extremism Mayor of Manchester, Burnham: Abedi "not a Muslim" This old chestnut again. As many of you will know, I am a liberal philosopher, centre left economically, left socially. Most pushback I ever get is when I criticise Islam, and I get it from my fellow liberals. Invariably, though, those criticising my theological attacks on Islam: 1. have not
US politics Republican Evades Difficult Questions by Invoking Jesus Minnesota Republican Representative Abigail Whelan steered Democrats away from difficult questions regarding tax by invoking Jesus. ThinkProgress reported: Pressed about her lack of support for an amendment that would close loopholes for offshore tax havens, a Minnesota Republican dodged the question in favor of talking about her religious beliefs. Minnesota
extremism Quote of the Day: Herald Newman on Tackling Islamist Ideology This, on a thread discussing the Manchester bombing, was in one sense thoroughly obvious, but in another sense, some needed clarity: Let's start by at least acknowledging that the Manchester attack was driven by a violent, Islamist, ideology. Without that, I don't see that we have
Trump Trump Is an Awkward Child Here are a few videos to illustrate that Trump is a child. And that he's odd. Here is a snippet from an article in the Business Insider, titled "Republicans are stuck in a high-school mindset": Yet what when a Republican candidate for Congress in Montana was
Crime & Punishment On De-escalation Police in the UK do not routinely carry guns. That is a good thing. I feel all the safer for it. This has the ramification of needing to de-escalate scenarios rather than shoot first, get it over with, and work out what to do later. Salt Lake City police have
Did God Create the Universe from Nothing? Kalam Book Gets Another Great Review As some of you will know, my most recent book was on the Kalam Cosmological Argument, the cosmological argument that deals with the beginning of the universe, concluding in favour of it having a cause (i.e. God). the argument is favoured by apologists the world over. It has obsessed
Conservatives Manchester Bombing and the Political Context As with so many, I am deeply angered by the attack from last night. I could offer all the usual condolences but it would all sound rather trite from me. So I'll do what I usually do: offer some kind of analysis, this time political rather than theological.
Conservatives The Media, and Similarities between Trump and Corbyn The UK election is hotting up. May arguably called it early because the Conservatives were going to romp through, gaining a vastly increased number of seats, and marginalising Labour and an effective opposition into the sidelines of UK politics. This might well still happen, given that the Conservatives have stolen
Comedy Does God Have a Sense of Humour? There is this prevailing idea that God has personhood and that humanity is somehow styled on his image. Atheists believes that the causality here works the other way such that humanity existed and styled God on the image of humanity. But who would want to let minor quibbles like that
conservatism Quote of the Day: DennisLurvey on the Non-Nones On a thread on the post on the growing nones in the UK, DEnnisLurvey stated this: the religious say the nones are just lost and will come back to the pews, polling companies say they are people who don't believe their religions stories any longer and won'
News The Spin of Election Campaigns All parties must do it, but there is something insidious and underhand in this election concerning the Conservative Party. We have got used to televised election debates. More than that, for a lot of disengaged voters who struggle to even name our Prime Minister, such TV debates are necessary. So
atheism Nearly 50% of UK Have No Religion, but Is This Peak? Atheism in the UK The Guardian has reported this, recently: The secularisation of Britain has been thrown into sharp focus by new research showing that for every person brought up in a non-religious household who becomes a churchgoer, 26 people raised as Christians now identify as non-believers. The study also shows that inner London
causality The Kalam Cosmological Argument: Causality and Time I am going to talk about another issue with the Kalam Cosmological Argument, as presented by apologist William Lane Craig. I will do this by quoting extensively from my recent book Did God Create the Universe from Nothing? Countering William Lane Craig's Kalam Cosmological Argument. Please rush out
Donald Trump This Is What Trump Does to You, America. Or What He Allows to Come out. This is soooo disturbing. Really, one of the most disturbing things I have seen for some time.
Blasphemy Fry's Irish blasphemy investigation dropped; New Zealand prompted to repeal its own law I am a few days behind because we have had inspectors in at work. Gah. Anyway, according to the British Humanist Association: The police service in the Republic of Ireland has decided to drop its investigation into Stephen Fry, over allegations he blasphemed in an interview on Irish channel RTE
Onus Books Dave Fletcher's Mythological Gods Project - Get Involved! Dave Fletcher, formerly of the most awesome podcast that ever was - Reasonable Doubts - has written a book. I am in the middle of editing it for release on the Onus Books imprint. We are trying to get some awesome artwork in it, and so he has a polite
faith schools Afua Hirsch on Faith Schools This is SPOT on. I have been directly involved with the faith school system, having worked for one for ten years at one point. I cannot agree with this more. You may need to disable ad blockers to see this...
Blasphemy Stephen Fry Being Investigated in Ireland for Blasphemy It's ridiculous, and blasphemy laws are ridiculous. C'mon Ireland! This is from the BBC: Police in the Republic of Ireland have launched an investigation after a viewer claimed comments made by Stephen Fry on a TV show were blasphemous. Officers are understood to be examining whether
crime Free Will Skepticism and Criminal Behavior: Caruso's Public Health-Quarantine Model I am reposting this because it has come up in conversations about free will recently and is thus pertinent again: The great Gregg Caruso has produced a fascinating looking paper which I can't wait to read. I have often advocated the quarantine method in crime and punishment. This
demographics Age Is the New Class in UK Voting: Age 34 Is the Crossover Labour used to be the party fo the working class, what with its history in workers' rights. Not so much anymore. Analysis from YouGov shows that age has become the new class in dividing the nation, along with education. Here are some snippets from them: Age: The new dividing
determinism Reactive Attitudes: the Psychology of Free Will On the thread to the post on whether or not moral responsibility exists in light of the falsity of libertarian free will, the idea of the ingrained psychology of free will came up. I thought I would expand on some ideas. Philosopher PF Strawson, father of philosopher Galen Strawson, was
determinism With a Lack of Free Will, Do We Still Have Moral Responsibility? The term "moral responsibility" is an interesting one in the context of moral philosophy and free will and determinism. The question is often raised as to whether we can have moral responsibility given a single path through life. If we do not have libertarian free will (the real
Epistemology Fantastic Explanation of the Backfire Effect I cannot post it here. Just go to this link. It's brilliant. H/T Neil Webber
aliens If the Discovery of Alien Life Is Close, How Might This Affect Religion? The Guardian recently ran an article that provokes some interesting thought and discussion. If we are close to finding alien life (for the sake of argument, though the number of exoplanets discovered is constantly rising), how would this affect the major religions of the world? Santhosh Mathew writes: The interaction
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