One of the things I notice a lot when discussing religion with theists is that they tend to be quick to start with the name calling. When this happens, I like to call attention to it and then move on with the discussion. I don’t think it is productive to name call back but they […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, conversation, language, Religious Manipulation | 4 Comments »
It seems that theists aren’t always the ones who lack reason. Many times even normally reasonable atheists fall into the trap of using anecdotal evidence to justify an irrational belief. The old, “it works for me” claim is not actually evidence! I usually hear religious people and new age people make the claim that something […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, conversation, logic | 3 Comments »
The other day, I got an e-mail from an anonymous Christians which was short and to the point. The two word e-mail said, “Jesus Rules.” I was not really in the mood for debate, so I thought I would have some fun with the guy instead. I was surprised that I actually changed the conversation […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, conversation, debate, discussion, Religion | 2 Comments »
The other day I was having a discussion with a Christian and I cited a scientific study. In return, the Christian cited an opinion poll. Then she said that since we both have resources that support our point of view, it must be a wash. It seems to me that many Christians don’t understand the […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, logic, science | 3 Comments »
Religious believers often tell me that science can prove God exists. It is at this point that I start laughing in their face. But still they insist on continuing this line of evangelism. Next the theist will use the argument by design, the first cause argument, the fine tuning argument, and a handful of other […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, discussion, god of the gaps, Religion, Religious Manipulation, science | 12 Comments »
Over the weekend, I had a little problem with a particular Christian. A few weeks ago, a Christian e-mailed me asking for a collaborative project where we each ask each other 5 questions on our Examiner pages and then we each answer them. The way it was pitched to me, we would refrain from personal […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, Coexist, conversation, debate, Personal, Religion | 4 Comments »
The other day I had a profound thought. I was coming out of the shower and thought to myself, “maybe Christianity is true.” Then I started laughing out loud. My profound thought was that I am moving beyond atheism. It isn’t just that I lack the belief in a god, now I lack the ability […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, Belief, delusion, god, Religion | 19 Comments »
I want to make it clear that God is a character in a series of books known as the Bible. He is a fictional character. With that in mind, Christians often fall back to the view that we can’t know the mind of God and that God works in mysterious ways. But this really isn’t […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, god, image of god, Religion, Vague Higher Power, wwjd | 1 Comment »
I am tired of being intellectually honest when religious apologists don’t even bother. Recently, I read an article by a theist which was quite frankly, extremely intellectually dishonest. Should we play that game too? The article started out being friendly and the author made a point to say that he had many atheist friends and […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, culture war, discussion, god of the gaps, ignorance, Projection, Religious Manipulation | 7 Comments »
Part two of the interview I did with Bob Enyart is now online. I want to discuss a few of the techniques that I noticed Bob used in this episode. You can listen to the hour plus interview at the end of this post. Note that Bob cut off the books I was recommending at […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, Authority, evolution, Religion, science | 1 Comment »
Recent, a Christian informed me that he has evidence that God exists. Part of me expected him to take the Bill O’Reilly route of “the tides go in and the tides go out.” But he didn’t take that route. He didn’t even go with the Argument by Design or the First Cause argument. Instead, he […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Argument by Popularity, Authority, Projection, Religion | 5 Comments »
I was watching a clip from a local news in Alabama which was covering the American Atheists convention. One of the Christians interviewed made the argument that all an atheist has to do is look around and see God’s miracles in the trees or something. I hear this a lot and even big bad Bill […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Argument by Design, culture war, god of the gaps, Religion, science | 8 Comments »
I got into a conversation with a Christian yesterday and the guy said to me, “There are countless things that we could not scientifically prove, that does not mean that they don’t exist.” It is this type of argument that really pisses me off. This guy isn’t even a fundamentalist. He is a mainstream Christian […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, conversation, faith, ignorance, Religion, science | 8 Comments »
One of the things that really annoys me about fundamentalist Christians is that they often have an ignorance of an entire field of study; sometimes multiple fields of study. But Ethics in particular seems to be a field that many Christians aren’t even aware exists. It is not unusual for me to be in a […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, conversation, education, ignorance, morality, Religion | 3 Comments »
Sometimes, I get so wrapped up in debating with religious people that I actually start to take them seriously. I have to remind myself that despite their insistence that they have a legitimate point of view, their religion is ridiculous and has more plot holes than a Michael Bay movie. Seriously? Fundamentalist Christians want to […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Babel, blood sacrifice, culture war, delusion, god of the gaps, Mainstream Christians, Religion | 2 Comments »
Something that really annoys me about many religious people is that they are so eager to give credit to their God when humans do all the work. While this is obviously noticeable during football games and other sporting events, it happens in relation to science even more often. For example, science has proven that God […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, culture war, People of Reason, Religion, science | 1 Comment »
Continuing from yesterday’s analysis of my debate on the Bob Enyart radio show (first half-hour now on yesterday’s blog), I wanted to point out a particular trick that Bob used in our debate. Perhaps it is because he believes in authoritative doctrine, that he assumes that science is authoritative too. So his style of attack […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Atheism NOT Religion, Authority, Creationism, culture war, debate, evolution, science | 3 Comments »
Recently, news organizations like CNN, Huffington Post, and the Washington Post (among others) have been reporting on a study that appeared in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The study was called, “Anger Toward God: Social-Cognitive Predictors, Prevalence, and Links With Adjustment to Bereavement and Cancer” and it includes atheists anger toward God. CNN’s […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, ignorance, journalism, Media, Personal | 5 Comments »
Within the last year, many American Muslims have been using the term “Islamaphobia” to describe the fear people have of the Muslim religion. Being labeled an Islamaphobic is generally considered akin to racism. Last year Bill Donahue of the Catholic League coined the term “Catholic-phobia” and in a recent conversation I had with a Christian […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, culture war, delusion, faith, ignorance | 2 Comments »
One of the most common attacks that Creationsists make is that “Evolutionists” are responsible for Hitler’s Eugenics program. This is of course ridiculous and in reality is no different than claiming that Gravitiests are responsible for the crimes of murderers dropping people out a window. First, I take issue with the term “Evolutionist.” Evolution is […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Creationism, culture war, evolution, morality, Religious Manipulation, science | 1 Comment »
Last week, I was having a conversation with another atheist who isn’t as vocal as I am. She asked how Christians can believe this stuff and commented that they must be stupid. I found myself in the odd position of defending Christians. It is not that Christians are stupid, but rather that the system that […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, conversation, de-conversion, discussion, ignorance, Religion, Religious Manipulation | 14 Comments »
Now that election season is over, most of the campaign signs have been taken down. Yet while I was driving the other day, I saw some signs still up at the intersection of a few major roads. Wait a minute, those weren’t campaign signs they were signs promoting the End of the World. The signs […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, End of Days, End of the World, God Fearing, Religion, The Rapture | 4 Comments »
Awhile ago, I wrote about the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel. I really like that blog and I am feeling a little lazy today so I am re-posting it: “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Babel, Biblical Scholarship, Blasphemy, delusion, Disproving God, language, Religion, the bible | 3 Comments »
Not long ago, I made the case that the Tea Party was a re-branding of the Christian Right. A few “Tea Baggers” disagreed and reiterated the position that it is an pro-Constitution/cut government waste movement. Well, this is their lucky day, because I have discovered a perfect test to see which one of us is […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, church/state, culture war, Political Activism, Politics, Religion | No Comments »
Mathematics is one of those things that is not open to interpretation. It doesn’t matter who counting the numbers, they should always add up the same. But there are a few instances within Christianity in which the divinely perfect numbers just don’t add up. The first an obvious mathematical equation that doesn’t add up is […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, ignorance, logic, Religion, science, Trinity | 4 Comments »
I never really understood the idea of a Church… at least not from a theological point of view. If God is supposed to be everywhere, then what is the point of having a house of God? Now of course there are other reasons for have Christians to build Churches. From a historical stand point, it […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Church, Glory to God, Religious Manipulation | 4 Comments »
The other day, I got an e-mail from Liberty University. It was actually more of a spam mail. It seems that the Jerry Falwell School of Brainwashing has started an online degree program. I feel sorry for online colleges like Phoenix University that already struggles to be taken seriously and not they are put in […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, Biblical Scholarship, culture war, education, ignorance, Religion, Religious Manipulation | 1 Comment »
For most atheists, when we get into conversations with the religious, we tend to discuss facts and evidence. When we argue, we use logic, reason, and point out fallacies. But when the religious argue, they use personal connection. Religious people will try to get to know you. They don’t really care about the details of […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, conversation, culture war, de-conversion, Personal, Religious Manipulation | 3 Comments »
A lot of times, Christians will insist that their belief was not a product of brainwashing, indoctrination, or some other form of emotional trickery. They will insist that there are logical and reasonable reasons for their belief. Okay, what are they? They will give you a million different arguments for God and Christianity but which […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, conversation, Religion, Religious Manipulation | 1 Comment »
I was talking to a Christian over the weekend and he asserted that there are three kinds of knowledge, empirical, rational, and faithful. I think this is a brilliant move to assert that faith is a kind of knowledge. What is the argument for that? Where is the evidence? Oh wait, if there is an […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, conversation, faith | 4 Comments »
