Is sin real – Are we really just a few heartbeats away from depravity and wickedness? – Part II

I was writing yesterday about the religious claim that the default status of humans is that we are all fundamentally flawed, and suggested that if this was really true then the world should not be getting better, yet as a stark contrast to that the measurable worldwide trend is one in which violence of all types … Read more

The Moral Decay of Conservative Christianity

Valerie Tarico, a psychologist and writer in Seattle, Washington, has a nice Conservative Christian takedown over at RawStory entitled “Conservative Christians point fingers at atheists to cover growing corruption in church“. On the surface the claims made by many belief leaders sound both credible to those that believe and are also very much on script, … Read more

How do Atheists work out what is right and wrong if they reject the bible?

The objective moral claim is a very popular rebuttal that the deeply religious often put forward, and time after time it will, like a game a wack-a-mole, pop its head up. So today’s example is a letter written by a Mr Ron Thomas and published in The Gazette / Times-Courier, a paper that has a focus … Read more

Claim: Without god you have no morality

In response to various stories that criticise belief I’ve seen the moral argument pop up. For example, David Quinn writes in the Irish Independent a response to Stephen Fry’s observation that the God of the bible is quite immoral.. But matter cannot produce a moral law. It cannot produce ‘justice’. If matter and its emanations … Read more

Morality without a God

The rather common religious claim is that without the absolute values sourced from a god your morality is relative and can be whatever you want it to be. This apparently will then leave you free to do whatever you like if you decide that it is OK. The counter argument is the rather obvious observation … Read more

UK MP Gary Streeter claims that only Christians help the poor

Mr Streeter, a former government minister and current MP, made some rather strange the remarks on Radio 4’s Today programme, he basically asserted that only religious people can be moral. The dialog proceeded as follows … Mr Streeter said the Prime Minister is “reflecting a new-found confidence in the Church in Britain, and a new-found … Read more