Skepticism

A collection of 159 posts

Skepticism

Bearing False Witness

I posted earlier on how implausible it is to have so much accurate speech in the Bible. Commenter epeeist added this anecdote: A slightly different take, and one that I have described elsewhere. When I was much younger, I went to Leeds Polytechnic. One February evening, I was waiting at

Biblical Exegesis

Speech in the Bible? Pah!

Can you remember what you said last week? You know, in any conversation? Can you remember what you said last month? How about last year? How about ten years ago? Can you remember your conversations from ten years ago other than general themes of only the most pertinent ones? Can

confirmation bias

Quote of the Day on Confirmation Bias

The following is a quote by Verbose Stoic, a regular commenter here with whom I often disagree but who substantiated his claims with detail and, well, substance. The sort of commenter I like - he probably does this because he has a blog of his own, and sometimes takes me

Skepticism

Weird Things, Meteors and Space Junk

Here is a comment from C Peterson on Matthew Sabatine's recent article on UFOs at Kecksburg that I think is worth a reprint: I have been running the Colorado Allsky Camera Network for nearly 20 years. This is a collaboration between myself (as Cloudbait Observatory) and the Denver

Skepticism

The Kecksburg UFO Incident of 1965

Here is another skeptical offering from Matthew Sabatine: One late night in October of 2020, my girlfriend and I were joyriding on the backroads of a rustic town maybe one hour away from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States when we saw a small orb really far off in the

Biblical Exegesis

How the psychology of grief might have affected the origins of the Resurrection story

Here is an excerpt from a brilliant book by anthropologist of religion, Homuyan Sidky - Religion, Supernaturalism and the Paranormal: An Anthropological Critique - concerning the psychology of grief and how it leads to hallucinations. The book is an academic title that commands quite a price. The Psychology of Grief

Biblical Exegesis

The Resurrection, Fideism and Circularity

The few times that New Testament claims intersect with history – namely, the Nativity accounts, and to a lesser degree, the Resurrection accounts – the claims fail, historically speaking. What epistemic right does the Christian then have for believing in Jesus, for being a Christian? If you ask the Christian “Why do

Biblical Exegesis

"Historical" Bookends to a Historically Vacuous Life

This is an early draft section for one of the first chapters in my new book-in-the-writing, The Resurrection: A Critical Examination of the Easter Story: The birth and death of Jesus are historical bookends to the life of Jesus, obviously, even if the theology continues in Acts and the Epistles

Skepticism

Being Skeptical of Near-Death Experiences (Pt 1)

In another conversation on Facebook, I have been reminded that I have previously written on NDEs - Near-Death Experiences. Let me remind some of you longer-term readers and repost this for you newer ones.  I hope this is still current - you'll let me know. As a skeptic,

Skepticism

Skepticism and Brandolini's Law

I recently wrote a piece entitled '“Hating God”: Atheism as Rebelling Against a Father-Figure and Other Nonsenses' in which I stated: Okay, what annoys me about climate denial, science denial, bald assertions, Trump’s lies, lies in general, is that they are very easy to say and one

Biblical Exegesis

The Resurrection: A Critical Examination

Here is the online talk I gave last night, hosted by Skeptic in the Hub and Atheist Alliance International, on the Resurrection. Check it out - it went well!   Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher You can also buy me a cuppa. Please... It

Biblical Exegesis

Being Skeptical of the Resurrection Accounts; An Online Easter Talk, Tonight

Tonight, I am giving a talk that will be jointly hosted for two different skeptical organisations here and here at 8pm UK time. My talk will be a tough one to squeeze into the allotted time, so I will be rattling through it at a rate of knots, no doubt.

Biblical Exegesis

Online Talk on the Resurrection, Wednesday Night BST

I am giving a talk on the historicity of the Resurrection accounts on Wednesday night, BST, to Skeptics in the Hub. The details are here. Tune in and hang out. After all, you've got bugger all else do to. Well, most of you. I am hoping I can

aliens

"Astronauts Talk Disclosure of Extra-Terrestrial Contact"

This video was linked to me as a friend of a friend created it, by all accounts. It's ironic as I am finally listening to Carl Sagan's A Demon-Haunted World right now that deals explicitly with this sort of claim. Disclaimer - I have not watched

Coronavirus

Overestimating Death Rates: Comparing Fatality Rates of Coronavirus & the Flu

Fatality Rates Aren't Fixed: They Depend on What We Do Fundamentally, there is no such thing as "the" fatality rate for a virus. How likely people are to die from COVID-19 (just like many diseases) depends on whether they can get access to treatment.There is

Skepticism

Quote of the Day: eamonknight on Spirituality

Bert recently posted a piece on spirituality (check it out) below which eamonknight posted this: IMHO the word "spiritual" has been debased into uselessness, i.e. when someone says "I am spiritual", I have no idea what they mean by it, what aspect of their life

Epistemology

More on Miracles or Improbable Events: God's Intentions

I recently wrote a piece concerning specified complexity that theists interpret as God acting and showing his presence. The TL;DR was that massively improbable things happen on a regular basis around our communities such that they become statistically probable, or even certain. It all depends on how you view

Biblical Exegesis

Mental Contortions Required of Christians to Believe the Nativity Accounts

[caption id="attachment_6023" align="alignleft" width="113"] My book. Dig it.[/caption] It's that time of year again. I have, at different Christmases, run some series debunking the historical claims within the Bible (specifically the Gospels of Matthew and Luke) to

Biblical Exegesis

Why Noah's Flood Is Utter Nonsense

I figure that, today, I will return to something a little more regular in terms of critically analysing religious claims. Let us look at Noah's Flood. I have long maintained that this is a ridiculous story at even the most superficial of analyses. The theology behind the flight

Biblical Exegesis

Debunking the Nativity: A Christmas Round-Up

[caption id="attachment_6023" align="alignleft" width="113"] My book. Dig it.[/caption] It's that time of year again. I have, at different Christmases, run some series debunking the historical claims within the Bible (specifically the Gospels of Matthew and Luke) to

archaeology

The Curse of the Maya!

I have told you about this project before, but a little reminder might be in order. A book that I have written with one of my ex-colleagues called The Curse of the Maya: A Truth-Seekers' Story is now published and available to buy. Details from the Loom site are:

determinism

What Would Be Your Last Question?

Here is a sample from thinkers from the edge.com, asked by John Brockman: John Brockman, Editor of Edge, each year asks scores of notable scientists and other intellectuals one very challenging question. For 2018 he received 284 answers to: “What is the last question?” Most were about abstruse subjects.

psychology

Fraudulent Psychology? Stanford Prison Experiment and Others...

Experimental psychology has come in for a rough time in the last few years. Initially, back in 2015, a meta-study cam out that supposedly showed a replication crisis in psychology and that many studies over the years were not as strong as claimed. This caused a right stir. And then

Biblical Exegesis

The Resurrection Debunked

I have recently been running a series debunking the Exodus and have linked to this Easter series. Since Easter is upon us, and since I have a raft of new readers, I am going to re-run my extensive series on the Resurrection and Easter. A few years back, someone in

podcast

Doubts Aloud - Asking Why We Do This

Ed Atkinson is a friend from Wycombe Skeptics in the Pub who has also appeared on the Unbelievable radio programme on Premier Christian Radio in the UK. He has decided to start up a podcast, which I would like to support. Here are his reasons for doing so. This dovetails