Owner: the right of reason URL: http://rightofreason.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 23:35:07 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: "He that is once admitted to the right of reason is made a freeman of the whole estate." -Emerson, History
Sentiment and charisma are not facts and evidence and in the final analysis have no bearing on the truth of religion but the danger they represen Site statistics:Click here
I'm Better With Numbers 1970-01-01 00:59:59 In general, I try to make claims that are objective and defensible with evidence. But there is another side to atheism that I don't often do justice to. David Gleeson wrote an article last week trying to address this point:"I believe the answer lies, at least in part, in a sadly unexplored arena: the ability of atheism (scientific naturalism) to be spiritually uplifting. Not "spiritual" in the sense of a religious spirit or soul, but rather in our innate ability to be awed or inspired. 1"Put simply he's saying atheism has no poetry. He goes on to give an example of something an atheist might find inspiring, but he doesn't really pull it off. He's a number guy, just like me, and shouldn't attempt that kind of writing any more than I should.I do want to address the topic though, so I am going to borrow some of Russell's words:"What I Have Lived ForThree passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and Read more:Numbers
I don't know what the hell to make of this 1970-01-01 00:59:59 There is apparently an interpretation of Sharia law that can make sense of this recent story from Iraq:"This is how staggeringly pointless the killing in Iraq is getting. . . shepherds . . .have recently been murdered for failing to diaper their goats. . . The sight of naked goats poses an unacceptable temptation" 1Like I said . . . I don't know what to do with this . . .This would be hilarious if people weren't actually dying for owning goats without diapers. Religion scares the crap out of me.1. Iraq Still Manages to Shock, by John Hendren, Morning Edition, August 7, 2006
This I Believe 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Another answer to the question: "Isn't your life meaningless without God?"From Penn Jillette's This I Believe essay on NPR:"So, I'm saying, "This I believe: I believe there is no God."Having taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough. It has to be enough, but it's everything in the world and everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the family I'm raising now is enough that I don't need heaven. I won the huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day.Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from all different people from all different
Some Good News 1970-01-01 00:59:59 It looks like we are gaining ground:(1)Even if you lump all the "Refused to answer" people in with the religious we gained about 6% in terms of percent of adult population.A good trend, keep it up.1. U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004-2005
Credibility is not spelled R-E-L-I-G-I-O-N Part 2 1970-01-01 00:59:59 2. Credibility
In The Classroom From the New York Times on a study done by the National Center for Education Statistics:The report, which compared fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math scores from nearly 7,000 public schools and more than 530 private schools in 2003, also found that conservative Christian schools lagged significantly behind public schools when it came to eighth-grade math. 1The first point to consider her is that the split here was not between public and private schools. It was between conservative CHRISTIAN schools and everyone else. On the average public and private schools compared similarly. This study only looked at reading and math scores and I'd like to find out how conservative Christian schools compare to public schools in terms of science education. We can make some educated guesses of course. In particular the religious have made moral issues of evolution and cosmology and we can only suppose that it has affected the effectiveness of their education sy
Ralph Waldo Emerson, my guiltiest pleasure. 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I think I was 14 or 15 when I read this paragraph for the first time:"There is one mind common to all individual men. Every man is an inlet to the same and to all of the same. He that is once admitted to the right of reason is made a freeman of the whole estate. What Plato has thought, he may think; what a saint has felt, he may feel; what at any time has be-fallen any man, he can understand. Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent" 1It was in a copy of Emerson
's Selected Essays that I stole from one of my dad's bookshelves. At that time my literary attention span was pretty short and I'm not all that sure I finished the entire essay and I'm positive that I didn't read any of the other essays.In retrospect it seems strange that I waited 5 years to pick up Emerson again because no passage before or since has had a stronger influence on my thinking. The notion that through reading, thinking and Read more:Ralph
, Waldo
Credibility is not spelled R-E-L-I-G-I-O-N Part 1 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I want share with you the two most exciting paragraphs of news I have ever read:It is a mouth-watering prospect, undoubtedly the news story of this fledgling year: God, in a human court of law, almost in the shadow of the Vatican, under obligation to prove that he exists.And if he can't, then no one in Italy will any longer be able to claim to be God's agent or intermediary, to collect money for his greater glory, or to issue instructions to the human world on his behalf. No longer will the pope be able to hand down infallible bulls, no longer will Catholic priests be able to claim divine authority for their appointments, and only under their breaths will the faithful be able to utter their holiest of vows, "in the name of the father, the son and the holy ghost", because the father, the son and the holy ghost will no longer be deemed to exist, and publicly to proclaim otherwise will be to mislead the gullible, a crime in Italy. 1The law in question here is fairly unique and mak Read more:Credibility
Credibility is not spelled R-E-L-I-G-I-O-N Part 3 1970-01-01 00:59:59 3. Credibility
In Behavior and Society: A Response to John F. KippleyJohn F. Kippley recently published an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer condemning public schools as built on "practical atheism" and claiming that we should expect violent and criminal behavior from people who lack faith. His points are clear and I think fairly representative of certain Christian critics. As such I would like to respond to his arguments.He starts with:The discussion about the killings in Cincinnati does not seem to have raised the question, "What else should we expect?" That is, what is there in the education and upbringing of the murderers to cause them to think it is morally wrong to kill someone they don't like? Our public education system is one of practical atheism, and as Dostoevsky had one of characters say, "If there is no God, I can do anything." 1 He continues the psychological argument:Given the ugliness of life for some, such a belief system deprives them of internal motivation to l
The new format 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I've been neglecting this site for a couple of months now. I think it's fair to say that Alastair Reynolds is completely to blame. If he would just start writing crappy books I could get my life back.I needed to do something to help me get pumped about the site again. After visiting a site called "Hackosphere" and reading a charming article entitled JavaScript: You complete me. I decided to take the plunge and upgrade to the new Blogger Beta. So, here are the results:1. Instead of chewing up my reader's bandwidth with all the video I seem to post, there is a separate blog for atheism on video and just the most recent is posted here under the "Video Feed" title.2. The "News I'm Following" will update several times a day because it's linked directly to my rss reader. Basically I read a zillion feeds and screen out the crap for you.3. I've set up a few subscription options - you can add the right of reason directly to your reader with this kick ass drop down menu Read more:format
We have no explanation so it must have been magic.... 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Can you imagine a world where people were convicted of crimes not because the evidence pointed to their guilt but because the prosecutor's claims were more interesting than the defense's? Insane right?No author could get away with arguing that the thesis of their book is true by asserting their claims are more interesting than the alternatives. No author except for the director of the Human Genome Project. His name is Francis Collins and in his recent work The Language of God he makes this astonishing argument:If the case in favor of belief in God were utterly airtight, then the world would be full of confident practitioners of a single faith. But imagine such a world, where the opportunity to make a free choice about belief was taken away by the certainty of the evidence. How interesting would that be? 1His book trades shamelessly on the reputation he built as a careful scientist to lend credence to arguments that have no logical validity. Things like the observance of a beautiful Read more:explanation
An embarrassment of riches 1970-01-01 00:59:59 There was a lot of controversy about a study released last year in theJournal of Religion and Society with the unwieldy title Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies.Its author, Gregory S. Paul set himself a formidable task that he describes as beginning the work necessary to answer the question:"If religion has receded in some western nations, what is the impact of this unprecedented transformation upon their populations? Theists often assert that popular belief in a creator is instrumental towards providing the moral, ethical and other foundations necessary for a healthy, cohesive society. Many also contend that widespread acceptance of evolution, and/or denial of a creator, is contrary to these goals" 1 A new study, published in the same journal, examined in more detail some of Paul's conclusions and found that they hold water. 2 This has sparked my interest again in the original paper a Read more:embarrassment
, riches
Some Headline Humor 1970-01-01 00:59:59 God, Googled, Exists (and Other Surprising News)In his new book, NEWSWEEK columnist Andy Borowitz has uncovered some shocking tales that the mainstream media somehow missed. Here are just a few excerptsWEB EXCLUSIVEBy Andy BorowitzUpdated: 4:45 p.m. MT Oct 25, 2004Oct. 1 - GOD, GOOGLED, EXISTS59,900,000 Search Results Evidence of Deity, Experts AgreeIn the most conclusive evidence of a Supreme Being ever discovered, a Googleâ„¢ search of God has proved once and for all that He exists, theologians agreed today."To those doubters out there who still don't believe that God exists, I have just one piece of advice: Googleâ„¢ Him," said Dr. George Darlington of the University of Minnesota Divinity School.The Googleâ„¢ search of God turned up over 59 million websites featuring Him, a number that theological scholars around the world said makes God's existence an open and shut case. 1Thursday, August 24, 2006God is an Atheist DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - Irish atheists are celebrating as a " Read more:Headline
, Humor
My FIRST Comment 1970-01-01 00:59:59 We've got GooseHenry to thank for this milestone at the right of reason. I recently posted an analysis of an article on ProTheism and he responded with this note:"Hi BrianI then take it your state of mind/belief about God can be summarized with "There is no God"?Which premises does this rest on?I never really understood your reasons for holding this belief in the text.Also: faith does not advice people to stop doing science. Faith, the christian variety anyway, contends that science cannot answer everything"The author of the article was also generous enough to chat with me about a few technical points regarding his reasoning.I did want to answer GooseHenry's question but I realized that even a partial answer would end up being to longest comment in history, so I decided to make a full post of it. Limitations and StipulationsThe problem answering his question is the huge variety of claims about and definitions of God. There is no way to seriously discuss something until you hav Read more:Comment
Introducing ProTheism 1970-01-01 00:59:59 This article put a smile on my face. Not because I agree chapter and verse with the author, but because he's speaking my language. When he makes a point he presents evidence and arguments to support his point; this is a theist I can talk to. He offers two criticisms of a certain atheist position:1) Playing games with the definition of the term "atheism" does nothing to change the underlying logical problems that arise when dealing with the concept of God.2) Anyone who hopes to be taken seriously must provide reasons for their belief whether that belief is phrased as an assertion or a negation (i.e. "There is a God" vs "There is no God").I agree.He begins with:"Often, when I engage an atheist concerning God's existence, I am often told that the person making the claim bares (sic) the burden of proof. However, what the atheist fails to realize is that we are both making a claim on the subject. The Christian claim is (1) God exists and the Atheist claim is (2) God does Read more:Introducing
Can science answer religious questions? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I'm not saying that there are no limits to science, but let's not assume without examination that it can't help us with religiousquestions
. I know that by definition science deals with the natural world, and religion with the supernatural, but ask yourself this: have you ever met a religious person who didn't think that the supernatural affected the natural? And if the supernatural affects the natural, why couldn't science at least observe the results?Are there things we have observed that could only be present if this is a created universe? Or conversely, are there things that should be here if this is a created universe that are absent?I don't know the answer
to any of these questions but they certainly bear reflection.
Misplacing blame doesn't protect our kids 1970-01-01 00:59:59 For those of you who are not familiar, Brian Rohrbough is the father of one of the students killed in the 1999 school shooting at Columbine High School. He made several remarks on the October 2nd broadcast of the CBS Evening News that have been much discussed in the past several weeks. I've hesitated to address his remarks because I have no interest in aggravating the kind of loss Mr. Rohrbough has suffered. I finally decided to go ahead and write this article because making progress toward preventing school violence is, frankly, more important than anyone's feelings. His claims are not factual and his message will not help solve the problem.In his interview with Katie Couric he contends that the reason we continue to see violence in schools is that: "[t]his country is in a moral freefall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the wea
Abortion: The Ultimate Paradox 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I got this graph from an interesting study done by a gentleman named Gregory S. Paul: (1)He concludes from the data that:"Increasing adolescent abortion rates show positive correlation with increasing belief and worship of a creator, and negative correlation with increasing non-theism and acceptance of evolution . . ." 1No you didn't read that wrong. The study indicates more secular societies have LESS abortion than religious ones. Now, I don't have the sort of moral objection to abortion that some religious people do, but all things considered I'd prefer girls that age were not getting pregnant at all. The data begs us to ask: Why does Christianity apparently prosper in societies were one of the things Christians abhor most, abortion, is most pervasive? If you have data on this subject please share it with the rest of us. The data I have doesn't make it clear whether the relationship is simply correlation or causation. It could be that both the problems of Christianity and abor Read more:Ultimate
, Paradox
A pair of Bible verses 1970-01-01 00:59:59 RidiculousLeviticus 19:19 Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee. It's a sin to wear clothes made of both linen and wool.Disgusting Leviticus 19:20 And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. If engaged, a raped woman should be put to death. Read more:verses
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