Hallowed Ground?
“I avoid diarists like itiswelljournal because they are trolls, for the most part – but their latest entry was about the site of the WTC attacks being ‘hallowed ground.’ I pointed out that thousands of people dying in one place does not make it holy, and their note was that with all the thousands of [...]
Hi Again
Thanks for all the notes and links! I wish I had the time and energy to respond to each one individually, but… it seems that I barely have the time and energy anymore to feed myself. With any luck at all, that should be changing in the days and weeks ahead. In the meantime, rest [...]
Brief Update
The close relative I mentioned here has now passed away.
In the end, the Jesus she seems to have believed in for virtually all her long life gave her very little if any comfort.
In sharp contrast to this, morphine gave her a lot of comfort.
I’m told morphine was discovered by Friedrich Serturner back in 1804.
If you’re [...]
Christopher Hitchens (1949 – ??)
By now you’ve probably heard that Christopher Hitchens has esophageal cancer.
That’s never a good thing to have.
Given the details that have been released about Hitchens’s particular form of the disease, one blogger estimates that there’s only a 20% chance he’ll still be alive five years from now.
Needless to say, if I could wave a magic [...]
So….
For the second time this year I’ve been spending a lot of time away from my computer as I try my best to help a close relative cope with a terminal illness.
Thanks to everyone who’s bothered to visit here and leave notes even in my absence.
I have no idea how long it might be before [...]
Theist Minds & Atheist Minds: Another Difference
Recent entries have detailed how theists tend to score lower on IQ tests than atheists and are more likely to see a purpose and/or a conscious mind lurking behind random and/or natural events.
Here’s an essay I recently came across that describes what seems to be a third significant difference:
Protestants Tempt Fate, But Atheists Don’t! (Tom [...]
Does Intelligence Matter?
In my last two entries I’ve been discussing intelligence and how it seems to manifest itself differently among atheists and theists.
Although it might be tempting for us atheists to look at the data and boil it all down to “Theists are stupid and atheists aren’t!” I think that would be a mistake.
Does intelligence really matter?
Yes, [...]
Theist Intelligence At Work
Here’s more proof that trust in gOd is a poor substitute for a clear-eyed view of reality and the reasoning skills necessary to deal with it successfully.
(More proof, too, that even members of the clergy often turn to secular government-run programs for assistance when the much ballyhooed charity and compassion of Christian congregants turns out [...]
Free Will Revisited
“brain research reveals that the moment we perceive to be our moment of choice is actually (and apparently always) preceded by unconscious brain activity of the sort that apparently reveals our “choice” to be an effect rather than a cause” I’d be interested to know where you mentioned or found this research. – Just.Enough [...]
Dr. Susan Biali Revisited
Many thanks to everyone who took the time to share their thoughts and reactions to Dr. Biali’s essay.
Here now are a few thoughts of my own…
As you might recall, Dr. Biali began her essay by saying this:
“First, this isn’t about slamming atheists, as I believe that every human being has a right to believe (or [...]
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