a really thoughtful pieces on moral and political psychology, and joins Ryan McManus in being a guest contributor with an interest in the way that psychology and philosophy interact. I meant to post this welcome some weeks back, but it got lost in the
Survival of the Fittest: Metamorphosis Brilliant First UK Review of New Book Thanks to John Kingston for so favourably reviewing my new fiction book, Survival of the Fittest: Metamorphosis. Happy days. Brilliant new take on the Zombie theme, 19 May 2016 Johno Pearce is a philosopher, who has written many books and lectures on philosophical, sceptical themes. As far as I know
Free Will and Determinism Libertarian Free Will Defeats the Kalam Cosmological Argument (#2) When originally posted this some years back, I had a comment to answer on the original blog post, now here at Libertarian Free Will Defeats the Kalam Cosmological Argument. I did not want to lose all the work to a comment forgotten in the annals of blog history. So here
COVID crisis Oklahoma governor vetoes bill to criminalise abortions The BBC reports following what was reported the other day: Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin has vetoed a bill that would make abortion a criminal offence in the US state. Although she opposes abortion, she said the measure was vague and would not withstand a legal challenge. The state senate on
COVID crisis Oklahoma lawmakers pass bill to outlaw abortion The BBC report on this shocker: Lawmakers in the US state of Oklahoma have passed a bill that would make the act of performing an abortion a crime. Under the bill, a doctor who performs an abortion could be sentenced to up to three years in prison and be barred
archaeology Fascinating Interview with Skeptic, Author and Archaeologist Rebecca Bradley Canadian author and skeptic, Rebecca Bradley, is a good friend of mine (if friends can be defined as people you have never formerly met, but with whom you work closely over the internet and regularly speak to on facebook). I thought it would be nice to interview her as she
atheism Two local book signing / atheist poetry reading events - come along! I am happy to announce a local books signing and humanist poetry evening at my local book shop in Hampshire, UK (Lee-on-the-Solent, 27-28th May). Anyone who lives nearby is thoroughly welcome (which probably accounts for about 2 of my readers here!). Gareth Howells, of the band BEMIS, will be playing
evolution Meaning & Purpose Concerning Animals, Including Humans The big mistake made so often by both religious, and often non-religious, is that somehow we are a special animal. A not-really-an-animal animal. But we are not. Special, that is. Okay, so we're special in that we are top of the class. We can do some seriously cool
Free Will and Determinism Libertarian Free Will Defeats the Kalam Cosmological Argument Given that I have a forthcoming book about the Kalam Cosmological Argument due out in the near future, I thought I would resurrect some old ones on the KCA. Here is one from a few years back looking at the mutually exclusive natures of the KCA and libertarian free will:
BHA ‘Faith Schoolers Anonymous’: Whistle-blowers’ shocking details about life in UK ‘faith’ schools This is from the BHA: In a series of shocking revelations marking the launch of Faith Schoolers Anonymous, a new service for pupil whistle-blowers, bloggers from a range of ‘faith’ schools have shared their experiences of the education they received. Their accounts reveal instances of abuse, discrimination, and flagrant violations
God's characteristics How awesome is our God? He even cares about the littlest things... "And I want to suggest to you that it is not only tiresome, when otherwise intelligent people speak this way, it is morally reprehensible. This kind of faith is the perfection of narcissism; God loves me, don't you know? He cured me of my eczema. He makes
Barack Obama White Supremacy and the US Presidency This is a meme going about the internet at the moment, but I think it is pretty much on the money. What do you think? When a faithfully married black president who was the son of a single-mother, the first black editor of Harvard Law review and a professor of
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