I've discovered that some of my non virtual friends in the real world believe I'm being sarcastic when I refer to my "atheist friends", but that isn't always true. I am being quite sincere when I say that there are people who call themselves atheists that I honestly consider to be my friends, even though we may have never met in person. My friend David is a humanist. He and I have respectfully disagreed about many topics of mutual interest, but if I ever visit New Zealand or he ever comes to the U.S. I fully expect to shake his hand, buy him a beer, and for us to finally have a face-to-face conversation after several years of pleasant long-distance correspondence. Philosophy professor and atheist author George H. Smith likewise has graciously accepted my friendship on Facebook. I'm also sure that he and I could have a friendly conversation over a beer, a single malt scotch, or even a glass of water, should we ever met in person. Although Professor Smith and I do not appear to agree very often when the topic of conversation is religion, we agree most enthusiastically about the philosophy of Libertarianism. My favorite book written by an atheist remains An Atheist Defends Religion by Bruce Sherman. It would be difficult to claim another book has supplanted it as my all-time favorite book written by an atheist, because so much of Sheiman's philosophy echoed my own. Basically, Sheiman made the same overall point about probability that was hammered home so well that I quoted him in my own book, Counterargument for God, after he wrote: The propensity for matter … [Read more...]
Dishonest skepticism
How would you describe outer space? Do you think you could draw a picture of deep space that someone else would recognize for what it represented? What would you draw? I have a confession to make: I usually enjoy the writing of famous skeptic Michael Shermer, and personally think he is an excellent author. In fact, I even bought the hardcover copy of his book Why People Believe Weird Things from the Roswell Public Library. Literally, I had some difficulty putting that book down when I was actively reading it a few years ago. In the spirit of full disclosure, I confess that I felt compelled to replace the original library copy because I accidentally got ketchup stains on a page and didn't want to give them back a book that I'd damaged. Otherwise, I probably would have settled for buying the more economically priced paperback copy to add to my book collection. I've admired the work of Mr. Shermer for some time. I even thought his guest appearance on Mr. Deity was hilarious, albeit in a somewhat sacrilegious sort of way. Probably the most famous skeptic in the world today, Mr. Shermer was the founding publisher of both Skeptic magazine and founder of the Skeptics Society. Interestingly, the word "skeptic" has been defined two different ways in the dictionary: a person inclined to question or doubt all accepted opinions. synonyms: cynic, doubter; More PHILOSOPHY an ancient or modern philosopher who denies the possibility of knowledge, or even rational belief, in some sphere. Using those definitions … [Read more...]
The problem of suffering and death
Perhaps the most difficult question my atheist friends like to ask to challenge my belief in God involves the problem of evil, pain and suffering, and our mortality. Simply stated, the problem is this: how can a benevolent God allow evil to exist and torment us? Why does God allow us to suffer illness, pain, and eventually, death? When I debated Ed Buckner, former president of American Atheists, I felt like that was the most difficult challenge he posed in his argument advocating atheism. It's a very good question, I must admit. I think part of the answer involves free will. We are given the ability to choose or reject God by the fact the evidence for His existence is not direct, but mostly circumstantial in nature. However, there's a little bit more to the answer than simply "free will", in my opinion. Derek Denhard was my friend. We graduated from the same high school, Savannah Christian, in 1978. We weren't exactly what you'd describe as close friends, but every time I ran into Derek after graduation, we always smiled, shook hands, and promised we'd get together soon for dinner. I can't recall ever exchanging harsh words with the guy. Nobody disliked Derek. Sadly, we both took "soon" for granted, I'm afraid. The reason I am writing about Derek in past tense is because recently and quite unexpectedly, he died from a heart attack, at only 54 years old. Younger than me. Derek seemed far too young. He was far too healthy and happy with his life, blessed with a beautiful family and great joy for life. This is typically when my own morbid … [Read more...]
The Spiritual Brain and the God helmet
In a very good book written by Mario Beauregard and Denyse O'Leary, titled The Spiritual Brain, (I would give it five stars, if I rated books with stars at my website) there is a chapter called "The Strange Case of the God Helmet" which describes a physical device that "scientists" place on their head so that low-powered magnets can stimulate the temporal lobes of the test subject. Seriously. The tin-foil hat crowd now has legitimate competition. Only a person who doesn't believe God exists and has apparently become desperate to prove it would deliberately try to artificially simulate the effect that belief in God has on people of faith. About neuroscientist Michael Persinger (co-inventor of the God helmet) Beauregard wrote: Echoing Dawkins, Persinger has called religion "an artifact of the brain" and a "cognitive virus." (page 81) Speaking of Richard Dawkins, he had to try the helmet himself, of course, but he didn't experience any of the hallucinations the helmet can allegedly sometimes cause. Persinger attributed the failure of Dawkins to "experience God" using the helmet was due to his "well below average" score in temporal lobe sensitivity to magnetic fields, whatever that means. Of course, Persinger had to publish the results of his 2002 "study" in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders. Beauregard (and O'Leary) wrote: Persinger concluded two things: that the experience of a sensed presence can be manipulated by experiment, and that such an experience "may be the fundamental source for phenomena attributed to visitations by gods, spirits, and … [Read more...]
Hector Avalos: world’s biggest hypocrite?
I used to think that Al Gore was the biggest hypocrite in the world as he flew around in his private jet, and the inconvenient truth that he bought an $8.875 million dollar oceanfront property, after scaring the sellers into believing the oceans are about to rise and drown everyone on the coast. For Al to really believe his own nonsense, he'd have to understand geography about as well as Congressman Hank Johnson, who once thought the addition of eight thousand Marines to the island of Guam might cause the entire island to capsize. Surely Al didn't think the oceans would rise twenty feet on the east coast while sea level remained the same on the west coast. He couldn't possibly be that dumb, could he? Remember, for eight years Gore was only a heartbeat (or impeachment conviction) away from becoming the 43rd President of the United States. Personally, I think famous hoaxer P. T. Barnum would have been proud to call Al his son, I think, because it would be absolutely stupid to pay millions of dollars for oceanfront property if you really think it will be underwater in a few years. Nobody that stupid has millions of dollars for very long. But I think Al has nothing on Hector Avalos, an atheist college professor with some really big cohones. Avalos is (allegedly) a professor of religious studies at Iowa State University. The need for qualifying his professional title should become quite obvious, by the very next sentence. Almost eight years ago Hector Avalos wrote a book called The End of Religious Studies. Yet Avalos continues to draw a hefty paycheck … [Read more...]
