News came out on Tuesday that the Church of England (CofE, what Americans would call the Episcopal Church) have decided to go ahead and ordain women bishops. To a secular person, that doesn’t seem like a big deal – gender discrimination is, after all, illegal in Great Britain – but to many in the Church, [...]
“It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatsoever for supposing it is true.”
Bertrand Russell, Sceptical Essays (1928), “On the Value of Scepticism”
Question of the Day:
Do you agree? Is it bad to hold a belief for which there is no evidence, even if it harms no one?
by VorJack
This morning I went looking for my keys and couldn’t find them. I was convinced that I’d left them on the desk. I had the memory of tossing them there, it made sense for me to do that and I could almost remember hearing the clatter they made as they hit the [...]
Like Sam Harris, I believe one reason religious extremists exist is because of faith — the belief in something without evidence. And the more extreme a sect is, the more faith they usually have.
So I was a bit taken aback when I saw that Stephen Venner, some bishop across the pond, said the Taliban can be admired for their faith [...]
by VorJack
A new Pew Research Poll has found that significant minorities of American religious believers mix their primary religion with elements of other faiths. For example:
24% of respondents say that they occasionally attend services in a faith different from their own.
22% of Christians indicated that they believe in reincarnation
23% of total respondents believed that [...]
It’s a miracle!
Wow, you mean given enough time and eggs, you end up getting a soft one with an impression of a chicken foot? Hallelujah! Irrefutable proof of the existence of the Invisible Pink Unicorn!
Then again, maybe it’s Jesus’ way of commanding us to say, “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays.”
by Jesse Galef
My friend Hemant Mehta (FriendlyAtheist) had a great interview with blogger Nancy Duke on the Chicago Coalition of Reason billboard, atheism, and religion. The questions gave away her semi-hostile position, but I feel like Hemant did a great job answering in a positive way:
ND: What is ChriFSMas?
HM: Christmas for the Flying Spaghetti Monster [...]
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By Malvond: No one, unless you count the previous commenter. I said I’m not convinced that people aren’t. :) QotD: Kids?
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Just a Guy: Me an my wife have negotiated infidelity. Meaning she can be with other guys as long as she doesn’t hide... Negotiated Infidelity
Gwenny: Absolutely not! The world has plenty of people having kids. A child consumes HUGE amounts of resources, which from both a... QotD: Kids?
Siberia: Or maybe they know they have neither patience nor inclination to deal with the fruit of their loins and thus, rather than be... QotD: Kids?
DDM: Repubs and Dems. He’s saying they only take first impressions and... Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” Rally – Interviews With Participants
