Archive for August, 2011

Do You Have The Right To Be Respected?

Aug 30, 2011 Comments Off by

No. Here’s why. The first thing we must do is define respect. This is quite tricky; it’s common usage gives it quite a loose definition. Generally people would say that it is to not arbitrarily criticise or insult someone, or to be unjustifiably condescending. One might also consider respect to be conversational equality. Clearly it [...]

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Should Atheists Have Their Own Holidays?

Aug 29, 2011 Comments Off by

It is frequently remarked, that as most major holidays in the western world have strong religious significance, atheists should not celebrate them. The two obvious ones are Christmas and Easter. The simplest response to this question is that both of these holidays have essentially very little religious significance left for the population as a whole. [...]

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Religious Symbols At Work: What Are The Limits?

Aug 27, 2011 Comments Off by

Some of the most controversial cases to have come about in recent years on the subject of religion are those involving people who were banned from wearing certain items of religious symbolism at work. But in each case, nobody knows what the result will be, because nobody is sure how to resolve such cases. Initially [...]

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Philosophy Is For Everyone

Aug 26, 2011 Comments Off by

There is a small number of theist promoters, who can be found lurking in the low-viewer-count videos on the internet, who seem to be suggesting philosophy requires years of professional training before competency can be achieved. The most blatant statement of this kind can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAS0Gcq8Mvo William Lane Craig is attempting to discredit Professor [...]

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William Lane Craig Knows He’s Wrong

Aug 23, 2011 1 Comment

If you’ve watched more than one debate with this man then you’ll start to notice a pattern. He will always start his argument by defining atheism, rather than letting the atheist define themselves. It is in this definition that he tries to win over the audience and make himself seem terribly clever. He always defines [...]

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“I Used To Be An Atheist, Now I’m Not, Therefore Atheism Is Wrong”

Aug 23, 2011 Comments Off

This line of arguing is rarely explicitly stated, but seems to be the undertone used by some people. Generally we tend to hear only the first clause in arguments “I used to be an atheist” and the rest is merely implied. There are three major problems with introducing this to a discussion. Firstly, it could [...]

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Are Atheists More Intelligent Than Theists?

Aug 23, 2011 Comments Off

This is a misleading question because it suggests that a person’s philosophical standpoint is always an accurate and reliable indicator of someone’s intelligence. Through consideration of the arguments and evidence for and against the existence of most definitions of gods, there is only one reasonable conclusion that a person can come to: we simply cannot [...]

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Kate Smurthwaite Is Brilliant

Aug 22, 2011 Comments Off
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Can You Think Evolution Is True And Believe In God?

Aug 22, 2011 1 Comment

This question partially depends on one’s definition of a god, but is more effected by other beliefs and doctrine that one holds. Let’s consider a single god, who is simply a god of the gaps, whose purpose is to create the universe and possibly have some interaction with it as well. With this definition, the [...]

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The Ongoing War

Aug 06, 2011 Comments Off

Atheism has been around for a long time. Depending on how particular one is, and one’s definition of atheism, it could be said that atheism has been around forever, since before human beings, there was no religion to speak of. But there is clearly an atheist movement, recently fuelled by the rise of new atheism. [...]

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Why So Patronising?

Aug 05, 2011 Comments Off

On many videos of debates, discussions, question and answer sessions and so on, it can sometimes be seen that a religious person will descend to the level of insults and offensive commands to try and enforce their point. A small number of people seem to like pressuring other people into agreement with fear or amateur [...]

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