Skepticism - A Tippling Philosopher (Page 2)

Adair Interviewed over that SOB

The Star of Bethlehem, that is. Aaron Adair is the author of the go-to book on the star, looking at it critically and scientifically: The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical View. Here, fellow Patheosers Andrew Hall and Jack Matirko speak to Adair about the star, astrology, astronomy and the Bible.

Christmas

Christmas Ingersoll

My friend Julian Haydon has created a website dedicated to the great agnostic, Robert G. Ingersoll. The site is set out like a newspaper and is a labour of love. Please check it out – the link is below. To give respect to both men, I will be posting some Ingersoll

atheism

It's Christmas. Thank you all.

First of all, Merry Christmas everybody, and I mean that in the sort of secular way that simply means, "I hope you are well and here are my happy regards." You have made this community an interesting and stimulating place to hang out. Whoop! Thank you so much

atheism

It's That Time of Year Again!

I'll soon be thrashing out the old nativity debates and articles again. It seems like only yesterday, though that could be because they got resurrected when Dave Armstrong came knocking mid-year. Inthe meantime, stock those stockings and present those presents... Let me try to persuade you to part

Biblical Exegesis

Noah's Ark and Its Problems

Yes, as mentioned before, the Noah's Flood story is a complete mess. Here, NonStampCollector shows just how problematic it is, as a coherent account. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_BzWUuZN5w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLr5vl-n0Bo

archaeology

For the 945,276th Time, Noah's Ark Has Been Found!

Yes! It must be true! And it certainly must be true because it can be found in the Sun. And brilliantly, it quotes The Express, the world's most hateful newspaper. The Express explains: Ark investigators believe they have found traces of a wooden structure on Mount Ararat, also

Skepticism

What's Going on Right Now

I have been immensely busy of late, so apologies for that and struggling to post as often as I would like. I presently have four book projects ongoing simultaneously, which was rather silly of me. They are all substantial, too. 1. The Patheos Nonreligious anthology, which is looking rather good,

Robert Green Ingersoll

June Ingersoll: Doubting Brains

My friend Julian Haydon has created a website dedicated to the great agnostic, Robert G. Ingersoll. The site is set out like a newspaper and is a labour of love. Please check it out – the link is below. To give respect to both men, I will be posting some Ingersoll

atheism

The Subtle TV Digs at Religion

I recently posted a number of video excerpts from the UK that overtly have a go at religion that we are lucky enough in the UK to have I was watching season 2 of Line of Duty the other day and there was a glorious little comment that would go

Biblical Exegesis

Joseph of Arimathea as Fictional

Joseph of Arimathea used to be used by William Lane Craig as a pillar of his truth claims for the Resurrection, itself one of the four cornerstones of his apology. Richard Carrier, amongst others, has provided some very interesting viewpoints on the historicity of this figure (or lack thereof). Craig

Bart Ehrman

Easter Doubt: On the Skepticism of the Resurrection (part 4) – naturalistic explanations

As mentioned in my previous posts, it is that time of year that the historicity of the Easter accounts gets analysed by us skeptics. And found wanting. Very wanting. [caption id="attachment_6627" align="alignright" width="216"] Tintoretto [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons[/caption]

Biblical Exegesis

Easter Doubt: On the Skepticism of the Resurrection (part 3)

As mentioned in my two previous posts, it is that time of year again where the Resurrection of Jesus requires a thorough going over. Here is continues. There are three aspects to the debunking of the Resurrection: 1) The Gospels are not reliable sources of information; they are poor quality

Biblical Exegesis

Easter Doubt: On the Skepticism of the Resurrection (part 2)

As mentioned in my previous post, someone in Malawi is about to have a debate on national TV with a Christian about the Resurrection accounts and I have been asked to help provide some ideas for the debate, so here goes. There are three aspects to the debunking of the

Biblical Exegesis

Easter Doubt: On the Skepticism of the Resurrection

It's that time again, so I am going to re-run my extensive series on the Resurrection and Easter. Sorry if you've read it before, but there's nothing like a good reminder: Christmas is over, time to get on to Easter. A Few years back,

By Joreth (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Descartes

Philosophy 101 (philpapers induced) #10: Knowledge: Empiricism or Rationalism

Having posted the Philpapers survey results, the biggest ever survey of philosophers conducted in 2009, several readers were not aware of it (the reason for re-communicating it) and were unsure as to what some of the questions meant. I offered to do a series on them, so here it is

Skepticism

America Is the Greatest! Pt 1: Standard of Living.

Over on another post, there are some raging threads about a number of topics from gun crime to how great America is. It is on this last topic that I want to dwell. When I was at uni in the '90s, I knew an American student who was over

atheism

Holidays are coming, holidays are coming!!

Filling the Void

A Cracking Start to the Seasonal Festivities

I was honoured last night to host and compere the Seasonal Skeptical Cabaret for Portsmouth Skeptics in the Pub. It was a sold out, ticketed event with food and drink as a way of saying thanks, and offering something a little quirky, to local skeptics, old and new. Indeed, it

myths

Common Mythconceptions

This is a pretty neat infographic.

NHS

State-funded homeopathy no longer available in the North of England

Another one from the BHA. This one is something that I am also very interested in, having recently attended a talk by the Good Thinking Society's Michael Marshall. He is well worth going to see at your local Skeptics group in the UK, if you get a chance:

Skepticism

Alternative medicine treatment put four-year-old boy in A&E

The BBC reports: The plight of a four-year-old boy who nearly died after his parents gave him 12 alternative medicines has prompted doctors to warn against the treatments. Doctors at Newham Hospital in east London said the parents were "devastated" that their good intentions had made him so

atheism

Guest Post Revisited: Being an Atheist in the midst of Malawian Witchcraft

I thought it would be interesting to repost this one:This is a fascinating account of someone I met on facebook who has interesting things to say with regard to religion and society in a part of the world which is easy to misunderstand for someone like me. I found

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/
Farm Sanctuary
Pigs in gestation crates

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

homeopathy

Please complete this short survey against homeopathy funding in UK

Please help to put a stop to the NHS/state funding of homeopathy. The Good Thinking Society has launched a long-running campaign to work out the funding across different NHS groups and organisations in the UK, and it turns out that we fund homeopathy to the tune of about £5

Epistemology

On Being More Skeptical of Claims

I had a phone call with a member of my family last night who made a claim about the EU civil servants in the EU getting paid too much. The claim was something like "Do you know that X EU civil servants get paid more than our Prime Minister,