Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
There is an article up on Salon written by Qasim Rashid that claims … As a practicing Muslim, I don’t believe Islam is above criticism. I do believe that Islam backs free speech. I also believe that Islam champions secular governance. But what’s significant about my beliefs is why I believe them — which is because they are precisely … Read more
As might be expected, in response to the latest Pew research report that highlights a huge growth of nones and the decline of belief in the US, many believers are popping up to claim that the numbers are all wrong. An example is Jerry Newcombe popping up on the Christian Post with the claim that atheism … Read more
Now this is a disturbing bit of news. The UKs Independent reports … Saudi Arabia intends to buy an “off the shelf” nuclear weapon from Pakistan, according to US officials quoted in The Sunday Times. The report comes amid ongoing negotiations between Iran and other world powers over its nuclear programme, and a potential thawing of relations … Read more
Patrick Cockburn, an Irish journalist who has been a Middle East correspondent since 1979, has published part 2 of his harrowing stories about life under ISIS. In Part 1 which was published on 16th May (you can find it here), Mr Cockburn documents some of the truly harrowing stories from the women who have fled from … Read more
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
People believe what they believe for cultural and emotional reasons and never for evidential reasons. They might indeed claim “evidence” and assert “evidence”, but examine it and … well no, none. What tends to happen is that we rationalise and stick on reasons later to explain the adherence to a specific position, sort of akin … Read more