There has been an ongoing argument regarding the words, “atheism” and “agnosticism,” practically since the biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the term, back in 1869.  What further complicates the contretemps is the fact that the object at the center of the belief or argument – “god” – continues to be without any form of objective demonstration or proof.  The conflation of the two terms on the part of some people only muddies the waters further.  Granted that I am no Huxley nor Hume.  To…

Yet another reprint of a blog I first wrote back in 2017 for Atheist Nexus.  I could be accused of being excessively optimistic and wearing my Pollyanna suit on this one, but I think it has something to say.  Hope you enjoy.





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Back in college, I was invited to participate in a production of Thornton Wilder’s play, Our Town, which was being put on by the drama department of Notre Dame College.  It was a nice diversion…

It slowly dawned on me sometime between my 30th and 40th birthdays. You know, the realization that even though you’ve always believed yourself to be something special, better than “average,” whatever that means... In reality, you are just that, average, mediocre, middling, You're pretty good at some things that you’re interested in, but not so great with most everything else. And you never will be, even with dedication and perseverance. At most endeavors, you pretty much "suck," just like…

National and international news has been very revealing of late. Just stop and look at what is going on around us right now. From destroying our water resources and pumping so much garbage into our air that our climate is already changing, undoubtedly past the critical tipping point, ruining two of the three fundamental categories of “things without which life is impossible,” to adulterating that third category, our basic food supplies with killer pesticides, antibiotics, and plastics, not…

Something which does not exist cannot help us, but chronic dependence on something which fails to exist does active harm to all of us.

-- Loren C. Miller, Jr., It's Time to Lose the Naïveté



When I first wrote the above back in August of 2010, my thoughts were on the waste of time and money and resources invested in religion and the worship of a god that fails to evince…

The early days of Christianity were not especially pleasant for its participants, apparently.  The Roman authorities were not pleased that Christians were touting a new god that was alleged to override those they had invented, and the Jews who didn’t recognize this alleged Messiah weren’t having any that this new cult was selling, either.  It was Rome, though, that got particularly exercised over this emerging religion, though.  Consequences ranging from forced participation in gladiatorial…

The following is an old blog from Atheist Nexus, around October of 2015.  I think the topic material is still very relevant to the here and now, though.



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How many times have we heard it?  “I’m not religious, but I am spiritual.”  To this day, while the intent if not the meaning of that phrase is at least vaguely understood, there should be another way to express it.  I suspect that a goodly number of the people on this planet have…

     The simple reason is because it's not my fight. Acceptance of evolution is the mainstream Christian view. At least for Christianity, a literal view of Genesis is only held by some weird cults, mainly just in the USA. If a Christian wants to debate evolution they can discuss it among themselves. There are more Christians who accept evolution than there are atheists.

     But more than that, the creationists have an ulterior motive trying to bait atheists into debating evolution.…

...they [the Roman Catholic Church] for example thought that slavery was perfectly fine... absolutely okay, and then they didn't, and what is the point of the Catholic Church if it says, “oh well we couldn't know better because nobody else did”? [To the affirmative team] Then what are you for?!

-- Stephen Fry, answering a question during the 2009 Intelligence Squared debate, “Is the Catholic Church a force for good in the world?”



Of course, slavery was okay…

Quiz: Name the 3 U.S. vice presidents that were from Indiana.

You might have guessed two fairly recent ones. The third is rather obscure: Schuyler Colfax from South Bend, VP to U.S. Grant (1869-1873).

I just completed reading a biography of Colfax, written by Willard H. Smith in 1951 (no relation to me). Before becoming vice president, he was Speaker of the House of Representatives. Here's an interesting tidbit from the book (and reason for the blog title).

"When…

I don't know why this point isn't raised more. So Christianity presents the resurrection of Jesus as a key detail. However, that never actually happens in the Bible. Reread those gospels if you want, but the only one who gets a resurrection in the Bible is Lazarus (unless there are a few more I'm not aware of).

TLDR before I get into it, but we can agree resurrection means coming back to life after dying, and by life we mean this life not the afterlife. Jesus dies, then goes to hell…

Words are subtle and powerful things.  Ten billion different things can be said with words, from rage to romance, with a multidimensional gradient of meanings and emotions in between those two markers.  There are big words and small words out there: tiny little one- and two- and three- and four-letter words which will be a first-grader’s initial exposure to language learning, then two- and three- and four- and five-syllable verbal jaw breakers which will be the attention-getters, that mark…

For a while, there, it was an absolute truism that among the single most frustrating activities one could indulge in was the pursuit of an appointment to obtain a COVID-19 vaccination.  Starting roughly at the beginning of February, I got myself registered with three different pharmacies, plus two hospital chains (University Hospitals and Cleveland Clinic).  Add to that, I was checking regularly with at least two other drug stores which didn’t have automated registration or informational…

Freelancing is becoming a good source of earning income where you can earn without investing money. Freelancers are the people who are not employed by anybody or you can say like they are their bosses. These are the people who have some skills and the business and clients give them tasks and pay them in exchange for that…

JOMO KENYATTA (1892-1978), first prime minister of independent Kenya:

“When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the Land and the Missionaries had the Bible.
They taught us how to pray with our eyes closed.
When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.”

[From Walker, John Frederick. A Certain Curve of Horn: The Hundred-Year Quest for the Giant Sable Antelope of Angola, 2004. Page 144. This has also been attributed to Archbishop Desmond Tutu.]

Written by Malcolm Hutton: National Secular Society 9 January 2009.

One could take action when a bible is presented in hotel or hospital. First of all, go

prepared with a yellow highlight pen and ask if the bible is yours to keep.

Then

highlight some of the most damaging verses, such as:

Luke 14:26 – hate your mother and father

Matthew 10:34/36 – he came not for peace but with a sword

Psalm 137:9 – it will make you happy to dash your little ones…

The scene is set in the Rotunda of the US Capitol building.  Hardly a few weeks earlier, that had been the site of a riotous attempt at raucous, lawless insurrection.  This moment could not be more different.  The lighting is subdued.  There is little to no conversation from the observers scattered about, their attention focused on the rectangular pedestal, located at the center of the Rotunda.  Said pedestal holds but two items.  The first of these is a flag, folded to a triangle shape in…

What are the chances there’s a god out there, somewhere in or beyond the Universe and responsible for it and us?

It is fitting to bring Bertrand Russell's concept of a sun-orbiting china teapot into this deliberation—or the Flying Spaghetti Monster—and let’s try judging similarly. Think up something new, whatever you like that is implausible and untestable, much like the teapot or spaghetti monster, and then consider the chances of its actually existing anyway. The answer is…

HOLY BOOK BLUNDERS

According to biblical morality and authority the following are fine and natural:

Slavery (Exodus 21:7); 1 Peter 1:18; Ephesians 6: 5-9.

Rape (Deuteronomy 22: 28-29);

Child Abuse (Proverbs 22:15);

Misogyny (1 Timothy 2:12);

Incest (Genesis 19: 32-35);

Prejudice (2 John 1:10).

According to biblical morality and authority the following are evil, wrong, and unnatural:

Eating Pork (Leviticus 11:7);

Eating shellfish (Leviticus…

HOLY BOOK BLUNDERS

According to biblical morality and authority the following are fine and natural:

Slavery (Exodus 21:7); 1 Peter 1:18; Ephesians 6: 5-9.

Rape (Deuteronomy 22: 28-29);

Child Abuse (Proverbs 22:15);

Misogyny (1 Timothy 2:12);

Incest (Genesis 19: 32-35);

Prejudice (2 John 1:10).

According to biblical morality and authority the following are evil, wrong, and unnatural:

Eating Pork (Leviticus 11:7);

Eating shellfish (Leviticus…