National Secular Society The Religious Privilege in the House of Lords The religious nature of aspects of the House of Lords (HOL) came up in another thread here at ATP yesterday, so I thought I would explain how the HOL works in this regard, particularly for foreign readers. Before concentrating on the religious angle, let's allow Wikipedia to explain
atheism ‘Long-term trend away from religion looks set to accelerate’: BHA Comments on Survey From the BHA: Today sees the publication of the latest annual results from NatCen Social Research’s British Social Attitudes Survey. The question in the survey about religious belonging records 48% of the population as being of no religion, a one percent decline from the year before, and three percent
Bert Bigelow Creation vs. Big Bang I have been reading a lot of Thomas Paine recently. I just finished “Age of Reason.” I know that Robert Ingersoll, “The Great Agnostic” of the 19th Century, admired Paine, and it is clear that many of his ideas came from Paine’s writings, especially “Age of Reason.” The phrasing
God's characteristics Heaven, Hell, and Philosophical Zombies In the a google hangout from a few years back, with Counter Apologist and Reasonable Doubts' Justin Schieber on the Evidential Problem of Evil, we were talking about the great argument against hell. I will set this argument out again, as I have done previously, before getting on to
Biblical Exegesis Moral progression and relativism in the testaments I am on holiday at the moment asked trying to do this on my mobile phone so bear with me. fsck recently made a comment on a thread which included: I don't suppose that cultural relativism is true. I believe that the law was an imperfect tool, limited
consequentialism William Lane Craig - Taking to Task his Claim "Consequentialism is a terrible ethic" Watch this, especially from 1:28:30. Craig was involved in a series of discussions in Australia with Laurence Krauss regarding philosophy and science. Unfortunately, Krauss is no great philosopher, and philosophy is what most of this discussion revolved around. However, both Craig and the annoying moderator claimed that "
General Holiday! Just to let you know that I am on holiday for a week, but will try to post if I can, and will hopefully be able to schedule some posts from Bert Bigelow and Alan Duval. Thanks for reading!
God's characteristics God Loves Infant Death - How Most Souls in Heaven are Automatons Some time ago I posted a piece called God Loves Abortion, to which Andy Schueler added a nice piece on conception and the creation of the soul and personhood from a biological perspective. The other day on my Free Will, Heaven and the Problem of Evil video, Honest_John_Law
Religion and Society Kentucky Inquisition I left a comment on a website that described some political machinations in the state of Kentucky. A county legal official promoted a questionnaire for local politicians, asking them about their religious views. I thought that this was rather unusual, and possibly unconstitutional, and offered the following comment. “Jeff Sharp,
Biblical Exegesis Pharaoh and the Hardening of Hearts I want to now talk about the intervening God, and how God can force people’s hands. It seems to me that Christians quite often have their cakes, and then eat them too! How greedy (though I often wonder what the point of having a cake is, if not to
free will God's Interaction as Invalidating the Free Will Theodicy Two thousand years ago, before he took a very long holiday indeed, God was often meddling in his own creation, interacting with people, seemingly on a whim. Nowadays, not so much. However, I want to quickly look at this idea of God interacting with the world. The problem of evil
determinism My New Chapter on Free Will Reckoned to be Best Chapter With the kind of self-congratulatory marketing that one has to do to get "out there", I am pleased to announce this great review of John Loftus' new anthology, Christianity in the Light of Science, has proclaimed my chapter the best in the book. Whoop! For me the
morality This should really challenge your eating habits I have been having an ongoing conversation on the blog with "Philosophical Vegan" about an old piece I wrote and the philosophical underpinnings of eating meat or being a vegetarian or vegan. The conversation is still unfinished, but it is pretty apparent that it is hard to ethically
extremism Search engines' role in radicalisation must be challenged, finds study There is an interesting piece in the Guardian that looks at the role the internet plays, and internet search providers play, in the facilitation of radicalisation. I had never considered this before. As the article states: More than 484,000 Google keyword searches a month from around the world, including
determinism Christianity in the Light of Science John Loftus has a another storming anthology out in which I am proud to have a chapter, Christianity in the Light of Science: Critically Examining the World's Largest Religion. My chapter is on free will, especially in the context of a judgemental god. I am really proud of
Donald Trump On Trump I am feeling ranty. I have come to the conclusion that anyone remotely supporting Trump doesn't warrant interaction. He's the biggest douche in the world and to think that so many Americans are putting their stall in him is a damning indictment of that country and
God's characteristics God as an Abstraction Some time ago, I finished John Loftus’ The Outsider Test for Faith. There is much to talk about within the pages, not least some of the excellent quotes he has gathered from other writers which he uses to defend his own positions on various topics. For the purposes of this
Donald Trump Sam Harris on Trump - Spot On This is another must listen. Sam Harris nails it on Trump. This should start at the right moment- but the player is playing up. Go to about 5m19. The section I am talking about is the bit before Harris talks about the recent killings in Orlando and Trump's
Education 70 Rabbis challenge Chief Rabbi over religious selection in school admissions School admissions have been a bone of contention of mine for a long time, especially having once worked in the faith school sector for about a decade. The UK is very different to places like the US. Here, in certain sectors, some 40% of our state schools are faith schools.
determinism Come to my Talk on Free Will on Weds Night in High Wycombe I am giving a talk to High Wyvombe Skeptics in the Pub on Wednesday night, so please come along if you are in the area. Details are: Wednesday at 20:00 Arts4Every1 Desborough Road, HP11 2PU High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire Join High Wycombe Skeptics for this free talk! Cash bar available,
Adam and Eve Adam and Eve: A Few Flaws... I recently posted an argument about Adam and Eve and God's moral culpability for human failure and sin, most of which went like this: 1. If Adam and Eve are properly representative of humanity, and failed the test, then God’s design of humanity is ultimately sub-optimal. This
compatibilism Dennett, Harris and Free Will For those who have been unaware of the fascinating conversation between Dan Dennett and Sam Harris in a bar in Banff, here it is. It seeks to bury the hatchet and clear things up over the disagreement that took place a few years ago with regard to Dennett's
morality Replying to Philosophical Vegan Concerning Veganism and Vegetarianism (part 2) I have been exceptionally busy and am somewhat behind on this project. Let me pull on what I said in the previous piece: This is the second part of my long promised reply to Philosophical Vegan (PV). It is not really a rebuttal because, essentially, I agree with much of
Crime & Punishment Should We License Parenting? In reading the brilliant book The Anatomy of Violence by Adrian Raine, the subject of licensing parenting is brought up near the end. It's a good old debating topic that often provokes strong opinions. Some claim that giving birth is a fundamental human right and everyone is entitled
