Claim: “You are a fool if you do not believe in god”

Posted by on Leave a Comment
Claim: "You are a fool if you do not believe in god"

Franklin Graham, son of the more famous Billy Graham and also CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, has written an article in which he claims that those that do not believe in God are fools. Since he has a quote from the bible that says this is so, then I guess it just must be true ... right? ... because the bible is never ever wrong about anything ever ... er, well perhaps not. So anyway, here is a small sample to get your blood boiling ... The Bible tells us in several places that only the fool says that God does not exist. “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Ps. 14:1). That Scripture is repeated verbatim in Psalm 53:1, and the same sentiment is … [Read more...]

Books: What would you recommend?

Posted by on 1 Comment
Books: What would you recommend?

It is time to see if you have any good cognitive toolkit suggestions. First the context. Somebody (who shall remain nameless) was asking for recommendations for a good book. They just happen to be somebody who was/is a Christian believer, but now faces a lot of doubts ... and so is sitting on the fence. So far books that have been consumed include ... Michael Shermer's book "The Believing Brain." Ehrman's "Misquoting Jesus." ... and those are two very good books indeed. There are lots of other very good books out there by well-known and well-respected authors, Dennet, Dawkins, Harris and Hitchers of course, but for somebody who is essentially sitting on the fence grappling … [Read more...]

Weird Claim: “Britain is set to become a country that prizes a cow more than a Jew, an ox more than a Muslim”

Posted by on Leave a Comment
Weird Claim: "Britain is set to become a country that prizes a cow more than a Jew, an ox more than a Muslim"

The context here is that Britain's top vet, John Blackwell, has called for a ban on slashing animals' throats in 'ritual' slaughters for halal and kosher meat products. He is quoted as saying ... "The Danish unilateral banning [was done] purely for animal welfare reasons, which is right." "We may well have to go down that route." Mr Blackwell said the way halal and kosher meat is created, through the throat being slit, resulted in "five or six seconds" of pain for the animal." "They will feel the cut," he said. "They will feel the massive injury of the tissues of the neck. They will perceive the aspiration of blood they will breathe in before they lose consciousness." This is … [Read more...]

Daft Claim of the week: “Atheism Is Enemy of America”

Posted by on Leave a Comment
Daft Claim of the week: "Atheism Is Enemy of America"

An article by Terence Jeffrey that appeared in "The Patriot Post" makes such a daft claim that it caught my eye. Now if you are wondering "Who?", well if I happen to mention that he was the campaign manager for Republican candidate Pat Buchanan in the 1996 presidential race, then that tells you a great deal about the spin that this latest piece of complete lunacy that tries to masquerade as a credible article  contains. As for "The Patriot Post" (Oh come on, the name itself screams out "Republican Nutters"), well yes, it is indeed everything you might suspect it to be (OK yes, this all betrays my political leanings), but look and you will find rather a lot of very silly claims and political … [Read more...]

Growing up with Hezbollah

Posted by on Leave a Comment
Growing up with Hezbollah

I've come across a very interesting blog posting written by an Ex-Muslim blogger who (for rather obvious reasons) writes anonymously. She describes herself as ... "a victim of both religious-based violence at the hands of my own family and the crushing Western war machine in my homeland", and has some fascinating insights about what it is like to live inside the Hezbollah bubble looking out. This is her at the age of 16 ... The specific posting that caught my eye was entitled, "What it is like to grow up in Hezbollah culture", and is a quite fascinating read. No I'm not going to re-produce it all here, but rather pluck out a few bits, comment on those, and then encourage you to go … [Read more...]

The Video is up for the Sean Carroll & William Lane Craig Debate

Posted by on Leave a Comment
The Video is up for the Sean Carroll & William Lane Craig Debate

I blogged about the Sean Carroll vs William Lane Craig Debate a few days ago, and alas that was only impressions from notes. Well, the update is that the full recording is now available, and so here it is below ... (or here) .. Oh and before you leap in, you may want to consider the fact that it is over two hours long. UPDATE: The original video has been taken down ... but I found a replacement ... Skip the first 20 mins to  get to the actual debate, that first part is all ads Additional Observations ... Craig is a very good debater, but Carroll is far better (having facts and reality on his side perhaps helps). Basically William Lane Craig proposes his usual cosmological … [Read more...]