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Jaime: Did you see the Republicans just endorsed the right to bully in schools as long as it’s done in the name of religion. Kelly: They did not. Jaime: Yes. They did. They perversely added to anti-bullying bill the right to bully as long as such bullying was based on “sincerely held religious or moral convictions.” [...]
Archive for the ‘News Discussion’ Category
Bullying or Debating? Religious Privilege or Freedom of Speech?
November 13th, 2011 
Daniel Fincke 
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Ethical Pluralism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Ethics, Free Speech, Free Speech, Homophobia, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, Law, Law, Law & Politics, LGBTQAA, Morality, Morality, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, News, News Discussion, News Discussion, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy Of Religion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Racism, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Rights, Religious Rights, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Same Sex Marriage, Same Sex Marriage, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocrats, Theocrats 
Tags: John Rawls, Libertarianism, Tolerance 
33 Comments »Occupy Philosophy
November 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke A new blog, Occupy Philosophy, describes itself thusly: Occupy Philosophy is meant for serious (and if necessary, technical) discussion addressing the moral and political questions that have risen in light of the rotten situation we’re in. Philosophers are uniquely suited to this work. We created this website because we’ve been inspired and at times perplexed [...]
Posted in News Discussion, News Discussion, Philosophy, Politics Tags: Political Philosophy 1 Comment »Paterno and the Pope
November 11th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Jon Stewart says what needs to be said. (via Kylie) Freethought Blogs coverage of this disgrace comes from Pharyngula: What? It’s not just Catholic priests? and This is why I hate college football programs, Digital Cuttlefish: Am I Making Myself Clear?, Commradde Physioprof: Does Penn State Actively Condone The Rape Of Children?, and Almost Diamonds: Understanding Penn State. Your Thoughts?
A Critique of Noble Lies And The “Theologies” They Create
November 10th, 2011 Daniel Fincke In this long post, I begin by explaining Plato’s formulation of the concept of a noble lie for those unfamiliar with it and then I explain in detail numerous problems I see with employing noble lies and with attempts to persuade people through “theological” arguments. I think all theology is either an explicit or an [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Ethics, Ethics, Historical Ethics, Historical Ethics, Historical Philosophy, History, Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues, Intellectual Virtues, Law, Law, Law & Politics, Morality, Morality, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, News Discussion, News Discussion, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Religion, Religion, Religion and Science, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocracy, Theocracy, Theocrats, Theocrats, Virtues, Virtues 34 Comments »The Woman King
October 31st, 2011 Daniel Fincke I read the PZ’s post about the decision of Patrick Henry High School’s students to vote a lesbian couple to be homecoming king and queen. It put a big smile on my face and this awesome song started playing in my head: Listen to it as you help to Pharyngulate the poll on whether the students’ judgment made sense. [...]
Posted in LGBTQAA, News, News Discussion, News Discussion Tags: "Woman King", Iron & Wine 6 Comments »Breaking News: Yankee Fan Takes Joy In Other Team’s Victory
October 30th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Freethought Blogs’ own Gentlemanly Physiology Professor spent the late summer months giving exquisitely nuanced baseball commentary, favoring his beloved Yankees but also being gracious and good natured as he gently ribbed their rival Red Sox. And he showed a gentleman’s magnanimity towards the Red Sox fans when they ultimately lost the wild card in a historic [...]
Posted in Baseball, Mets, Mets, News Discussion, News Discussion, Personal, Yankees, Yankees 2 Comments »Taxes, Employment Rates, and Deficits Explained In Less Than 2 Minutes
October 25th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Update: Tony Adams, from the video has stopped by in the comments section. Go welcome him and ask him anything his remarks in the video make you think about! This keeps happening that people whose writings or video interviews I talk about on the blog show up. Thanks to Greg. Your Thoughts?
Having Trouble Figuring Out What Conservatives Really Think?
October 19th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Bret translates 10 popular phrases used by conservatives into ordinary English. Your Thoughts?
The State of the Arab World
October 17th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Fareed Zakaria’s depressing summation of the findings of the United Nation’s Arab Development Report, which he considers to be “the most important book of the last decade”: To what extent can we blame modern Islam for all of this? To what extent neo-colonialism? To what extent something else? I am inclined to say that the [...]
Posted in News, News Discussion, News Discussion, Politics, Politics, World Affairs, World Affairs 14 Comments »“It’s Not About Religion”
October 15th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Cranston High School West in Rhode Island is a public school which has a prayer affixed to a wall in the auditorium. 16 year old Jessica Ahlquist has been fighting for two years to get it removed on the grounds that it violates the separation of church and state. You can read an interview with [...]
Memorializing Suicides Without Heroizing Suicide
September 28th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Gay blogger Jim Burroway believes that Lady Gaga’s advocacy for the LGBT community is genuine and passionate but worries about a backfire effect of her decision to prominently dedicate a song to one of her young fans who took his life recently: as I watch this video of her performing “Hair” and dedicating it to Jamey Rodemeyer at [...]
Speak Out For Women’s Access To Birth Control
September 28th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Daylight Atheism highlights a Freedom From Religion Foundation action alert: As you may know, on August 1st, 2011, the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor, and Department of Health and Human Services jointly announced new guidelines for access to preventative care. The new regulations greatly expand access to preventative care under the new health care act, [...]
Alabama City Lets People Avoid Jail By Going To Church Instead
September 25th, 2011 Daniel Fincke In a ridiculous violation of the separation of Church and State, Bay Minette, Alabama is offering those guilty of misdemeanors the choice between jail and a year of church. Now, I know what many of my atheist readers are thinking–having to attend church once a week is a punishment worse than jail, but think more [...]
The Moral Toll of Executions on the Consciences of Executioners
September 22nd, 2011 Daniel Fincke Allen Ault is the retired director of the Georgia Department of Corrections and former warden of the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison which handled Troy Davis. Ault oversaw executions for the state of Georgia. He is now Eastern Kentucky University’s dean of “College of Justice and Society” and well-informed from an academic perspective about the [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Civil Rights, Civil Rights, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Ethics, Ethics, Law, Law, Law & Politics, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, News, News Discussion, News Discussion, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Politics, Politics, Videos Tags: Allen Ault, Anti-Death Penalty, Death Penalty, Dennis O'Neill, Ed Schultz, Ed Show, Effects of Executions on Executioners, Georgia Department of Corrections, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison, Jeanne Woodford, Rachel Maddow, Reginald Wilkinson, Rick Perry, Ron McAndrew, Terry Collins, Troy Anthony Davis, Troy Davis 7 Comments »So… What If Your Only Options In A General Election Were Santorum, Perry, Palin, and Bachmann?
September 16th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Who is the least of all evils and why? Your Thoughts?
Boy, Theology Is Hard: Archbishop Dolan Says God Used 9/11 To End Atheism In New York
September 11th, 2011 Daniel Fincke We atheists are often accused of not taking on any serious theological arguments but picking on the low hanging fruit—the superstitious mythical obviously false bullshit that actual ordinary believers actually believe. We are assured that if only we engaged the serious thinkers of the great faiths we would have to respect the depth of what [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, News, News Discussion, News Discussion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religulous, Religulous, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State Tags: Religious Intolerance of Atheists 10 Comments »What A “War on Terror” Should Mean vs. What it Has Meant
September 11th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Princeton’s emeritus philosophy professor Michael Walzer is co-editor of Dissent. He is not a George W. Bush yes-man. But he thinks that “war on terror” is a legitimate concept even as many leftish thinkers oppose it as a confusion. People argue that terrorism is a tactic, not a specific enemy you can target. In “Terrorism [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Ethics, Ethics, Morality, Morality, News Discussion, News Discussion, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Politics, Politics, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Torture, Torture, World Affairs, World Affairs Tags: Michael Walzer, Terrorism, Terrorism and Genocide, Walzer on Terrorism, What is Terrorism?, What is wrong with Terrorism? 3 Comments »Your Thoughts On How Best To Remember 9/11?
September 10th, 2011 Daniel Fincke What are your thoughts on all the 9/11 coverage? What do you think are the most important things for remembrances of the day and analyses of the last decade to do or not do in relation to this anniversary? Tomorrow I hope to have the time to write a few posts on a few major [...]
Republican Candidates Take Strong Stand Against Inoculating Girls Against Cancer-Causing Virus
September 8th, 2011 Daniel Fincke My jaw dropped when Paul used the words “forcibly” and “sexually transmitted disease” and “12 year old girls” in the same sentence when describing something as basic to public health as inoculation against a virus that currently a full 50% of all sexually active men and women will get. If you did not know what the [...]
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 »Trans Woman Assaulted At Baltimore McDonald's
April 23rd, 2011 Daniel Fincke Joe.My.God explains: Baltimore police have made two arrests in the brutal attack on a transgender woman at a McDonald’s, where staffers filmed the assault with their cell phones, then urged the assailants to flee before police arrived. The only person that appears to come to the victim’s aid is an elderly female customer, although the restaurant’s [...]
Rachel Maddow Explains The Nuclear Threat In Japan
March 17th, 2011 Daniel Fincke This account of how nuclear power works and what the current danger was remarkably clarifying for me: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Dr. Maddow would truly make a superb physics professor (you know, if she actually had as good a grasp of all physics as she has of [...]
Posted in News, News Discussion, News Discussion, Physics, Physics, Science, Science, Technology, Technology, World Affairs, World Affairs 2 Comments »On God And The Japanese Earthquake
March 16th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Edward Tarte says everything that shouldn’t need to be said on the topic, but sadly does: The word poison is a bit unnecessarily strong, but the rest is spot on. Your Thoughts?
Meet Jesy Littlejohn, Founder of "Rainbow Bridge", Grove City College’s Unrecognized LGBTQ Awareness Group
March 14th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Grove City College, my alma mater from which I graduated with a BA in Philosophy and a minor in Religion in 2000, is an Evangelical Christian college which ranks among America’s most religiously and politically conservative colleges. Princeton Review ranks Grove City among the “Best Northeastern Colleges” and among the 373 best colleges in the [...]
About Those Germans Trying To Get The Pope Charged With Crimes Against Humanity…
February 27th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Sendai Anonymous has the scoop on how the enemy of our enemy may not be our friend. Your Thoughts?
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