I just set out to tweet on Richard Dawkins’ new book Outgrowing God. My quick comment became several tweets and I decided to repost those tweets here. And so, without further ado: The first chapter of Richard Dawkins’ new anti-religious screed is titled “So many gods!” And it points out that — wait for it […]
Richard Dawkins
How do you defend the Bible to those who dismiss it as the product of savage minds?
The other day I received an emailed question from a reader which focused on the problem of genocide in the Bible. The reader asked: “If someone brought up these biblical narratives [of genocide], as Dawkins and the like have, as a means of discrediting the Christian faith and the biblical text how would you respond?” Note […]
Dawkins’ Central Argument: Reflections on the Worst Arguments Against Christianity (Part 1)
I asked for my readers to share some of the worst arguments against Christianity … and they did not disappoint. In this article I’m going to begin a series working through those arguments. First up, we have Adam Omelianchuk who takes issue with Richard Dawkins’ central argument against God as presented in Dawkins’ massive bestseller The God […]
Did the Church of England troll Richard Dawkins?
Following reports of Richard Dawkins’ minor stoke this past Friday, the Church of England promptly tweeted a call for church goers to pray for Dawkins: According to an article in The Guardian, several of Dawkins’ followers promptly accused the church of “trolling”. (“Trolling” involves making online posts that are intentionally offensive in order to anger […]
A Limited Appetite for Wonder
There is no doubt that Richard Dawkins has an appetite for wonder. The title of his memoir tells us so. If that’s too cheeky, then let me hasten to add that I have no doubt he does have an appetite for wonder. While I haven’t read Dawkins’ memoir, I have read several of his other […]
Freethinking children? Not so much.
Today I came upon the following tweet courtesy of a retweet by Secular Outpost. (As a disclaimer, Secular Outpost does not consider a retweet an endorsement of the tweet. Nor, for that matter, do I.) Meet Zea, the 7-year-old who stood up to a homophobic hate preacher this week by holding up a rainbow sign. […]
What chance has she?
Richard Dawkins begins his famous 1991 essay “Viruses of the Mind” with the following words: “A beautiful child close to me, six and the apple of her father’s eye, believes that Thomas the Tank Engine really exists. She believes in Father Christmas, and when she grows up her ambition is to be a tooth fairy. […]
Would you sacrifice your son if God told you to?
Yesterday I noticed the following retweet from Secular Outpost in my feed: Dawkins’ question is an example of what I call the “If there is a God then everything is permitted” meme. According to this meme, theism leads to moral chaos because God could command actions that constitute moral atrocities. I frequently encounter this particular […]
My new book on atheism is already bringing Christians and atheists together
The picture speaks for itself. Here I am hanging out with my main man, Richard Dawkins. Apparently he loves my new book Is the Atheist My Neighbor? although he still thinks I’m a “faithhead”. Oh well, you can’t win ’em all!
Ignorance as a badge of honor? Fundamentalism among Christians and atheists
If there is one thing Christian fundamentalists are good at doing, it is dismissing expert opinion. Of course, we all know that experts can be wrong. However, it is no small thing to reject a field of experts, and thus one would expect solid grounds to do so. Frequently, however, Christian fundamentalists are disturbingly cavalier […]
Does “The God Delusion” kill people?
Thirty years ago teenager John Daniel McCollum shot and killed himself in his parents’ house while listening to the Ozzy Osbourne record Blizzard of Oz. When his grieving parents discovered that the album included the song “Suicide Solution” they proceeded with a lawsuit against Osbourne, arguing that the song was a proximate cause of their […]
If Richard Dawkins were king
Plato famously opined that in his perfect city state great philosophers would serve as the supreme rulers. It is a common mantra among secularists today that we would surely want secular, non-religious people in that vaunted role. And it is easy to point to a contemporary example of a militant socio-political group with a distinct religious […]
What are the chances?
A friend of mine sent me this graphic this past week. Not only is it good for a laugh (or at least a smirk), but it also makes an important philosophical point. Just what that point is can be left up to discussion…
Why atheistic apologists are generally ignorant and/or dishonest according to Chris Hallquist’s methodology
In the elegantly titled “Randal Rauser is not someone who it’s possible to have any sort of rational discussion about religion with” I provided a critical response to Chris Hallquist’s article “The ignorance and dishonesty of Christian apologetics, part 1: anti-evolutionism.” In my response I focused on a couple points, including the absurdity of Hallquist’s […]
