We’ve removed the old software for the forums, which was a nightmare to manage and distracted from the main site. You can now view the forums on the main site. They are listed on the home page side navigation. You need to be logged in to comment, and you can use the same account for [...]
This is something which Peter Atkins once brought up in a debate with William Lane Craig. It is the idea that because we can explain why so many people are religious using evolutionary biology, sociology, and psychology, that therefore there is even less reason to think that religious statements are correct. Certainly the fact that [...]
I’m a new writer here, and I’m a physicist, and we scientists always react to theists trying to use the findings of our field to argue for a god by noticing their arguments get the science wrong. One of the most popular attempts of that sort nowadays concerns the “fine tuning” of physics, so my [...]
It is astounding how, even in intellectual debates, the notion is suggested that none of the participants may offend anyone else. Needless to say, it is consistently suggested by the very religious. But nobody has the right to not be offended, for one simple reason, that you can be offended by anything. You could take [...]
On this site we sometimes review phrases which people have typed into search engines and turn them into articles. This article is one such case. Until one hears this title, it doesn’t necessarily seem obvious. It would be correct to say, that there are certainly some people in the world who fear atheism. The important point [...]
This is one of the rarer arguments that emerges in debates. The general idea is that because a certain country has always been tied to a particular religion, or was founded on certain religious principles, that its people should therefore continue to do things according to that religion. There are two obvious examples of when [...]
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. [...]
http://life.nationalpost.com/2011/09/20/church-of-england-battling-%E2%80%98coolness-of-atheism%E2%80%99-archbishop/
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 [...]
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 [...]
You can read about the original design of this symbol here: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/08/atheism_symbol.php
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 [...]
Whilst it is probably preferable that atheism is not institutional, since this removes one more similarity to religion, there is a range of symbols that are used to represent the general principles or the movement. The most popular seems to be the red letter “A” emblazoned on a black background. Here are six copies of this symbol in [...]
Generalisation is a method used a lot in logic. The easiest to understand definition is when a concept is applied to a broader range of situations. We hear the principle of generalisation in debates most often with regards to extremism. One person might suggest that the views of the extremist reveal a flaw present in [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
