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by Eric Steinhart You’ve probably heard the old question: Why is there something rather than nothing? It’s unfortunate when theists screw this up. They say: Because God created the universe! Of course, since God is something, you can’t use God to answer the question. The universe coming from God is just something from something. And [...]
Archive for February, 2011
Why Materialism is Unscientific
February 10th, 2011 
Daniel Fincke The Nothing (Neverending Story + Radiohead's "How To Disappear")
February 10th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Your Thoughts?
Posted in Film, Film, Indie Music, Indie Music, Indie Rock, Indie Rock, Music, Music Videos, Music Videos, Pop Culture, Pop Culture, Videos 
Tags: The Neverending Story, The Nothing 
No Comments »Is There A Curse On MSNBC's 8PM Time Slot That Turns Smart People Into Blowhards?
February 10th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Lawrence O’Donnell has become insufferable ever since he started subbing for Keith Olbermann last year and is getting worse nightly since taking over the 8pm slot full time. Below is an mesmerizingly awful display as O’Donnell makes even an apology into an occasion for massive quantities of bluster and verbosity and all around blowharding: Visit [...]
Defending Apostates' Intellects Against A Dismissive Christian Apologist
February 9th, 2011 Daniel Fincke This morning, I posted a few of Evangelical Christian Drew Dyck’s condescending and disingenuous attempts to understand the growing trend of sustained apostasy among young Christians. In the last post I criticized his ideas and value prejudices which guided his discussion of the role that sexual development in young adulthood plays in leading people away [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Christianity, Christianity, Faith, Faith, Featured, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy, Secularism, Why I Am Not A Christian, Why I Am Not A Christian Tags: Apologists, Apostasy, C.S. Lewis, Drew Dycks, Intellectual Conscience, Postmodernism, Presuppositionalism, Relativists 4 Comments »'Nuff Said Award Winner: Jeff Dale
February 9th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Jeff Dale’s ‘Nuff Said Award is for his reply to the following passage from Drew Dyck in which Dyck accuses young defectors from Christianity of being motivated to leave their faith because of their “sinful” sexual behavior: So 20- and 30-somethings are leaving—but why? When I ask church people, I receive some variation of this [...]
Posted in 'Nuff Said, 'Nuff Said, 'Nuff Said, Christianity, Christianity, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Religion, Religion, Sex 1 Comment »What Have The Democrats Done For The Working Person In America?
February 9th, 2011 Daniel Fincke There’s some needless name-calling in what follows but the laundry list of indisputably valuable reforms and programs offered, all of which are creditable to the Democrats, is really staggering: Your Thoughts?
Muslim Mob Burns Churches, Demands Death Penalty Over Christian Man's Leaflets "Insulting" Islam
February 9th, 2011 Daniel Fincke The usual outrageous outrage: A Muslim mob burned churches and clashed with police in Indonesia on Tuesday as they demanded the death penalty for a Christian man convicted of blaspheming against Islam, police said. Two days after a Muslim lynch mob killed three members of a minority Islamic sect, crowds of furious Muslims set two [...]
Sex And Apostasy
February 9th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Drew Dyck has written a book called Generation Ex-Christian: Why Young Adults Are Leaving the Faith. . .and How to Bring Them Back. I want to focus on just a few passages from his interesting five page article from last fall in last November’s Christianity Today. Unlike many Christians who, despite living in a culture [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Autonomy, Autonomy, Christianity, Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Prejudice, Psychology, Psychology, Religion, Religion, Secularism, Sex, Social Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology, Sociology, Why I Am Not A Christian, Why I Am Not A Christian Tags: Sex and Faith, Sex and Religion, Sexual Ethics, Sexual Experimentation, Sexual Hypocrisy, Sexual Values, Young Adult Sexuality 8 Comments »TOP Q: “Do Children Have Higher Moral Status Than Adults?”
February 9th, 2011 Daniel Fincke In his book Moral Status and Human Life: The Case for Children’s Superiority, law professor James Dwyer argues that children are not merely equal to adults in moral status but actually have a higher moral status than adults. Below is a brief video in which he sketches out the broad contours of his thought on moral [...]
Posted in Abortion, Abortion, Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Autonomy, Autonomy, Bio-Medical Ethics, Bio-Medical Ethics, Civil Rights, Civil Rights, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Duty, Duty, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, Law, Law, Metaethics, Metaethics, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Teleology, Teleology, Today's Open Philosophical Question (TOP Q) Tags: Children, Children's Rights 2 Comments »Another Middle Eastern Dictator's Regime Is Threatened
February 9th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Yahweh is the latest under siege by a young, freedom movement: Speculation has been growing about whether God’s dictatorship will be the next to crumble under the demand for freedom that is sweeping the earth. Yahweh has now ruled without free elections for over 2,000 years. He seized power after the assassination of his son, [...]
Posted in Christianity, Christianity, Comedy, Comedy, God, God, Hilarious, Parody, Parody, Religion, Religion, Religious Satire, Religious Satire, Satire, Satire, Theocracy, Theocracy, Theocrats, Theocrats 1 Comment »Pat Tillman In Hell? (Or "How NOT To Proselytize")
February 9th, 2011 Daniel Fincke John writes in to trivialize the tragic death of Pat Tillman because he was *gasp*—an atheist: I wanted to leave a comment about Pat Tillmans death in afganistan, while it is tragic, the greater tragedy is that if he was an athiest, He died not knowing ( or not believing )that Jesus died on the [...]
Republican Legislator In Wyoming Recounts Circumstances Of Her Abortion
February 9th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Rachel Maddow covers the remarkable story about Wyoming State Representatives Lisa Shepperson and Sue Wallis making a small government conservatism argument against a paternalistic proposed abortion law: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Wallis is the mother of 7 and the grandmother of 1. More about her can be [...]
Posted in Abortion, Abortion, Bio-Medical Ethics, Bio-Medical Ethics, Feminism, Feminism, Law, Law, Law & Politics, Politics, Politics, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Issues Tags: Rachel Maddow, Robert Brechtel, Sue Wallis, Wyoming 2 Comments »Wow! I Belonged To The TRUE Christian Church!!
February 8th, 2011 Daniel Fincke From ages 5-21, my entire time as part of the Protestant Christian Church, I was more specifically a member of the “non-denominational” Church of Christ which arose out of the “Restoration Movement” of America’s 2nd Great Awakening. John W. Loftus, a former minister and fellow former member of the Church of Christ turned atheist, has a [...]
Posted in Christianity, Christianity, Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Religion, Religion Tags: Baptists, Charts, Christian Denominations, Church Of Christ, Congregationalist, Episcopalians, Exclusivism in Christianity, Greek Orthodox Church, Heresies, Hiddenness of God, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterian, Protestants, Restoration Movement, Schisms in Christianity, United Brethren 7 Comments »Vigilante Elderly Woman Foils Robbery
February 8th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Amazing, heartwarming, confirmed footage of bravery: via Feminist Philosophers. David Slutsky, from Feminist Philosophers’ comments section, has a valid gripe with the sound re-edit noticeable in the version of the video of the incident above: This is great. What really bothers me, however, is the seemingly belittling/sensationalistic/cartoonish manner of the accompanying music and narrative/voice-over with which many [...]
The "A" Word
February 8th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Yesterday, Eric Steinhart pointed out that “Much entails atheism but atheism entails little”, which inspired F.O. to write to me, Now I just think about how much it took me to really admit to myself that I was an atheist, using that word and not any other alternative, and I found that funny somehow. Why [...]
Daily Hilarity: Calvinist Pick Up Lines
February 7th, 2011 Daniel Fincke This really cracked me up and took me back to my days with the Calvinists at Grove City College: For the uninitiated, bone up on your Calvinism (specifically the “TULIP”) here. I mean, it won’t help you get the video unless God wants you to. But if he does, you’ll find it irresistible. Your Thoughts?
The Positive Content of Atheism
February 7th, 2011 Daniel Fincke by Eric Steinhart Over at Pharyngula, PZ Myers recently wrote about being irked by “Dictionary Atheists”. He doesn’t like it when people say that atheism means nothing more than denying God. His post is long, but I just want to focus on the issue of the meaning of atheism: why complain about dictionary atheists? After [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Authority, Featured, God, Metaphysics, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy, PZ Myers, Religion, Secularism 8 Comments »Cat Faber's "The Words Of God"
February 6th, 2011 Daniel Fincke This is another, meditative Sunday afternoon song, each of I’ve lifted from either this post or its comments section). This one though is not satirical and should be genuinely amenable to the more sophisticated theist (or pantheist or other believer in a philosopher’s god of some sort), who wants more God in her view of [...]
All Things Dull And Ugly
February 6th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Earlier this afternoon, I encouraged us to sing a hymn about how all things bright and beautiful were made by evolution. While many religious believers and non-believers alike could sing that song together, I worry some religious believers who do not believe in evolution may have been left out of all the fun and singing. [...]
Posted in Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments Against The Existence of God, Atheism, Atheism, Atheist Videos, Atheist Videos, Christianity, Christianity, Comedy, Comedy, God, God, Hilarious, Music Videos, Music Videos, Parody, Parody, Problem of Evil, Problem of Evil, Religious Satire, Religious Satire, Satire, Satire, Videos Tags: Monty Python 2 Comments »Evolution Made Us All
February 6th, 2011 Daniel Fincke It’s Sunday! Gather round all ye atheists to join in singing a god-free hymn about the maker of all things bright and beautiful: Evolution Made Us All from Ben Hillman on Vimeo. Your Thoughts?
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheist Videos, Atheist Videos, Comedy, Comedy, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Evolution, Evolution, Hilarious, Parody, Parody, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Satire, Satire, Secularism, Videos Tags: Mother Theresa, Osama bin Laden 2 Comments »How Many Days Did Bill Murray's Character Spend In A Time Loop In The Film Groundhog Day?
February 5th, 2011 Daniel Fincke 12,403 days (which is 33 years, 358 days). At least according to Simon Gallagher’s math. Even I haven’t ever spent that long trying to win over a girl. via Your Thoughts?
Would The Founding Fathers Ever Mandate People Buy Health Insurance?
February 5th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Some already did: In July of 1798, Congress passed – and President John Adams signed – “An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen.” The law authorized the creation of a government operated marine hospital service and mandated that privately employed sailors be required to purchase health care insurance. Keep in mind that [...]
Posted in History, Law, Law, Law & Politics, Politics, Politics Tags: Health Care Reform, Private Mandate No Comments »Vintage Kermit the Frog From "Sam & Friends" On Visual Thinking
February 5th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Amazing footage, it boggles my mind to see Kermit in the ’50s: It’s such a shame that Jim Henson’s deft, pitch perfect sense of humor and imagination died with him. Most things muppet-related have been bland, assembly line, Disneyfied hack work since 1990. Blegh. Kermit the Frog is dead, long live Kermit the Frog. Your [...]
Posted in Culture, Culture and Technology, Culture and Technology, Pop Culture, Pop Culture, TV, TV, Videos Tags: Jim Henson, Kermit the Frog, Sam & Friends, Vintage No Comments »Daily Hilarity: How To Invite Your Co-Worker To Church
February 5th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Your Thoughts?
Why Was There Only One Set Of Footprints In The Sand?
February 4th, 2011 Daniel Fincke via @agentofDarwin Your Thoughts?
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