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Listen to Jamila Bey and Norm Allen describe their experience as atheists unifying. For a taste of what they have to say, here is Jamila Bey in The Root: Among black folks, if you’re a criminal who shows up at a service on whatever Sabbath you subscribe to, you’re just a fallen human who is [...]
Archive for July, 2010
Black And Godless In America
July 4th, 2010 
Daniel Fincke Conscientious Objector
July 4th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Edna St. Vincent Millay: Conscientious Objector I shall die, but that is all that I shall do for Death. I hear him leading his horse out of the stall; I hear the clatter on the barn-floor. He is in haste; he has business in Cuba, business in the Balkans, many calls to make this morning. [...]
Coates, With An Appeal To Hitchens, On The Confederate Flag
July 4th, 2010 Daniel Fincke What to make of those in the south who claim the Confederate flag as part of a properly American southern heritage? Ta-Nehisi Coates is eloquent: But people can fly the Confederate Flag and have a serious, evidently credible argument, about its “precise meaning,” mostly because of a long historical fight to make the Civil War, [...]
“Testimony: He Or His Apparition”
July 4th, 2010 Daniel Fincke From Three Poems by Nicole Cooley: Testimony: He or His Apparition About noon, at Salem, Giles Corey was press’d to death for standing Mute. — Samuel Sewall, Diary, September 19, 1692 The girls’ testimony is gravel scattered on the grass. Ann Putnam: Giles Corey or his Apperance has most greviously afflected me by beating pinching and almost [...]
Posted in History, Virtues 
Tags: Conscience, Courage, Nicole Cooley, Poems, Poetry, Salem Witch Trials, Testimony: He Or His Apparition, The Afflicted Girls 
No Comments »America – Fuck Yeah!
July 4th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Your Thoughts?
Posted in Comedy, Comedy, Hilarious, History, Music Videos, Music Videos, Satire, Satire, Videos Tags: America, Team America 6 Comments »Jefferson And Mason: From Toleration To Freedom
July 4th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Happy Independence Day! Your Thoughts?
Threatened With Death Penalty, Maldivian Skeptic Of Islam Recants
July 3rd, 2010 Daniel Fincke A while back I highlighted the story of a Maldivian man who was attacked by a crowd for expressing his lack of belief in Islam during the Q&A session by a the visiting Indian scholar Dr. Zakir Naik. Maldives is a state where it is illegal to not believe. Now, via Atheist Media Blog, here’s video [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Islam, Islam, News, News Discussion, News Discussion, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Skepticism, Skepticism, Theocracy, Theocracy, Videos, World Affairs, World Affairs Tags: Maldives, Mohamed Nazim, PZ Myers, Zakir Naik 3 Comments »A Dictatorship Of Relativism?
July 3rd, 2010 Daniel Fincke BBC Radio 4 analyzes the pope’s catchphrase, “a dictatorship of relativism”, used for describing the secular West. Here’s the program description: The idea that no one has a monopoly on the truth seems to be fixed in the modern Western psyche. But it’s an idea that is under attack. Pope Benedict claims that we are [...]
Posted in Authority, Authority, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Culture, Cutural Criticism, Cutural Criticism, Ethics, Ethics, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Islam, Islam, Metaethics, Metaethics, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Benedict XVI, Religion, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, World Affairs, World Affairs Tags: Ann Widdecombe, Europe, Leslie Green, Marcello Pera, Moral Aboslutism, Moral Relativism, Rowan Williams, Ruzwan Mohammed, Simon Blackburn, Stephen Wang, United Kingdom No Comments »Cognitive Misers
July 3rd, 2010 Daniel Fincke Kaj_Sotala summarizes fascinating ideas from Keith E. Stanovich’s What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought Cognitive science suggests that our brains use two different kinds of systems for reasoning: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 is quick, dirty and parallel, and requires little energy. Type 2 is energy-consuming, slow and serial. Because [...]
“Surveillance”: A Video For The Liars Song “Scarecrows On A Killer Slant”
July 3rd, 2010 Daniel Fincke Liars’ most recent album, Sisterworld, is simply my favorite 2010 release so far. It is just a great album. Listen to a representatively great song from the album: Your Thoughts?
Posted in Indie Music, Indie Music, Indie Rock, Indie Rock, Music, Music, Music Videos, Music Videos, Videos Tags: "Scarecrows On A Killer Slant", "Surveillance", Liars, Sisterworld No Comments »The Cosmological Argument, The Composition Fallacy, And More Reasons Not To Believe In God
July 3rd, 2010 Daniel Fincke Shane Wilkins, a graduate student in philosophy at Fordham (where we were fellow students and colleagues until just recently), has been an invaluable regular commentator at Camels With Hammers. He has served as my primary theistic foil since the beginning, when our 7-part debate (which started with my post Objections to Religious Moderates and Intellecuals 1) propelled this [...]
Posted in Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Atheism, Atheism, Christianity, Christianity, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Epistemology, Featured, Historical Philosophy, Jesus, Jesus, Metaphysics, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Religion, Spinoza, Spinoza, Why I Am Not A Christian, Why I Am Not A Christian Tags: Composition Fallacy, Compositional Wholes No Comments »If I Could Read Only One Atheist Blogger, It Would Be…
July 3rd, 2010 Daniel Fincke …Richard Wade of Friendly Atheist, whose ”Ask Richard” column turns one fantastic year old today. It is a column by a retired therapist who gives atheists advice about atheistic parenting, the effects of one’s religious past on one’s present life and the way to go forward constructively in the future as an atheist, and, probably most [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Friendly Atheist, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Psychology, Psychology, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Secularism, Social Psychology, Social Psychology Tags: Ask Richard, Atheist Family Relationships, Richard Wade 7 Comments »Austin Pendleton
July 2nd, 2010 Daniel Fincke I grew up on The Muppet Movie and loved the character Max. I was also the kind of kid to pay very close attention to actors and so at 14 geeked out over seeing Austin Pendleton, who played Max, pop up in a hilarious role in My Cousin Vinny. He’s now directing a show called “Disorder” [...]
Oil Spills Onto 1st Amendment, Making It Unreadable, Invalid
July 2nd, 2010 Daniel Fincke Anderson Cooper reports: Your Thoughts?
Posted in Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Free Speech, Free Speech, Law, Law, Law & Politics, News, News Discussion, News Discussion, Politics, Politics Tags: 1st Amendment, BP, BP Oil Skill, Media No Comments »Tom Rees On Why Loss Of Faith Might Be A Two Generational Process
July 2nd, 2010 Daniel Fincke The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life study this February revealed that less than one fifth of all American adults under 30 report regular church attendance. But they still also overwhelmingly claim belief in God. Tom Rees thinks that despite their beliefs, their abandonment of the pews may indicate that a multi-generational secularization [...]
Posted in Evolutionary Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Psychology, Psychology, Religion, Religion, Social Psychology, Social Psychology, Social Sciences, Sociobiology, Sociobiology, Sociology, Sociology Tags: and Culture at the University of British Columbia, Centre for Human Evolution, Cognition, Costly Signaling, Credibility Enhancing Displays, Joe Heinrich, Pope John Paul II, Religion in America, Signaling, Tom Rees No Comments »More New Laura Marling!
July 2nd, 2010 Daniel Fincke She has just recorded a new single (in one take!) with Jack White. And here are two new songs also performed in one take (H/T: Twenty-Four Bit, again): And a live Jackson C. Frank cover: Once again, her extraordinary debut album recorded when she was only 17 is Alas I Cannot Swim (Dig) and her [...]
Posted in Indie Music, Indie Music, Music, Music Videos, Music Videos, Videos Tags: Indie Folk, Jack White, Laura Marling No Comments »Unconscious Influences
July 2nd, 2010 Daniel Fincke Time ticks off some observed ways in which people have been shown to be susceptible to irrational subconscious influences: Studies have found that upon entering an office, people behave more competitively when they see a sharp leather briefcase on the desk, they talk more softly when there is a picture of a library on the [...]
“Philosopher Comic” Emily Levine
July 2nd, 2010 Daniel Fincke Her routine is hit and miss but the hits are worth it. She can be quite charming at times. Your Thoughts?
Prejudice
July 2nd, 2010 Daniel Fincke Here’s a reflexively smarmy, condescending pat on the head to the members of a maligned minority group: I once stayed in a black person’s house when I went to another place for a few days. It was interesting experience to go to an African American’s house because the black person housed us, fed us, treated [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Ethics, Prejudice, Religion, Religion Tags: Self-Righteousness No Comments »Daily Hilarity: Jeff Tweedy Of Wilco Does Beyoncé’s Single Ladies
July 2nd, 2010 Daniel Fincke This is classic: Twenty Four Bit provides context: A Jeff Tweedy solo show is something to behold, and the Wilco frontman’s benefit gig at Chicago’s Vic Theatre in March was—by all accounts—a prime example. Tweedy performed a host of pre-submitted audience requests, including “Shakin’ Sugar,” a Wilco rarity that even he had to Google, Radiohead’s [...]
Posted in Comedy, Comedy, Hilarious, Indie Music, Indie Music, Indie Rock, Indie Rock, Music, Music Videos, Music Videos, Parody, Parody, Videos Tags: "Single Ladies", Beyonce, Jeff Tweedy, Wilco No Comments »New Recording From Laura Marling & Sneh Ko Marg
July 2nd, 2010 Daniel Fincke I admit I sort of hate the Sneh Ko Morg contributions to the song, but Laura is truly fantastic as always and this is an exciting harbinger of an EP of new recordings from Laura, Mumford and Sons, and Dharohar Project, coming July 5 to I-tunes: If you’re new to Laura, you might want to [...]
Posted in Indie Music, Indie Music, Music, Music Videos, Music Videos, Videos Tags: Dharohar Project, Laura Marling, Mumford & Sons, Sneh Ko Marg No Comments »What Would Happen If Christians Crashed Atheist Groups?
July 1st, 2010 Daniel Fincke Mike Adams is bitter that the Supreme Court ruled against a Christian student group which claimed to have a legal right to discriminate against gays, despite its University’s non-discrimination policy. Adams wants Christian students to join secularist groups where (he assumes) they would be just as unwelcome as (we all know) unrepentant gays are in [...]
Contrasting Muslim And Western Psychologies: The Locus Of Control
July 1st, 2010 Daniel Fincke Nicolai Sennels spent several years working with criminal Muslims in Copenhagen (where as of March 2009 “70% of the prison population in the Copenhagen youth prison consists of young man of Muslim heritage.”) He writes the following about the different ways that Westerners and Muslims view the locus of control: There is another strong difference between the [...]
Posted in Islam, Islam, Psychology, Psychology, Social Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology, Sociology, World Affairs, World Affairs Tags: Copenhagen, Denmark, Islam In Europe 8 Comments »Deciding Without Knowing It?
July 1st, 2010 Daniel Fincke In the paper “Predicting Persuasion-Induced Behavior Change from the Brain” from The Journal of Neuroscience , UCLA researchers reveal that they were better able to predict test subjects’ behavior days in advance by monitoring activity in the medial prefrontal cortex than by asking them what they would do. Psyorg.com explains: The new study by Lieberman [...]
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