Over the last few years I’ve repeatedly encountered atheists who are unapologetic about mocking Christians and other “religious” people (i.e. the outgroup). Often they justify this practice by insisting that they are mocking beliefs, not people. The silver lining here is that these folks still sense the need to justify their bad behavior. Other individuals see no […]
free society
Is Freedom the Cost of Freedom? A Quick Review of Citizenfour
The book Watership Down begins with an intrepid group of rabbits escaping a doomed warren in search of a new life. And so they begin a journey across the dangerous open English countryside. Soon they arrive at a warren that seems to offer peace, security, and a comfortable respite from the unknown. There are no predators […]
Minding the Memes
A few days ago Jeff Lowder of “The Secular Outpost” started a new series on “stupid atheist memes”. His first installment was: “If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people.” Four years ago I did my own series along similar lines titled “How to Confound Christians with Bad Arguments.” The […]
Atheism, free thought, and Bible burning
The other day I posted an interview with the apologist and philosopher Matthew Flannagan. The interview consisted of a forty-five minute conversation in which Matt developed a thoughtful and nuanced perspective on the nexus between biblical hermeneutics, metaethics, and normative ethics. The Atheist Missionary responded in the comment thread. While he declined to offer any […]
