thoughtful ideas on life's big questions
People argue over religious belief and disbelief. Christians generally say everyone should believe in Jesus, and will be judged by God according to whether they believe or not. Non-believers criticise, and sometimes mock, believers for their belief. But can we choose what we believe? I discussed last post the question of whether we have free […]
Can we choose our beliefs? Can we choose anything, or are we prisoners of the electro-chemistry in our brains? How do we choose? Pondering these questions can change the way we think, and how we understand ourselves and others. I am beginning a series of posts on these questions. This post looks at free will […]
I had never heard of this book or its author until a friend bought it for me as a present. But it proved to be a really worthwhile read.
I think about belief, and the reasons I believe, quite a lot. And I sometimes ponder, if I cut it down to just one reason, what would it be? What is it that I just can’t go past? I don’t think I really can simplify it like that, but if I could, this would maybe […]
I came across it yesterday, not for the first time, but maybe the 21st. Quoted as if it was significant and telling. You have almost certainly seen it too. I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other […]
Last post I discussed philosopher and educator Peter Boghossian’s ‘crusade’ to help atheists wean christians off their dependence on faith. But is Boghossian’s understanding of faith correct? What do christians mean when they use this word?
You may not have heard of Peter Boghossian. But one thoughtful christian blogger (Tom Gilson at Thinking Christian) thinks he’s a “dangerous man” and wonders whether his 2013 book (A Manual for Creating Atheists) might be seen as “a turning point in the decline of Christianity in the West”. Perhaps Tom has been a bit […]
We all like to think that we base our views on evidence, but sometimes evidence gets in the way of a good argument. Here are 8 good ways to avoid evidence (with examples).
We human beings are aware of ourselves in ways that robots and computers are not, we can think in ways they cannot, and we firmly believe some things are truly right or wrong. Granted humans have evolved by natural selection, science finds it difficult to produce an explanation of these facts – how does a […]
I seem to be getting into quite a few discussions about universal fine-tuning lately. Only recently I discussed the argument for the existence of God based on the science of fine-tuning, and before that I discussed the science. Here, I want to give some quotes and references to cosmologists who have written on this topic.