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Before moving on to addressing the question of when it is right or wrong to get offended, let me quickly address a certain attitude that arises a lot in response to my posts on morality. I sense in the tone of a lot of comments I get in general that there is a fear of [...]
Archive for the ‘Christianity’ Category
Why Bother Blaming People At All? Isn’t That Just Judgmental?
November 25th, 2011 
Daniel Fincke 
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Ethical Pluralism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Ethics, Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues, Intellectual Virtues, Jesus, Jesus, Metaethics, Metaethics, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Rationalism, Virtues, Virtues 
Tags: Blame, Blame and Determinism, Determinism, Free Will, Immoralism, Judgmentalism, Moralism 
33 Comments »Learning About Love From The Bible
November 24th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Using the “New Comprehensive Self-Referencing, Taking The Words on the Page To Mean What They Actually Say Version” of the Bible (that’s the NCSRTTWOTPTMWTASV), NonStampCollector shows us how the biblical God of love (the God who is love) models and illuminates for us all the virtues of love described in 1 Corinthians 13: Your Thoughts?
Full Video of Republican Theocratathon
November 22nd, 2011 Daniel Fincke Last weekend the Republican candidates met for the “Thanksgiving Family Forum” where, except for Ron Paul, they each tried to prove they were the holiest Christian and, therefore, the most deserving candidate for president of our theocracy democracy. The actual discussions with the candidates do not start until 36 minutes in. And, as Jerry Coyne [...]
Posted in Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Christianity, Christianity, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Politics, Politics, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State 2 Comments »The Injustice of the Universe and Christianity
November 22nd, 2011 Daniel Fincke Matt Dillahunty has a nice five minute reply to someone who believes in Christianity in order to believe justice will be meted out even to those escape worldly justice. He weaves several important considerations about the irrationality of basing a belief on such a desire and about the problems with Christianity’s views on justice: Your [...]
Calling Out And Debunking William Lane Craig’s Smears Against Infidels and Apostates
November 21st, 2011 Daniel Fincke Is William Lane Craig a philosopher? Some atheists seem to want to dismiss him as strictly a theologian and in no way a philosopher but sometimes he clearly attempts to make strictly philosophical arguments. By strictly philosophical arguments I mean ones whose premises make no necessary appeal to any presumed religious authorities but theoretically could [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Personal, Secularism, Why I Am Not A Christian, Why I Am Not A Christian Tags: Apostates, Sex and Apostasy, Why People Leave Their Faith, William Lane Craig 16 Comments »Jesus Wouldn’t DARE Coerce People Into Charity!
November 21st, 2011 Daniel Fincke You know, for a guy who’s supposedly all about hating gays, Jesus as sure had a lot of people’s arms up his ass using him as a ventriloquist puppet. As far as I’m concerned when nearly everyone except serious historians talk about Jesus as an authority who proves their own values are correct, they had [...]
Posted in Atheism, Bible, Bible, Christianity, Christianity, Jesus, Jesus, Religion Tags: Easier For Camel To Go Through Eye of Needle, Hell, Jesus, Jesus and Ayn Rand, Jesus and Hayek, Jesus Rich People Hell, Lazarus and Rich Man, Libertarianism, Luke 16:19-31, Luke 6:20-26, Mark 10:17-25, Matthew 25:31-46, Occupy Jesus, Occupy Wall Street, Rich People, Rich Young Man, Sheep and Goats, Threats of Hell, Woe to the Rich 13 Comments »Before I Deconverted: I Was A Teenage Christian Contrarian
November 21st, 2011 Daniel Fincke A few weeks ago I began chronicling the story of my Christianity, my deconversion, and my personal and intellectual development post-deconversion. I began with the reminiscences, Before I Deconverted: My Christian Childhood and Before I Deconverted: Ministers As Powerful Role Models. This post is a series of recollections of my high school religiosity. Below I cover [...]
Emma Goldman’s “The Victims of Morality”
November 14th, 2011 Daniel Fincke In reply to my dialogue which I posted this morning examining what I perceive to be immoralism’s important contributions to moral thinking and its inevitable limits, a reader sent me to investigate Max Stirner and Emma Goldman. I may have something to say about Stirner in the future if time permits. But for now I [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Authority, Authority, Autonomy, Autonomy, Christianity, Christianity, Ethics, Ethics, Feminism, Feminism, Historical Ethics, Historical Ethics, Historical Philosophy, Historical Philosophy, Morality, Morality, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocrats, Theocrats, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Issues 7 Comments »How Scalia Judges Based On Faith-Based, Religious Metaphysics
November 6th, 2011 Daniel Fincke The blog Doggy Style quotes Justice Antonin Scalia making a disturbing analysis in 2002: “So it is no accident, I think, that the modern view that the death penalty is immoral has centered in the West. That has little to do with the fact that the West has a Christian tradition and everything to do with the [...]
Posted in Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Christianity, Christianity, Law, Law, Law & Politics, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State 13 Comments »Before I Deconverted: Ministers As Powerful Role Models
October 30th, 2011 Daniel Fincke To commemorate my 12th year anniversary of leaving Christianity, I am finally getting around to chronicling my Christian youth and my deconversion from biographical and philosophical perspectives. In my first post I described being a Christian kid and talked a bit about Christian camp. In this post, I explore the powerful influence upon who I [...]
Before I Deconverted: My Christian Childhood
October 30th, 2011 Daniel Fincke 12 years ago today, on October 30, 1999 as a 21 year old college junior majoring in philosophy and minoring in religion at religiously and politically super-conservative Grove City College, I stopped being a Christian. Below the fold, for those interested in these sorts of narratives, is the first installment of a series of posts [...]
A Debate About The Wisdom of Trying To Deconvert People
October 20th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Jaime: So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how best to debate the existence of God with religious believers… Kelly: Why would you do that? Jaime: Do what? Kelly: Debate the existence of God with religious believers. What’s the point in that? Jaime: What do you mean, “what’s the point?” We live in the [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, 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, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Authority, Authority, Autonomy, Autonomy, Christianity, Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues, Intellectual Virtues, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy Of Religion, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Benedict XVI, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism Tags: Debate With Believers, Deconverting, Why Debate Believers? 14 Comments »Both Refute The Best Counter-Arguments YOU Can Think Up And Create Gestalt Shifts (Tip 8 of 10 For Reaching Out To Religious Believers)
October 9th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Top Ten Tips For Reaching Out To Religious Believers 1. Don’t Call Religious Believers Stupid. 2. Make Believers Stay on Topic During Debates. 3. Don’t Tell Religious Believers What They “Really Believe”. 4. Clarify What Kinds of Evidence Warrant What Kinds of Beliefs. 5. Help Break The Spell Of Religious Reverence. 6. Don’t Demonize Religious [...]
Don’t Demonize Religious People’s Motives, Focus On Their Objective Harms (Tip 6 of 10 For Reaching Out To Religious Believers)
October 7th, 2011 Daniel Fincke 1. Don’t Call Religious Believers Stupid. 2. Make Believers Stay on Topic During Debates. 3. Don’t Tell Religious Believers What They “Really Believe”. 4. Clarify What Kinds of Evidence Warrant What Kinds of Beliefs. 5. Help Break The Spell Of Religious Reverence. 6. Don’t Demonize Religious People’s Motives, Focus On Their Objective Harms Sometimes religion [...]
Clarify What Kinds of Evidence Warrant What Kinds of Beliefs (Tip 4 of 10 For Reaching Out To Religious People)
October 6th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Top Ten Tips For Reaching Out To Religious Believers 1. Don’t Call Religious Believers Stupid. 2. Make Believers Stay on Topic During Debates. 3. Don’t Tell Religious Believers What They “Really Believe”. 4. Clarify What Kinds of Evidence Warrant What Kinds of Beliefs. Many theists love to argue for the necessity of a generic “source [...]
Don’t Tell Religious Believers What They “Really Believe” (Tip 3 of 10 For Reaching Out To Christians)
October 5th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Top Ten Tips For Reaching Out To Religious Believers 1. Don’t Call Religious Believers Stupid. 2. Make Believers Stay on Topic During Debates. 3. Don’t Tell Religious Believers What They “Really Believe”. All beliefs imply other beliefs. Some things religious believers happily assert as true have possible implications which are dark, disturbing, foolish, and/or in [...]
Make Believers Stay On Topic During Debates (Tip 2 of 10 for Reaching Out To Religious Believers)
October 5th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Top Ten Tips For Reaching Out To Religious Believers: 1. Don’t Call Religious Believers Stupid. 2. Make Believers Stay on Topic During Debates. Religious believers debating atheists often have a machine gun style of shooting arguments our way. “How could everything just come from nothing? You really think this is all there is? How can [...]
Don’t Call Religious Believers Stupid (Tip 1 of 10 For Reaching Out To Religious Believers)
October 5th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Back in February, I wrote my Top 10 Tips For Reaching Out To Atheists, designed to help Christians (and other religious people) engage atheists in ways that are respectful to them and honest with them and with themselves, and therefore hopefully fruitful for both sides. In a series of posts (fully listed at the end [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Christianity, Christianity, Faith, Faith, Philosophy Of Religion, Religion, Religion 45 Comments »Attention Religious Believers, THIS Is What It’s Like For Atheists Reading Your Holy Books:
October 4th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Hank offers a brilliant analogy: Say you’ve picked out a private kindergarten for your little girl, and you’ve gone down to take a look at the place to check on a last few details. During the hourlong tour and consultation, you ask “What are the classroom rules here at Bronfield Academy? What will be expected [...]
Posted in Bible, Bible, Christianity, Christianity, Philosophy Of Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism Tags: Bible No Comments »Christianity’s Love of the Dark Side
October 3rd, 2011 Daniel Fincke When you talk all day about God’s love and God’s mercy and God’s forgiveness and God’s grace and God’s compassion, it’s easy to convince yourself that you must yourself be an especially loving, merciful, forgiving, gracious, and compassionate person, even when you’re not. Similarly, some atheists think that banging on about reason and evidence all [...]
“The Virgin Daughters”: A Documentary on Purity Balls
September 28th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Emotionally and mentally warping. Domineering. Brainwashing. Unbelievably creepy. Immoral. Click through video for the final three parts of the documentary, they are not just redundant of the material in the first part. via Musical Atheist commenting at Butterflies and Wheels. Ophelia also points us to more pictures and commentary on Purity Balls from Libby Anne. [...]
Questions For Those Who Oppose The Wall of Separation Between Church and State
September 27th, 2011 Daniel Fincke I imagine that nearly everyone agrees that just because you may do something legally does not mean morally that you should do it. Now, I am firmly convinced that Thomas Jefferson’s ideal of a “wall of separation between church and state” is constitutional. But, let’s say you do not. Let’s say the Founders left it [...]
Posted in Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Christianity, Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Philosophy Of Religion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocracy, Theocracy Tags: Thomas Jefferson, Wall of Separation Between Church and State 10 Comments »American Values vs. Fundamentalist Values
September 26th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Contemporary Evangelical arguments for the mixing of Church and State usually fallaciously assume that for America’s most historically vindicated political, moral, and cultural values to be accepted as good and as true, either theoretically or in practice, or for these values to be preserved and advanced in future generations, Americans must accept and continue to perpetuate [...]
Posted in Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Christianity, Christianity, Creationism, Creationism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocrats, Theocrats 7 Comments »Wanted: “Atheists Who Are More Upset If You DON’T Share The Gospel With Them”
September 24th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Bloggers get apprised of the terms and phrases people have plugged into search engines to arrive at our blogs. Sometimes the search terms are bizarre and/or hilarious enough that a blogger will call attention to them on the blog. This is one of those times. Recently someone apparently arrived at Camels With Hammers looking for [...]
William Lane Craig’s Origin Story
September 19th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Deacon Duncan, our Freethought Blogs neighbor at Alethian Worldview has a post at his original site, Evangelical Realism, where yesterday he analyzed William Lane Craig’s cosmological arguments for the existence of God by William Lane Craig. In setting up he recapped part of Craig’s journey to his place as America’s most popular Christian apologist: As we saw [...]
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