Ed Babinski emailed me a link to a message board discussing the topic “Most annoying Christian and atheist claims”. On the board Ed offered his own two cents and it starts like this: “The most annoying Christian and Atheist claims occur whenever a particular Christian or Atheist discusses subjects concerning the distant past, everlasting future […]
dogmatism
Dogmatic humility examined
These last two days I have been rather preoccupied with preparations for a weekend course that I’m teaching. In my spare time I’ve been laboring on a new book project I’m working on, something really interesting that makes a novel contribution to the literature but which is broadly accessible to a lay audience. Suffice it to […]
Dogmatic Daniel’s degenerating dialogue
I had a great dialogue with the Society of Edmonton Atheists. But it seems like my dialogue in the blog with one of the SEA’s chief representatives, Daniel (not to be confused with the character in Elton John’s song) has been degenerating. Daniel initially wrote in the blog: “Randal is a great guy, very intelligent, […]
Why there is nothing wrong with being certain in your beliefs
These days one often encounters the idea that being certain about a belief — i.e. having unshakeable conviction in its truth — is somehow worriesome, dangerous, or otherwise threatening. This is how Richard Dawkins puts it: “religion causes wars by generating certainty.”(Cited in Avalos, Fighting Words, 177). Second, in Does the Bible justify violence? John J. Collins asserts […]
What if John Loftus converts me to atheism?
I didn’t ask the question. Shawn did: “What if John ‘converts’ you?” he asks. Great question! It is an especially good question because it allows me to talk a bit about my new book You’re not as crazy as I think. Chapter six is called “This conversation could change your life” and it discusses the […]
