“The biologist J. B. S. Haldane is reported to have said that, if there is a God, He has ‘an inordinate fondness for beetles.’ One would have hoped that an observation this devastating would have closed the book on creationism for all time. The truth is that, while there are now around three hundred and fifty thousand known species of beetles, God appears to have an even greater fondness for viruses.” – Sam Harris
Author Archives: Ed Anderson
Sin’s Origin and Antidote?
“The very concept of sin comes from the Bible. Christianity offers to solve a problem of its own making! Would you be thankful to a person who cut you with a knife in order to sell you a bandage?”
— Dan Barker, FFRF co-president in “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”
We Don’t Know Yet?
“I have never understood why the fallback position to unanswerable questions about the universe is that an all-powerful, all-knowing being intervened. To me, ‘we don’t know yet’ is a fine response.”
—Robyn Blumner, columnist and editor, The St. Petersburg Times, Aug. 8, 2004
God By Any Other Name? – Sam Harris
“When the stakes are this high – when calling God by the right name can make the difference between eternal happiness and eternal suffering, it is impossible to respect the beliefs of others who don’t believe as you do.”
― Sam Harris, author, philosopher, and neuroscientist
Execute Painfully?
“Why make executions more painful? People were burnt at the stake, drawn and quartered, skinned alive, beheaded and more. None of that has deterred more murders.
We as a society try to execute humanely. Not for the sake of the criminal but for society’s own sake because it is supposed to be about justice and not revenge.” -LaDon Aridge quoted in USA TODAY, May 2, 2014
Ten Things Christians Should Keep in Mind When Debating Atheists – Edited, John Loftus
1. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Consequently, the burden of proof is on the theist rather than the atheist.
2. Science has radically altered how we understand the universe, so theism must grapple with the implications of science before offering prescientific beliefs as truth.
3. There is a gap between natural theology and revealed theology. Arguing for a prime mover is not the same thing as arguing for any faith tradition.
4. An atheist is under no obligation to take your theology seriously. It’s your belief, you need to justify it in secular terms. Just as a Hindu or a Scientologist would.
5. The problem of miracles is a serious challenge that must be overcome for any testimony or private revelation of the divine to be taken as verifiable.
6. Faith is not an [sound] epistemology, and the retreat to faith is a concession of the failure of the belief to be defended on rational grounds.
7. The link between theism and morality has been conceptually (Euthyphro dilemma), empirically (evolutionary ethics), and culturally (morality existing without theism) discredited. Thus coupling God with the notion of Good is not only misleading, but trying to own a fundamental aspect of the human condition.
8. Atheism is not materialism. Materialism is a scientific doctrine, while atheism is a stance on the position of gods. Arguing against materialism is not going to make the case for theism.
9. Atheism is a conclusion, not a worldview. Atheism is not an answer to life, the universe, and everything – just the conclusion that theism isn’t.
10. Attack the arguments for what is said, not what isn’t. Though this should apply to everyone – not just theists. Arguing against interpretations not in the text is setting up a caricature, as is arguing against uncharitable interpretations of what is said.
Religion As An Insult? – Steven Weinberg
“Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.”
—Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize winning physicist, in an address at the Conference on Cosmic Design, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C., April 1999
Found God?
“There is a rumor going around that I have found God. I think this is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist.”
—Sir Terry Pratchett, author and freethinker, The Daily Mail (U.K.), June 21, 2008
Quote from Percy Bysshe Shelley
“If [God] is infinitely good, what reason should we have to fear him? If he is infinitely wise, why should we have doubts concerning our future? If he knows all, why warn him of our needs and fatigue him with our prayers? If he is everywhere, why erect temples to him? If he is just, why fear that he will punish the creatures that he has filled with weaknesses? If grace does everything for them, what reason would he have for recompensing them? If he is all-powerful, how offend him, how resist him? If he is reasonable, how can he be angry at the blind, to whom he has given the liberty of being unreasonable? If he is immovable, by what right do we pretend to make him change his decrees? If he is inconceivable, why occupy ourselves with him? IF HE HAS SPOKEN, WHY IS THE UNIVERSE NOT CONVINCED?”
– Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet, in his essay “The Necessity of Atheism” (1811).
William James on Prejudice
“A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.”
-William James