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There is a subway that I sometimes ride that shuttles back and forth all day between Grand Central Station and Times Square and it is the most wonderful subway advertising experience because the entire interior of the train will be designed as a giant ad for something—be it the baseball playoffs or a Broadway show [...]
Archive for September, 2011
A 1917 Subway Car Back In Service In NYC
September 5th, 2011 
Daniel Fincke 20 Christian Academics Speaking About God
September 5th, 2011 Daniel Fincke So many religious believers I encounter want to cite the existence of smart religious people as proof enough that their beliefs are rational. Below is a video just demonstrating how unintelligible, contradictory, or explicitly anti-reason many otherwise brilliant and highly credentialed scholars sound when they start actually explaining the religious beliefs that laypeople want to [...]
What I Think About “Evangelical Atheism”
September 4th, 2011 Daniel Fincke In my “What I Think About” series I am laying out many theses I have argued for extensively on this blog. I have already covered some of my key views on objective values, faith and religion, science and faith, religious moderates and liberals, and why I call myself a gnostic theist/agnostic adeist. In this post I overview my position [...]
Are Churches Appropriate Voting Stations?
September 4th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Hank Fox meditates on the sanctity of the uncoerced conscience at voting time. He reminds us of our willingness to ban campaigning at voting stations—which goes to the extent of banning us from wearing all campaign paraphernalia, even our “quiet campaign buttons”. And then shows us how his own local polling station greets voters : [...]
The Simpsons, Family Guy, and The Trolley Problem
September 4th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Tomkow explains the famous “Trolley Problem” using the aid of characters from The Simpsons and Family Guy: TROLLEY A runaway trolley is coming down the track. It is headed towards five people who cannot get out of its way. A Passerby realizes that he can save the five by throwing a switch and diverting the trolley down [...]
Stream Laura Marling’s “A Creature I Don’t Know”
September 4th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Laura Marling’s debut album Alas I Cannot Swim, recorded when she was only 17, is a masterpiece which instantly made her my favorite female folk singer bar none. If Bob Dylan’s 1960s work did not exist she’d be my favorite folk singer, period. Her exceptional follow up I Speak Because I Canonly added textures and nuances to [...]
Posted in Indie Music, Indie Music, Music, Music 
Tags: A Creature I Don't Know, Laura Marling 
2 Comments »Offer Nominations for 3 Quarks Daily’s Prize for Best Blog Writing in Philosophy
September 4th, 2011 Daniel Fincke For the third straight year, 3 Quarks Daily will award a prize for blog writing in philosophy. Nominate what you think is the best philosophy blog post from the last year by 11:59pm EST on Monday night (September 5). Below the fold are both the full details of the contest and a very good video interview [...]
Posted in Biology, Biology, Ethics, Evolution, Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Psychology, Psychology, Social Psychology, Social Psychology Tags: Cognitive Science, Neuromorality, Neurophilosophy, Patricia Churchland No Comments »CNN Investigates Christian Fundamentalists’ Child Abuse
September 3rd, 2011 Daniel Fincke Brainless brutish bullying Bible-bashers busted: And last but not least, from the same show, here is a must-see disturbing interview with Jocelyn Zichterman, a woman raised abusively by a Independent Fundamental Baptist pastor with Pearl’s philosophy of discipline, wherein she describes in detail the methods of beating for hours with the goal of completely breaking [...]
Posted in Christianity, Christianity, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism Tags: Anderson Cooper, Child Abuse, Don Williams, Hephzibah House, Independent Fundamental Baptist, Jocelyn Zichterman, Me'chelle Dowling, Michael Pearl, To Train Up A Child 10 Comments »Cheetah Whisperer
September 3rd, 2011 Daniel Fincke The sounds of the cheetahs in the first couple of minutes is downright musical: Thanks to Leroy for the find. And I cannot mention cheetahs and not provide a link to some of my favorite 19 seconds in TV history. Your Thoughts?
Poets Read Craisglist Posts
September 3rd, 2011 Daniel Fincke Everything is deeper when poets read it: via The Dish Your Thoughts?
Posted in Comedy, Comedy, Unintentional Comedy, Unintentional Comedy, Videos Tags: Novelties No Comments »Scientists Examine Evidence For Scientology
September 3rd, 2011 Daniel Fincke The results are shocking: Your Thoughts?
Posted in Atheist Videos, Atheist Videos, Comedy, Comedy, Hilarious, Parody, Parody, Religulous, Religulous, Satire, Satire, Videos Tags: Scientology 2 Comments »Mostly True, Not Mostly False
September 3rd, 2011 Daniel Fincke I wrote a post where I effectively argued that any genuine truth in art and in myths (including religious art and myths) could be essentially translated into, and defended in the form of, philosophical propositions. James counters: my question regards the notion that myths or art can be “true” or not, and that the way [...]
Red Neck, Blue Collar, Atheist
September 3rd, 2011 Daniel Fincke Hank Fox (who is one of my exciting new Freethought Blogs neighbors) wrote a book called Red Neck, Blue Collar, Atheist: Simple Thoughts About Reason, Gods and Faith which he plugs hilariously in the video below:
What I Think About How To Engage Religious Liberals, Moderates, and Fundamentalists
September 2nd, 2011 Daniel Fincke In my “What I Think About” series, I am offering readers concise overviews of my views on various important topics. I have already covered objective values, faith and religion, science and faith, and why I call myself a gnostic theist/agnostic adeist. Below I consider in some detail the challenges of supporting liberal and moderate religious people in their struggles [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Bible, Bible, Christianity, Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Islam, Islam, Koran, Koran, Philosophy Of Religion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Secularism 7 Comments »What I Think About The Relationships Between Science, Philosophy, and Faith
September 2nd, 2011 Daniel Fincke In my “What I Think About” posts, I am summarizing my views and providing relevant links on major topics as a reference for readers new and old. In other posts, I have covered objective values, faith and religion, my response to moderate and liberal religious people, and why I call myself a gnostic theist/agnostic adeist. [...]
What I Think About The Existence of God
September 2nd, 2011 Daniel Fincke In my “What I Think About” series, I am providing a compendium for my blogging up until now on key issues in atheism, philosophy of religion, and moral philosophy. In each post, I provide a short summary of my key positions and then offer links to the posts where I argue in greater depth for [...]
What I Think About Faith And Religion
September 2nd, 2011 Daniel Fincke Yesterday, I wrote a post to orient readers to my views on how values can be matters of fact. This afternoon I wrote 6 more such posts, delineating my positions on a number of other key topics which can serve as introductions and reference guides (with links) to my thinking. They are on the topics of the [...]
Two Artificially Intelligent “Chatbots” Talk About God
September 2nd, 2011 Daniel Fincke and other stuff: There you have it, even artificial intelligence cannot talk about God coherently. Your Thoughts?
Nietzsche Is My Co-Pilot
September 1st, 2011 Daniel Fincke Being a Nietzsche guy, I get links to a lot of gimmicky Nietzsche paraphernalia, toys, trinkets, and parodies sent my way. But few instantly excite me as much as this just did: Buy it or other stylish ironic clothes at Amorphia Apparel. Thanks a bunch to Matt. Your Thoughts?
How Atheists Treat Religious Dictates As Holy
September 1st, 2011 Daniel Fincke Greta Christina has a fine inaugural post at her new Freethought Blogs site. It is on the real difference between being diplomatic towards religious people and being an accommodationist who gives the religious everything they want, even if it contradicts one’s own personal positions: Diplomacy means working with religious believers as equals. Accomodationism means bending to religion [...]
“Typing in Tongues”
September 1st, 2011 Daniel Fincke Televangelist Juanita Bynum is on the cutting edge of religulousness:
Posted in Christianity, Christianity, Religulous, Religulous, Skepticism, Skepticism Tags: Pentecostals, Speaking In Tongues, Typing in Tongues 20 Comments »Santorum’s Hypocrisy and Backwardness on Questions of Epistemic Authority
September 1st, 2011 Daniel Fincke My thoughts:
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Civil Rights, Civil Rights, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Ethics, Faith, Faith, Free Speech, Free Speech, Gay Marriage, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy, Law, Law, LGBTQAA, Philosophy Of Religion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Psychology, Psychology, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Religious Rights, Religious Rights, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Same Sex Marriage, Same Sex Marriage, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Teleology, Teleology, Theocracy, Theocracy, Theocrats, Theocrats, Videos Tags: Rick Santorum 5 Comments »9 Vital Points About The Public Relevance of Political Candidates’ Religious Beliefs
September 1st, 2011 Daniel Fincke Last week, Bill Keller had a good piece in the New York Times in which he discussed the importance of “asking tougher questions about faith” to the presidential candidates and then offered to each of the current Republican candidates for president a set of specific questions, tailored uniquely to each candidate, about their faiths and their [...]
Posted in Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Faith, Faith, Free Speech, Free Speech, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Law, Law, News Discussion, News Discussion, Philosophy, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Religious Rights, Religious Rights, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocracy, Theocracy, Theocrats, Theocrats Tags: 1st Amendment, Bart Stupak, Bill Keller, John F. Kennedy, John Shimkus, Political Philosophy, Presidential Campaign 2012, Republican Presidential Candidates 4 Comments »What I Think About Metaethics
September 1st, 2011 Daniel Fincke To get new readers caught up and to inspire all of you to resume old conversations and to get new ones rolling, periodically I will write posts which tour you through my archive. In each post I will briefly summarize the positions I have taken in the past and provide links to the posts where [...]
Hello (Again) Freethought Blogs!
September 1st, 2011 Daniel Fincke Forgive me, long time readers (or, more precisely, readers from last week), because I’m about to mostly repeat myself in order to introduce myself to the many people who will be coming here for the first time today. You can entertain yourselves in the meantime by perusing the other newly launched freethought blogs on the network [...]
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