Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ Aliens!

Today’s Jesus and Mo cartoon, “smug”, came with the email note, “Jesus is worried about the Mars landing.”  And on the cartoon page itself you can read, “We love it when he does that.” That of course refers to Mo’s theological malleability: The question may seem funny, but the question of what Christians are to … Continue reading Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ Aliens!

Sunday Times gives a lukewarm review to an accommodationist book

The only reason to write books about reconciling science and religion—as opposed to, say, reconciling sports and religion or business and religion—is if the two fields conflict in some way, and thus require reconciliation. After all, if  religion were purely philosophical, lacking any empirical claims, there would be no need to reconcile science and religion, … Continue reading Sunday Times gives a lukewarm review to an accommodationist book

Camus on the plague, and de Botton gets the vector wrong

Ah, we have’t heard from Alain de Botton for a while, and I haven’t missed him (see all my posts on him here). He was always a faitheist, an atheist-butter, and an arduous advocate for atheist churches, which I don’t particularly object to but also don’t feel we need. de Botton is also patronizing: the … Continue reading Camus on the plague, and de Botton gets the vector wrong

The BBC osculates religion and touts accommodationism—with a little help from Templeton

Reader Mark Jones called my attention (as did other readers) to this three-part BBC show with an accommodationist theme (click on screenshot), whose first part aired yesterday morning in the UK. Mark did some digging on the show and its host, Nick Spencer, and found substantial Templeton influence and dosh behind it. His summary is … Continue reading The BBC osculates religion and touts accommodationism—with a little help from Templeton

Michael Shermer’s take on the question “Is New Atheism dead?”

The haters, shade-throwers, and draggers continue to publish articles saying that New Atheism is dead because the “self-appointed leaders” are all old white males who are alt-right-ish and bigoted, and because the movement itself, having failed to wed itself with social justice and embraced misogyny and conservatism instead, has driven away its adherents. As I … Continue reading Michael Shermer’s take on the question “Is New Atheism dead?”

Pinker gets flak for tweeting about the “malignant delusion of the afterlife”, deletes tweet but defends himself here

I don’t really follow Twitter, but sometimes it makes news when a prominent person deletes a tweet, as when Nikole Hannah-Jones of the New York Times’s 1619 project deleted several tweets, including one drawing a distinction between being “politically black” and “racially black.” That made news, as did the tweet below issued about two weeks … Continue reading Pinker gets flak for tweeting about the “malignant delusion of the afterlife”, deletes tweet but defends himself here

Dawkins’s Darwin Day lecture for Humanists UK: “Taking Courage from Darwin to Fight the Hubris of Faith”

Reader Michael called my attention to Richard Dawkins’s Darwin Day Lecture to Humanists UK (HUK). Richard is introduced by Humanists UK President and evolutionary biologist Alice Roberts, who was the moderator when I gave this lecture a few years ago. Richard’s lecture was just posted today, and as I write there are only 194 views. … Continue reading Dawkins’s Darwin Day lecture for Humanists UK: “Taking Courage from Darwin to Fight the Hubris of Faith”

The definitive refutation of those who say atheists are bigoted and alt-right

I wish I’d known of this article when I wrote my critique of faitheist Chris Stedman’s VICE article calling out the atheist “movement” for converging with the alt-right. As I noted at the time, Stedman was long on accusation, anecdote, and generality, and notably short on actual data. Are atheists really as bigoted, misogynistic, and … Continue reading The definitive refutation of those who say atheists are bigoted and alt-right

Atheist Chris Stedman disses atheism again

Chris Stedman, whom we’ve encountered before, has moved from job to job as a “humanist chaplain”: first at Harvard, then at Yale, and he’s now started jobs as Director of the Humanist Center of Minnesota and a Fellow at the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship at Augsburg College—an Evangelical Lutheran Church school). Author of the book … Continue reading Atheist Chris Stedman disses atheism again