Archive for Statements and Analysis

Fashionable Atheism

Sep 20, 2011 Comments Off by

It seems the favourite catchphrase of the patronisingly religious, particularly now with the rise of new atheism, to call atheism fashionable, trendy, or cool. This is just another way of stating the same condescending remarks as the infamous line “I used to be an atheist, but now …”. It is so revoltingly arrogant and dismissive. [...]

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Is it possible to be atheist and extremist?

Sep 20, 2011 Comments Off by

Clearly in order to answer this question we’re going to need to define extremism. Extremism is a relative description. One thing is extremist with respect to another. To label something extremist is to state that it is very different compared to the average. One could suggest that it is as different as something could possibly [...]

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Atheism and Science

Sep 20, 2011 Comments Off by

Even the religious are starting to notice that one of the natural philosophical partners to science, is atheism. Bizarrely, this seems to confuse some religious people, as though they weren’t expecting it. Any atheist will tell you, that atheism is the only logically valid philosophy with regards to the existence of gods. It is the [...]

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“I Used To Be An Atheist …”

Sep 17, 2011 Comments Off by

This is a common opening line used in arguments by the supposedly newly religious. It’s nonsense and here’s why. Firstly, there’s no reason why it is true. It could easily be just a persuasive technique aimed at bullying the other person into submission by suggesting they are behind in their thinking. Religious people like to [...]

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Why Don’t Personal Experiences Count As Evidence?

Sep 02, 2011 Comments Off

When citing the evidence they have for the existence of a god, many religious people will give examples of their own personal experience. On every such occasion, these references are discarded. The reason is simple. In science, all measurable effects are measured several times, often in several different ways by different scientists. The methods are [...]

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What Evidence Is There For The Existence Or Non-Existence Of A God?

Sep 02, 2011 Comments Off

This question may seem, on first inspection, to be simple, but it’s not. We will see that this question is phenomenally complex. Indeed this seems to be a pattern of many questions on religious topics. Once more, the complicated nature of the question is revealed through the definitions used to express it. We need to [...]

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Religious Symbols At Work: What Are The Limits?

Aug 27, 2011 Comments Off

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

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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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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