atheism - A Tippling Philosopher (Page 6)

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atheism

A collection of 235 posts

Agnostics are just atheists without balls. Discuss.

“Agnostics are just atheists without balls.” ― Stephen Colbert, I Am America Discuss. For the record, I am an agnostic atheist who works and lives everyday as if there is no god, is pretty sure there is no god, but cannot (as with almost everything) be utterly sure that there is

No lawyer to defend young "apostate" sentenced to death‏

No lawyer to defend young “apostate” sentenced to death in Mauritania, after he questioned the role of Islam in legitimizing slavery A young writer sentenced to death for "apostasy" in 2014, is due to have his appeal heard Monday. However, it has emerged that no lawyer will be

Ecuador Talent Show Shockingly Lectures Contestant on her Atheism, Gets Sacked

This happened at the back end of last year, but escaped my radar, so sorry if you already knew about this. It's a shocker. I thought it was originally a mistranslated satirical Poe, because it is that bizarre as to warrant disbelief. The Independent reported: Judges on a

By Inside_my_head.jpg: Andrew Mason from London, UK derivative work: -- Jtneill - Talk (Inside_my_head.jpg) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Critical Thinking Suppressed, More Empathy Shown in Brains of People who Believe in God

Well, it's hardly surprising now, is it... (at least on the critical thinking side). The International Business Times reports the following (this has done the rounds over the last month): The opposition between religious beliefs and scientific evidence can be explained by difference in brain structures and cognitive

Yet Another Bangladeshi Secularist Hacked to Death by Radical Islamists

This depresses me, it really does. How many is this now? The Guardian reports: A Bangladeshi law student who criticised Islamism on his Facebook page has been murdered, police said on Thursday, the latest in a series of killings of secular activists and bloggers in the country. Nazimuddin Samad, 28,

The 13 countries where being an atheist is punishable by death

This report in the Independent has been doing the rounds. In this day and age, it's pretty sad. It’s often said that the world is becoming an increasingly secular place. Just last week David Cameron sparked backlash when he used his Easter message to describe the UK

Islamists call for Sharia law in Pakistan after Salman Taseer blasphemy row

Oh dear. You would think that the bombing in Pakistan my lead to a public outrage against hardline Islamic stances. Not so, as the Independent reports: Thousands of protesters have clashed with police in Islamabad in the second day of protests over blasphemy laws in Pakistan. Demonstrators gathered outside Parliament

New Book Reviewed on Huff Po

Thanks to fellow Patheoser, Dan Arel, my latest book (Filling the Void: A Selection of Humanist and Atheist Poetry) has been reviewed on Huffington Post. Check it out here. Please check it out and review if you like it! The description reads: here is often thought, by theists, to be

World Poetry Day - My Atheist Tuppence

With today being World Poetry Day and with the publication of Filling the Void: A Selection of Humanist and Atheist Poetry, which is a book that I am particularly proud of. It's a wonderful collection of a great variety of books. I urge you to check it out.

A Reminder About "Filling The Void"

Here is a reminder that I have just released (in ebook, paperback to follow in a week) a new book that I am really excited about. Filling The Void: A Selection Of Humanist And Atheist Poetry is a wonderful collection of secular and philosophical poetry to give voice to atheists

By Inside_my_head.jpg: Andrew Mason from London, UK derivative work: -- Jtneill - Talk (Inside_my_head.jpg) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

What Would It Take Me To Believe? And You?

This is one of those questions that comes up in debates these days, often in the slightly different form of "What is the strongest argument you think the other side has?" I am going to be succinct here. There are no theistic arguments that trouble me. There simply

Saudi Arabia sentences Twitter atheist to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes

Yup, what a lovely country we wholeheartedly appear to politically support. The Independent reports: A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a man to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for expressing his atheism in hundreds of social media posts. The report carried in Al-Watan says the 28-year-old

Proof Copy of New Book Looks Tip Top

I am pretty excited that my new book is finally nearing completion. After some teething problems with the ebooks, they are now polished and available, and the paperback is following hot on their tails (all through Onus Books). Filling the Void: A Selection of Humanist and Atheist Poetry is a

Steep Canyon Rangers' Atheist Hymnal

This has been around for a few years, but well worth a listen. Tee hee! [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wogta8alHiU[/youtube] I have seen some comments here and there from religionists who seem to think that Steve Martin is attacking atheists. This is clearly, to me, a

Filling The Void with Atheist and Humanist Poetry

Finally, a project that I have been working on for some time has come to fruition. Filling The Void: A Selection of Humanist And Atheist Poetry is released through Onus Books and features a foreword by Andrew Copson, the Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association, and an afterword by

Earliest evidence for atheism predates Jesus by at least 500 years, Cambridge professor argues

Quite often, one hears that atheism is a late arriver on the scene, that religion in some form or another prevailed universally back to the times of early animism. However, Professor Tim Whitmarsh, a leading Cambridge classicist, claims that the belief that there were indeed no gods was quite common

Awesome Atheist Advert in The South Bend Tribune

A friend of mine has over the years been taking out adverts in various publications to challenge Christians, in particular, over certain topics. This is the advert he took out in 2014 in The South Bend Tribune, which is in South Bend, Indiana. It is the home of Notre Dame

Shelley Segal's Awesome "An Atheist Album"

I was some months back listening to the one of the last Reasonable Doubts podcast episodes featuring an interview and some songs by Australian singer-songwriter Shelley Segal. Segal comes from an orthodox Jewish background, but came to reject theism in favour of atheism, and became involved in atheist activism. This,

My Updated Top Atheistic and Agnostic Songs

I have decided to recompile a list of my favourite atheistic /agnostic / philosophical songs. There are many on other lists which I do not know and feel I would like to, but here is my short list. I have made a comment with each and maybe copied the odd lyric

More on the Stickability of "No Religion" and Religion

Yesterday, I posted about data that has come out of the UK that shows that "nones" are increasing in proportion of the population and that "no religion" appears to stick more with people than religion, particularly Christianity. In other words, if you were born into "

"No religion" Sticks Better than Christianity

I reported the other day on the recent YouGov survey that showed that "nones" are becoming more prevalent and proportionally widespread in UK society than Christians, especially in the younger echelons. However, from the Daily Mail (gah!) article, there was a particular quote from Professor Linda Woodhead that

Poll: "Majority of white adults say they have no religion and the number is set to rise"

The Daily Mail reports of a new YouGov poll: The majority of white Britons say they have no religion, a new study shows. Research reveals that 46 per cent of adults of all races identify as having no religion, compared with the 42 per cent who considered themselves Christian. The

Poll shows 0.0% of Icelanders 25 years or younger believe God created the world

Wow. That is something. Talk about an interesting stat. Iceland Magazine reports: [caption id="attachment_6848" align="alignright" width="212"] By Max Naylor [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Iceland seems to be on its way to becoming an even more secular nation, according

God's experiential knowledge and not creating anything

Those who adhere to divine foreknowledge adhere to the notion that God has complete knowledge. He is omniscient. Thomas Nagel once asked the intriguing question, "What does it feel like to be a bat?" God would know, surely? God, I would argue (probably, if I were a Christian)

By Ed Yourdon from New York City, USA (Helping the homeless Uploaded by Gary Dee) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

On non-religious children having greater altruism and empathy

Hitting the news today was research using data from around the word which showed that children from non-religious families were more altruistic and empathetic than their religious counterparts. This is interesting because it fits into a wider picture as to how religion works in tandem with identity,