General - A Tippling Philosopher (Page 2)

I'll Just Leave This Here...

Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher You can also buy me a cuppa. Or buy some of my awesome ATP merchandise! Please... It justifies me continuing to do this!

compatibilism

Responding to Carrier on Free Will (III): Syllogisms, Laypeople & Christians

Recently, I introduced you to the first piece in my response to Richard Carrier as follows: One Christmas present I received this year is a blog piece by Richard Carrier (“Why Syllogisms Usually Suck: Free Will Edition”) going to town on one of my old free will articles expressing determinism/

General

Merry Christmas Y'All!

Happy Holidays, Saucy Saturnalia, Wonderful Winterfest, Spot-on Solstice. Whatever floats your boat. It's that time of year when I feel duty-bound, but also hugely want, to say a massive thank you. Thanks for hanging out here; thanks for commenting; thanks for buying my books; thanks for kindly donating.

William Lane Craig

William Lane Craig Takes Me to Mischaracterise-Me Town

I have just been made aware of a podcast in which William Lane Craig takes a couple of my short articles to task. The ones in question are: * The Resurrection, Fideism and Circularity * Supernaturalism (and Motivated Reasoning) He absolutely hammers me. Well, he thinks he does. Because what really happens

Dana Horton

The Law of Attraction

Here's another guest [opst from Dana Horton - thanks! For those with a spiritual bent: The Law of Attraction Or Why Couldn’t the Author of The Secret Get Her Asking Price. (3 minute read) We had so much fun contemplating the Law of Reciprocity last week that

John Loftus

The Case Against Miracles

I have a lot to thank John Loftus for. Not only did I used to blog at his Debunking Christianity site, but he also commissioned me to write a chapter in two of his books (I wrote one on morality and one on free will). John recently sent me his

Coronavirus

Regeneron, Aborted Foetuses, Corruption, Emoluments

Trump's entire presidency has been transactional. By this, I mean that he does things only with himself in mind and so that he gets some kind of benefit. Sort of quid pro quo. Do you remember that term? With everything that Trump does or says we can always

Dana Horton

Mystic or Psychic?

Here's another short one from Dana Horton: Mystic or Psychic? (3 minute read) We’re going to tackle a topic that’s been on all your minds this week: What’s the difference between mysticism and psychism? Or to put it another way, are you a mystic, a

Easter

The Resurrection: A Critical Examination of the Easter Story

Here are just some of the non-electronic books I have been perusing to research the book I am not 34,500 words into: The Resurrection: A Critical Examination of the Easter Story. And I have Raymond Brown's epic The Death of the Messiah winging its way to me

blogging

Help Going Forward

Dear all, as you know, blogging is a very time-consuming affair. I was wondering if anyone wanted to cut their teeth with some blogging here to give themselves a leg up, or just to pass some time. Bert, my trusty companion on this journey, is a regular contributor here, and

Debate

Debating People about Things that Affect Them More

I really rate this quote. Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher You can also buy me a cuppa. Or buy some of my awesome ATP merchandise! Please... It justifies me continuing to do this!

creation

William Lane Craig and Heaven

Recently, I wrote a few pieces on heaven with reference to William Lane Craig and how he has made claims about front-loading people who would reject Jesus (God using his Middle Knowledge to work this out) into those who, as it turns out with creation, never get to hear about

General

Merchy Merch Merch

Due to big life decisions in the pipeline and all sorts, I have decided to put Friday to some use and create a merchandise line for the blog. I will add to this with memey sort of quotes and whatnot. Shoot me some ideas! Either way, here is some merchandise

Coronavirus

Riddle Me This, Trump Supporters

Here are a few quotes from (((J_Enigma32))), which turned up on a recent thread, that deserve some thought: So then, riddle me this: under what circumstances would it be okay, by your measure, to criticize Trump? What criticisms of Trump can you think of - surely the man isn&

church attendance

Churches Defy Advice & Rules (& Science) to Gather Congregations

Churches in the US have long been a hotbed for adhering to the findings of science. The coronavirus has made no exception, as you no doubt will have heard. The most newsworthy case of the downright stupidity - no, that is being polite - downright criminal endangerment of life is

Coronavirus

"The Chinese Virus" Revisited

This is the image I wanted to accompany this piece (but, copyright and all). I will try to get back to real philosophy soon (hey, this is politics, qua moral philosophy on a societal level), and hopefully even talk about God (well, his cultists believe he is, anyway). I wrote

blogging

Replying to Comments

I have always prided myself on reading every single one of my comments and replying to at least the most pertinent ones. I always wondered why, when I blogged for John Loftus, he only rarely commented. People like Hemant Mehta basically never comment on their blogs. The simple fact of

atheism

After the Interlude: The Story of an Ex-Muslim

Some years back, I compiled and edited a collection of deconversion accounts with Tristan Vick called Beyond an Absence of Faith: Stories About the Loss of Faith and the Discovery of Self (UK) that covered a range of different deconverions from around the world. I thought I would share with

Christmas

A Very Merry Christmas to You!

It's already here for half of you around the world and not yet there for the rest. It still remains for me to say "Merry Christmas y'all!" Or Saturnalia. Or winter solstice. Or whatever. No matter your preference is, have a good one. Thank

Deconversion

Millennials Are Leaving Religion And Not Coming Back

The ever-interesting FiveThirtyEight ave produced a piece on the deconversion of millennials that is worth a read. Some 40% of millennials (aged between 23 and 38) now state they are religiously unaffiliated. Is it a short-term decision or more of a permanent change, though? Statistics are now coming in. As

left-wing

Do We Drive the Media or Does the Media Drive Us?

This has always been a pretty important question to me. When you look at media, whether right- or left-wing (though this stands, to me, as a right-wing problem, but this is undoubtedly my bias), the question is, does media reflect our beliefs (and is thus consumer-led) or does it drive

feminism

A Challenge to "Race Realists" - Race vs Biological Sex

This one is for my long-suffering readers who have had to put up with certain commenters not being banned. As you may know, I am not a fan of censoring people and banning them, that is until they cross an arbitrary line of no return... I prefer to let their

YouTube

That YouTube Thang

As some of you may or may not know, I have a tiny YouTube channel and occasionally produce videos - talking head ones - discussing any number of things, usually philosophical and religious (atheistic) in nature. YouTube, megalomaniacal as they are, recently demonetised any channel under 1000 subscribers. For people

Brexit

Sonia Purnell Roasts Boris Johnson

Westminster is imploding. If you are across the pond or elsewhere in the world and unaware of what is going on in the UK right now, it is nothing short of crazy. The recent TV docudrama on Channel 4, starring Benedict Cumberbatch - Brexit: The Uncivil War - detailed the

General

I'm on Hols!

I'm off camping tomorrow for 4 or 5 days, so it may be pretty quiet around here. I don't know if Bert or anyone will be around to post... Sorry! I'll see if I have time to schedule some posts tonight for the week