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Philosopher and theologian William Lane Craig squares off against scientist Victor Stenger on the existence of God. The debate is in multiple parts, so I recommend you watch all the way through and not just what is posted here. In fact, start this video about 8 minutes in so you can skip the longwinded introductions [...]
Archive for July, 2009
Craig vs. Stenger On The Existence Of God
July 24th, 2009 
Daniel Fincke Religious Protesters of Star Wars
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke Christina finds this religulous bit of insanity: Your Thoughts?
Answering Children’s Questions
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke End Hereditary Religion profiles an intriguing book: “The War for Children’s Minds” is a brilliantly clear and convincingly argued defense of liberalism in moral education. Stephen Law examines and demolishes all the arguments in favor of authoritarian ways of teaching, and shows that in spite of the insistence of popular commentators from the religious right, [...]
Posted in Education, Religion, Secularism 
Tags: education advocated, external moral authority, faith schools, independent critical thought, liberal approach, liberal moral education, moral malaise, moral sheep, mugging old ladies, parental freedom, reflective critique, responsibility for making moral judgements, wholly rational foundation 
No Comments »How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke In the first part of this series, I explored the reasons for rejecting “unconditional” love as a candidate for the ideal essence of love since as a concept it is riddled with numerous problems as a recommendation for human psychology it is hopelessly unrealistic. In this part of the series, I sketch out a theory [...]
Posted in Ethics, Love, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Sex, Virtues Tags: Admiration, Affection, Attachment, Commitment, Complete Love, Components of Love, Conditional Love, Desirability, Erosiac Desire, Erotic Desire, Essence of Love, Family, Family Resemblances, Ideal Love, Intimacy, Mutuality, Parental Love, Platonic Desire, Romantic Desire, Sexual Love, Unconditional Love, Value Perception, Virtue Theory, Volition, Wittgenstein 2 Comments »Is Privacy The New Nudity?
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke Jennie Yabroff offers an interesting theory as to why a grainy spy video of a nude ESPN anchor, Erin Andrews (who they say is barely identifiable in the video), brushing her hair is in such high demand on the internet given the wide array of available high resolution porn on the internet: What’s really provocative [...]
Daily Hilarity: Mr. Deity Defends His “Eye For An Eye” Policy
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke [yo
Posted in Comedy, Hilarious, Judaism, Mr. Deity, Satire Tags: Gandhi, Larry, Old Testament Justice No Comments »On Freethinkers’ Groups
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke One of Andrew Sullivan’s readers was unimpressed with his experience with a freethinkers’ alternative to church: I was raised Southern Baptist. One of the few reasons I miss organized religion is the social aspect of “church as an event.” In Kansas City some years back, there was a freethinker’s group called the Eupraxophy Center. As [...]
Make Your Own God Billboard!
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke Like that nifty billboard campaign of messages from God that was all over the place earlier this decade, you can make your own now! If you make any and send them to us, we’ll post them if we like them! Great find by The Friendly Atheist.
Conceptual Problems For The Ideal of Unconditional Love
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke The ideal of unconditional love strikes many as the purest, most ideal way to define the essence of love. It is easy to see why this characterization of the essence of love is appealing. Unconditional love is an undiluted love—if I love only the good in you but do not love the bad in you, [...]
Posted in Atheistic Ethics, Christianity, Ethics, God, Love, Philosophy, Religion, Virtues Tags: Calvinism, Conditional Love, Desirability, Erosiac Desire, Fitting Love, Hell, Intrinsic Goods, Irresistable Grace, Original Sin, Paradoxes, Parental Love, Predestination, Reprobates, Total Depravity, Unconditional Grace, Unconditional Love, Universal Love, Universalism, Value Perception No Comments »Women Tortured And Disfigured With Acid In Muslim World
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke Read Read Read Read Read: “I was shopping in one of the most crowded districts in Baghdad when I felt my skin burning by something corrosive. It was horrible, a terrible pain, then I found myself in hospital,” Abdullah said. Witnesses in the district where the attack happened, said that for more than two weeks, [...]
Posted in Fundamentalism, Islam, Religion, Religious Extremism Tags: Acid Attacks, Dowry, Violence Against Women No Comments »150 Women Face Flogging For Adultery
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke Heartwrenchingly disgusting: Almost 150 women living in the Maldives face a public flogging for indulging in extra-marital sex after being convicted by the Muslim country’s conservative courts. Around 50 men also face the punishment. Earlier this month, an 18-year-old woman fainted after she was flogged 100 times having been found guilty of having sex with [...]
Posted in Fundamentalism, Islam, News, Politics, Religion, Religious Extremism, Torture, Women's Issues Tags: Adultery Laws, Caning, Crimes Against Humanity, Flogging, Human Rights, Islam, Islamism, Judge Abdulla Mohamed, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, Kuantan, Malaysia, Maldives, Misogyny, Pahang, Sha'ria Law, Singapore, Violence Against Women No Comments »An Icon Is A Mirror
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke Johann Hari has a neat piece which can be summed up with this eminently quotable nugget: An icon is a mirror: it tells you how a group sees itself, distilled into a single personality. He uses his article to explore various gay icons who have made it into an exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery [...]
Pat Condell Excoriates The Left For Not Standing Up To Islamism
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke There is a lot to chew on in this latest rant from Pat Condell on the need for the tolerant to be more intolerant of intolerant religions than they are intolerant of denouncers of intolerant religions. While Condell’s attack on multiculturalism is too broad and at times his rhetoric is cringe-inducingly counter-productive, I do share [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Christopher Hitchens, Ethics, News Discussion, Pat Condell, Politics, Rape, Religious Rights, Women's Rights Tags: Ahmed Younis, BBC, Blasphemy Laws, Burqa, Feminist Looking Glass, Intolerance, Intolerance of Intolerance, Ireland, Ireland Blasphemy Laws, Islam, Islamism, Islamonauseum, Islamophobia, Islamophobia Nauseum, Johann Hari, Liberalism, Marwa al-Sherbini, Multiculturalism, Political Liberalism, Prejudices, Religious Rights, Sarkozy, The West, Tolerance, Tolerance of Intolerance, Veil, Western Values, Women's Rights No Comments »Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland Trailer Premieres
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke Aside from the hideous Mad Hatter makeup, this whole trailer is gorgeous and exciting.
German Inflatable Church
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke Thanks again to the Atheist Media Blog, which you should check for yourself everyday.
Posted in Religion, Religulous, Unintentional Comedy, Videos Tags: Germany, Inflatable Church, Religious Gimmicks No Comments »Birthers Just The Latest Legitimacy Challengers?
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke Harry Shearer makes an interesting connection between the fringe birther movement questioning the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s citizenship and recent presidential history: The reason for the growth of birtherism, I’m suggesting, lies in the history of the last two presidencies. Bill Clinton was reviled by Republicans, partly because he won and partly because he won [...]
Posted in Barack Obama, News Discussion, Politics Tags: Bill Clinton, Birthers, Bush v. Gore, Harry Shearer, Ross Perot No Comments »“At This, God Sent Poisonous Snakes Among The People”
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke Click here for more amazing pictures dramatizing Bible stories using legos!
Rwanda’s Amazing Reconciliation
July 24th, 2009 Daniel Fincke I was so inspired by the story of Rwanda’s ability to overcome its genocides through a process of confession and forgiveness. Here is Fareed Zakaria and Rwandan President Paul Kagame from last Sunday. In the spirit of Zarathustra’s prescription: for human beings to be redeemed from revenge—that is for me the bridge to the highest [...]
Posted in News Discussion, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Politics Tags: CNN, confession, Fareed Zakaria, forgiveness, genocide, reconciliation, Revenge, Rwanda, Thus Spoke Zarathustra No Comments »Animation of DNA
July 23rd, 2009 Daniel Fincke Gorgeous, marvelous, spell-binding, and awe-inspiring. Nature is amazing (and scientific knowledge and animation capacities aren’t too shabby either).
A Case Against Blair
July 23rd, 2009 Daniel Fincke Stephane Mot’s reasons for opposing Blair, whom he labels a “fundamentalist”: Unsurprisingly, Tony Blair came out in the open as a candidate for the Presidency of Europe. The problem is that previously, he also came out in the open as a newly converted Catholic. Some – including yours truly – would rather say “born again [...]
Jonah Hill Flops As A Stand Up
July 23rd, 2009 Daniel Fincke After touring with Seth Rogen trying his hand at stand up comedy for role research for his upcoming film, Jonah Hill abandons the stage for good: Hill admits his dreams of becoming a regular stand-up were crushed by watching Rogen’s comedy routine kill crowds with laughter while he got heckled on stage. He says, “I [...]
Richard Dawkins Interviews Jesuit Astronomer Father George Coyne
July 23rd, 2009 Daniel Fincke An utterly fascinating dialogue, Coyne throughout is a novel, deeply scientifically informed, and riveting thinker and Dawkins puts exactly the right questions and brief challenges to him. Watch all 7 parts, they’re great. Your Thoughts?
Posted in Astronomy, Cosmology, Evolution, Faith, Philosophy, Physics, Pope Benedict XVI, Religion, Religion and Science, Science Tags: Cosmological Arguments For Existence of God, Existence of God, George Coyne, God of the Gaps, Multiverse, Non-Overlapping Magisteria, Pope John Paul II, Prime Mover, Richard Dawkins, Roman Catholicism No Comments »Conservative Christians Coming Around On Harry Potter?
July 23rd, 2009 Daniel Fincke The contrast: Conservative Christian reviews of the new Harry Potter movie are surprisingly positive. “As ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ opens, we are once again reminded of the characteristics that make him something of a Christ figure,” Connie Neal writes for the evangelical Christianity Today. “It is more likely that at the end of [...]
Posted in Film, Pope Benedict XVI, Religion Tags: Christianity Today, Connie Neal, Focus On the Family, Harry Potter, James Dobson No Comments »
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