Monthly Archives: March 2014

The Confused Thinking of Alan Sokal

Posted on March 29, 2014 by Michael

It looks like Alan Sokal, the physicist most famous for committing a hoax, is now trying to further dumb-down the definition of science. Activist Jerry Coyne, giddy to have an ally for this agenda, quotes him extensively. So let’s take … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, Religion, Science | Tagged , , | 31 Comments

Hypersensitive Flowers

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Michael

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker recently tweeted “Philippians 4:13.” This caused the activists for the Freedom From Religion Foundation to go into full meltdown mode: To say, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me”, seems more like a … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, New Atheism, Politics, Religion | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

More Subjective, God-of-the-Gaps Atheism

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Michael

Back on March 3, Jerry Coyne was complaining about the existence of some new religious apologetics book. He wrote: Do we really need to read all these books, which are appearing at an alarming rate? Is there really going to … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, New Atheism | Tagged , | 6 Comments

So What Are We Supposed to Do About the Religious/Mentally Ill?

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Michael

In the comments section of my previous post showing Jerry Coyne to both promote and deny the notion that religious people are mentally ill, Liam writes: If you are an adult, asserting you have an invisible and imaginary friend who … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, New Atheism | Tagged , | 40 Comments

So are Christians supposed to be mentally ill or not?

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Michael

Ex-New Atheist Eric MacDonald noted a serious problem with the New Atheists: Consequently, it has become fairly normative to believe that religion has to do with “confected” entities, and religious thought itself not only delusional but even pathological. (Boghossian — … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, New Atheism | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Another New Atheist Leaves the Fold

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Michael

Eric MacDonald is not the only one this week to leave the New Atheist movement. Jon Overton is an atheist and an opinions columnist for the TheDailyIowan. He once found himself cheering the New Atheist leaders: For some time, I … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, New Atheism | Tagged , | Leave a comment

New Atheist Breaks Away from New Atheism

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Michael

Over at his blog, Eric MacDonald, who used to be a New Atheist, explains why he is leaving New Atheism. He has come to recognize some of the things many of us have long been warning about.

Posted in atheism, New Atheism | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Science Suggests Some Atheists Have Some Level of God Belief

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Michael

Sometimes the rhetoric of the New Atheists can be so dogmatic, so smug, and so vitriolic that I am reminded of the line from Shakespeare, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” It’s almost as if some part of the … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, Science | Tagged , | 10 Comments

When Even the Anecdotes Fail

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Michael

We have seen that Sam Harris abandons scientific reasoning to closed-mindedly dismiss the possibility his mind is closed. When psychologist Jonathan Haidt wrote, “But the benefits of disconfirmation depend on social relationships. We engage with friends and colleagues, but we … Continue reading →

Posted in Sam Harris | Tagged | 2 Comments

Atheists Who Believe Atheism is Knowledge

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Michael

For decades we have been told that an atheist is someone who simply lacks God-belief. That is, an atheist is one who merely observes there is no evidence for God and thus belief in God is not intellectually justified. This … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, closed-mindedness, New Atheism, Peter Boghossian | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments