thoughtful ideas on life's big questions
October 5th, 2011
In the discussions and arguments between believers and sceptics on the internet, you’ll find a number of arguments and statements recurring. Many of them are presented as if they are telling blows for their proponents, without necessarily ever being argued logically. I have discussed the Carl Sagan claim “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence“, and now […]
October 3rd, 2011
I came across an interesting blog recently – Think That Through – where Steven had posted on the topic of What’s up with faith?. Steven is an atheist, and his post was discussing his objections to what he understands to be religious faith. The blog is worth reading, and Steve encourages polite discussion even from […]
September 28th, 2011
We often hear that religion “poisons everything“, and that it is a delusion that causes people to do evil things (Physicist Stephen Weinberg once said: “for good people to do evil — that takes religion”.) Some people claim that religion is responsible for many of the evils in history – the crusades, witch-burning, war, genocide, […]
September 27th, 2011
Last weekend’s Sydney Morning Herald carried two opinion pieces on greed, ethics and a “broken” western society that presented a disturbing picture.
September 18th, 2011
I don’t get mad all that often these days – perhaps I’m getting too old and tired for that – but some of the climate change sceptics are really getting my goat. It’s not that I think believing in human-induced global warming is the only conclusion we can come to – there are, after all, […]
September 9th, 2011
It is probably the most devastating argument against belief in God. If there is a good and powerful God, why would he allow so much suffering and evil in the world. Surely he would stop it? Doesn’t this prove beyond doubt that there is no God?
September 4th, 2011
But what is certain is …. that humans believe only the irrational tales of their own culture, not those of others Adele Mercier I hear it a lot these days. “People only believe in christianity because they were born into a christian culture.” “If you were born in Mecca, you’d be a Muslim.” “No religion […]
August 30th, 2011
In many people’s minds, there is no argument. Science is based on evidence and can give us close to certainty; faith is not based on anything and is a delusion – believers may say they are certain but they cannot be. But there is a problem for this view – what do we make of […]
August 29th, 2011
Archaeology can tell us a lot about the world of first century Palestine, where Jesus lived, and this is a great help in understanding the New Testament. But can it tell us much about one of the most basic questions of all: are the New Testament gospels accurate accounts of Jesus’ life, based on eyewitnesses? […]
August 25th, 2011
In what ways does belief in God change the way people think and respond to situations? Some recent university research studies are shedding some light on this question.
A list of all blog posts, in reverse chronological order, is on the Blog archive page.