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Robin: Look, I get it, Jaime. As an atheist, you think that God’s wisdom is foolishness, that God’s righteousness is wickedness, and that the bloody death of Jesus on the cross is hateful and ugly rather than the epitome of love and beauty that Christians like I think it is. The Bible makes it very [...]
Archive for January, 2012
God and Goodness
January 30th, 2012 
Daniel Fincke 
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, Authority, Authority, Bible, Bible, Christianity, Christianity, Ethics, God, God, Metaethics, Metaethics, Metaphysics, Metaphysics, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy Of Religion, Problem of Evil, Problem of Evil, Rationalism, Religion, Religion 
Tags: Divine Command Theory, God and Goodness, God's goodness, Theological Voluntarism 
26 Comments »Hell As The Absence of God
January 29th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Robin: I know you don’t want to hear it, but Jesus loves you, Jaime. Jaime: Yes, yes, a man who either never existed or who is long dead and rotted by now loves me—and will torture me in hell forever if I don’t worship him, of course. Robin: He just wants you to love him but [...]
Posted in Atheism, Bible, Bible, Christianity, Christianity, God, God, Jesus, Jesus, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism Tags: God as Goodness, Goodness, Hell as Absence of God 84 Comments »Computer Problems
January 26th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Please forgive my uncharacteristic absence from the internet the last four days and possibly for the next four days. My computer died. The customer service of two companies has been abysmal. It’s been a miserable and frustrating few days (including my birthday on Tuesday). In addition to not being able to tend to the blog, [...]
Can Utilitarians Properly Esteem The Intrinsic Value of Truth?
January 22nd, 2012 Daniel Fincke The Obvious Intrinsic and Instrumental Values of Truth It is prejudicial and fallacious to assume that the world is an inherently just place and that all the traits we idealize as virtues will always lead to the best possible outcomes. So if we are to be honest and realistic in assessing those traits which are [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Ethics, Ethics, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Vices, Metaethics, Metaethics, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Rationalism, Religion, Religion, Virtues, Virtues Tags: Atheism and Truth, Atheism and Value of Truth, Consequentialism and Truthfulness, Faith in Truth, Moral Perfectionism and Truthfulness, Relative Value of Truth, Truthfulness, Useful Religious Fictions, Utilitarianism and Truthfulness, Value in Lying, Value of Falsehood, Value of Truthfulness 37 Comments »Gabrielle Giffords Stepping Down From Her Congressional Seat
January 22nd, 2012 Daniel Fincke A moving video: Your Thoughts?
Occupy Protesters vs. Santorum
January 22nd, 2012 Daniel Fincke Some protesters got into Santorum’s face in South Carolina: That was painful to watch. Rick Santorum strikes me in many ways as a bad person with dangerous ideas. He thinks in unnervingly authoritarian and bigoted ways. And the combination of his arrogant and idiotic ideas and overgrown jock demeanor in speaking and debating makes him [...]
Gnu Atheists, Meet the Gnu Muppet
January 22nd, 2012 Daniel Fincke Are the Gnu Atheists in the market for a theme song? I can’t speak for the Gnus—camels (like me) are apparently not gnus as I just learned from the gnu in this video, who spelled out this point quite explicitly. Your Thoughts?
Does Free Trade Really Work?
January 22nd, 2012 Daniel Fincke Ian Fletcher argues “no”: I am not an economist and never claim any expertise on economic questions whatsoever. I occasionally post interesting theses about economics for your insights, not as a knowledgeable endorsement of any kind. In the case of this video, I was inspired to post it when I saw National Review conservative John [...]
Multiple Movie Orgasms (NSFW)
January 22nd, 2012 Daniel Fincke This video starts a bit slow but gets steadily more satisfying—especially as it builds up to the climax. ooh aah from ant1mat3rie on Vimeo. via Buzzfeed, who was turned onto it by The Mary Sue. Your Thoughts?
Posted in Hilarious, Sex Tags: Mash-ups, Meg Ryan, When Harry Met Sally, When Harry Met Sally Fake Orgasm Scene 3 Comments »Part 3 of my interview with Bret at “Anything But Theist”
January 22nd, 2012 Daniel Fincke The first part of my four part interview with Anything But Theist was about Nietzsche’s role in my deconversion and about my views on the various kinds of atheists and Christians I observe. The second part of the interview focused on whether or how to prioritize truth against other competing values. (I’ll have more to [...]
What is Pharyngula?
January 21st, 2012 Daniel Fincke Since I joined Freethought Blogs I get crazed fans coming up to me all the time asking “Do you know Pharyngula?” and “What is Pharyngula?” I figured I should take a post to address this common question. Below is Pharyngula. He is a demon made of aborted fetuses:
Just How Much Should We Prioritize Truth Over Other Goods?
January 19th, 2012 Daniel Fincke As I mentioned the other day, in part one of my four part interview with Bret Alan of Anything But Theist, we talked primarily about the different, conflicting attitudes among a range of different kinds of atheists and about how Nietzsche got under my skin enough to drastically accelerate my deconversion. I also discussed various [...]
Posted in Atheism, Personal Tags: Do atheists worship truth?, The Value of Truth, Truth, Truth vs. Other Priorities 16 Comments »Learn More About SOPA
January 18th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Your Thoughts?
PIPA Co-Sponsor Senator Marco Rubio Withdraws Support For PIPA
January 18th, 2012 Daniel Fincke From his Facebook page:
Did You Just Click Through Without Watching The Video?
January 18th, 2012 Daniel Fincke In case you clicked through to this website without watching the video or reading the message that initially blocked your access to Camels With Hammers and the rest of Freethought Blogs today, below is the must-see video you missed and the highly informative message you did not read.
Really? You Just Trust That Obama Will Veto SOPA?
January 18th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Use the links Reddit provides below to educate yourself about SOPA and PIPA and to figure out how to constructively take action to make sure that neither they nor any future versions of them get passed. What’s that? You heard this legislation is dead? The Obama administration said Obama would veto it and it was [...]
Some Acoustic Guitar Virtuosity
January 17th, 2012 Daniel Fincke “Acoustimetallus Plectrus” by Ewan Dobson. His album Ewan Dobson III is available today. Your Thoughts?
Make Muhammad Your Facebook Profile Picture, Get Kicked Out of School?
January 17th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Jen McCreight has an enraging summary of events: [Rhys Morgan] chose that photo [as his Facebook profile] to stand in solidarity with the University College London’s Atheist, Secular, and Humanist Society. The group was caught in a firestorm after someone complained about the image being used to promote their pub social and school officials ordered them to [...]
Posted in Atheism, Islam, Islam Tags: Freedom of Speech, Rhys Morgan, Rhys Morgan threatened with expulsion 9 Comments »How To Make God Die A Little More
January 17th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Scientific American summarizes studies which locate people’s distrust of atheists in their fears that atheists are more likely to act deviously in secret because they fear no god is watching them. We have talked about such research before. Then this article explores other research which gives indications about how to combat this problem: When we know [...]
Now A Muslim Extremist Terrorizes The Audience, Not Just The Speaker
January 17th, 2012 Daniel Fincke The New Humanist recounts a chilling, appalling, infuriating story: Yesterday evening, a talk on “Sharia Law and Human Rights” organised by the Atheism, Secularism and Humanism Society at Queen Mary, University London, had to be cancelled after threats of violence. The talk was due to be given by Anne Marie Waters of the One Law [...]
Posted in Islam, Islam, News, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, World Affairs, World Affairs 5 Comments »If Freethought Blogs Goes Dark In The Future…
January 17th, 2012 Daniel Fincke …this will be the cause. Your Thoughts?
6 Kinds of Atheists, 4 Kinds of Christians, and How Nietzsche’s Zarathustra Deconverted Me
January 16th, 2012 Daniel Fincke What are the differences between atheists who are ashamed, those who are apatheistic, those who are accommodationist, those who are lions, those who are children, and those who are hyenas? How did reading Nietzsche’s writings, and especially the book Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for Everyone and Nobody, overwhelm me and undermine my faith so strongly [...]
Schrödinger’s Rapist and Schrödinger’s Racist
January 16th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Under the pen name “Phaedra Starling”, a woman a couple years ago wrote a widely read and debated article about a concept she dubbed “Schrödinger’s Rapist”. In it she addressed well meaning men who take personal offense when their attempts to initiate conversation (or more) with strange women in public are met with cold caution or [...]
Natalie Reed Answers Common Confusions About Trans Women
January 16th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Natalie Reed is a trans woman and blogger who is going to be joining Freethought Blogs sometime in the next few weeks. You can check out her prior work at Skepchick and at Queereka. Of particular note is her extremely illuminating 2 part essay in which she addresses 13 common confusions and philosophical challenges that [...]
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