Deeper encouraging trend emerges from recent #climate poll data

A recent poll demonstrates that while Donald Trump and the Republican party are in complete denial of reality, most of the public are rather sensible, and are not like this. There is also a deeper message here as well, one that is very encouraging, but hidden in the details. First, before we get into that, … Read more

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

A common foundational idea of religious belief is the classic sales pitch – “here is a hideous problem within human nature, but I have a product that will fix it for you”, but if the problem itself is fictitious, then the proposed “solution” is attempting to fix a problem you do not have. It really is often … Read more

Book Alert: Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible

There are plenty of what can perhaps be best described as “me-to” books that simply replay the same arguments, and that applies to both the religious and non-religious sides of the full conversation. Now please don’t misunderstand me here, there are many great books out there, and even if they do not develop the conversation a bit further, … Read more

peace on earth: Is the world becoming a better place, or worse?

A rather common religious claim is that by default humans are violent and that without the moral guidance of a god, our natural instincts will lead to great darkness and evil … cue citations for Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc… and you are then advised either implicitly or even explicitly that this would be you if you do … Read more

The long reach of reason – Steven Pinker and Rebecca Newberger Goldstein

Now this is interesting, it’s a TED talk, but in a format I’ve never seen before – they have animated it, and also it is a duo, not a single individual. The TED site describes it as follows … In a time when irrationality seems to rule both politics and culture, has reasoned thinking finally … Read more

The 2013 Dawkins Award goes to ….

First, lets clear up a bit of confusion, since 2003, the Atheist Alliance International has awarded a prize during its annual conference honouring an outstanding atheist whose work has done the most to raise public awareness of atheism during that year; it is known as the Richard Dawkins Award, in honour of Dawkins’s own efforts, it is not … Read more