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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 [...]
Archive for the ‘God’ Category
The Positive Content of Atheism
February 7th, 2011 
Daniel Fincke 
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 »How Bill O'Reilly Is Like St. Thomas Aquinas
February 4th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Colbert gives it to O’Reilly straight: “You’re like St. Thomas Aquinas–in that your understanding of the world is also from the 13th Century.” The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Crisis in Egypt – Anderson Cooper & Bill O’Reilly<a> www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> Video Archive My own [...]
Mutable Morality, Not Subjective Morality. Moral Pluralism, Not Moral Relativism.
January 18th, 2011 Daniel Fincke I hope soon to engage a few of the specifics of a debate going on at our friend George’s blog Misplaced Grace which started when a Christian apologist named Peter tried to argue that atheism has no way of ruling out pedophilia as immoral. Peter’s first remarks were critical of posts at Jason Thibeault’s blog Lousy Canuck. [...]
Posted in Atheism, Bible, Bible, Christianity, Christianity, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Ethical Pluralism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, God, God, Historical Philosophy, Metaethics, Metaethics, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Religion, Religion 17 Comments »The Separability Of Metaethics From Questions Of Theism
January 11th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Earlier today, I argued that atheists cannot duck metaethics challenges from theists (or anyone else) and that we should not respond to such challenges with the knee jerk response that we are being bigotedly assumed to be incapable of moral behavior. I wrote: it is not mere prejudice for theists to demand atheists give an [...]
Posted in Arguments for the Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, God, God, Metaethics, Metaethics, Morality, Morality, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Religion, Religion 3 Comments »Being Personally Moral Is Not Enough, Atheists Need A Coherent Metaethics
January 11th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Atheists can be as moral as anyone else. When theists imply that atheism by itself entails that people will either likely or necessarily be less moral, they trade in oblivious, self-satisfied, prejudicial thinking which besmirches atheists unfairly. But it is not mere prejudice for theists to demand atheists give an account of their metaethical positions. [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, God, God, Metaethics, Metaethics, Morality, Morality, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy, Religion, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church 8 Comments »Sundaily Hilarity: Jim Jeffries On Religion
January 9th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Totally hilarious: Thanks Shane for the heads up. Your Thoughts?
Posted in Christianity, Christianity, Comedy, Comedy, God, God, Hilarious, Religion, Religion Tags: Heaven, Hell, The Devil 14 Comments »Disambiguating Faith: Faith Which Exploits Infinitesimal Probabilities As Openings For Strong Affirmations
January 8th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Pete C. argues that because our comprehension is limited, it is hubris for us to rule out faith in things that alleged to go beyond it: I’m not sure where I fall in the spectrum of agnosticism (if i belong there at all) so I can’t really self identify. But I will offer an explanation [...]
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, Atheism, Atheism, Disambiguating Faith, Disambiguating Faith, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Epistemology, Evidence, Evidence, Faith, Faith, Featured, God, God, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues, Intellectual Virtues, Metaphysics, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Spinoza, Spinoza 2 Comments »Disambiguating Faith: The Evidence-Impervious Agnostic Theists
December 29th, 2010 Daniel Fincke A vast majority of believers, though probably not all, believed in God before they ever encountered any arguments for its existence. For obvious cultural and psychological reasons, the concept of God is intuitively understandable and believable for most children and by far most believers start believing in childhood. Even those who spend a short time as [...]
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, Atheism, Atheism, Disambiguating Faith, Disambiguating Faith, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Epistemology, Evidence, Faith, Faith, Featured, God, God, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Religion, Religion, Why I Am Not A Christian, Why I Am Not A Christian 21 Comments »How Belief In “Theistic Evolution” Is Nearly As Much A Denial Of Science As Creationism
December 24th, 2010 Daniel Fincke One often hears the refrain that it’s possible to believe in both God and evolution. And it is in fact true, both psychologically and, more importantly, logically, that one may both believe in God and in evolution. Psychologically we have ample evidence that plenty of people believe in both and logically it is clear that [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Biology, Biology, Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Hitchens, Cosmology, Cosmology, Creationism, Creationism, Divine Intervention, Divine Intervention, Evolution, Evolution, Featured, God, God, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy Of Religion, Religion, Religion, Religion and Science, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Science, Secularism 12 Comments »The (Jesuit) Father Of The Big Bang Theory
December 24th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Recently, on Facebook, I boiled down my philosophical and scientific objections to theistic evolution to pithy status update size and received a good deal of discussion as a result. I plan to edit, reprint, and possibly expand upon my remarks on theistic evolution on Camels With Hammers soon. But in the meantime, I wanted to [...]
Posted in Atheism, Cosmology, Cosmology, Featured, God, God, Physics, Physics, Religion, Religion, Religion and Science, Science, Science Tags: Albert Einstein, Big Bang Theory, Georges Lemaître No Comments »Agnostics Or Apistics?
October 27th, 2010 Daniel Fincke In the past, I have defended the idea that rather than classifying people simply as atheists, agnostics, and theists that we should separate the questions of the contents of beliefs (whether they are atheistic or theistic) from whether one’s atheism or theism is held as a matter of knowledge or not. If one’s theism is [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Disambiguating Faith, Disambiguating Faith, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Epistemology, Faith, Faith, Featured, God, God, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion Tags: Agnostic Atheism, Agnostic Theism, Agnosticism, Apistic Agnostic Atheism, Gnostic Atheism, Gnostic Theism, Pistic Agnostic Atheism 33 Comments »Could An Omnipotent God Know It Is Omnipotent?
October 12th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Juan Sanchez, inspired by a little Robert Nozick, explores some problems for the concept of an omnipotent, omniscient God: Suppose you’re God: How can you be sure you’re omnipotent? Perhaps you can accomplish anything you can imagine in your own corner of reality—a lucid dreamer can say that much—but there’s some greater reality you’re not even [...]
What It Really Means To Tell Gays To “Resist Their Temptation”
October 2nd, 2010 Daniel Fincke Via Dan Savage, A Christian decodes for his brethren: When you tell a gay person to “resist” being gay, what you are really telling them—what you really mean—is for them to be celibate. What you are truly and actually saying is that you want them to condemn themselves to a life devoid of love. Be [...]
On The Incoherence Of Divine Command Theory And Why Even If God DID Make Things Good And Bad, Faith-Based Religions Would Still Be Irrelevant
September 29th, 2010 Daniel Fincke The claim that all value, whether moral or otherwise, requires a God is a familiar one. But what this claim either means or how it is supposed to be apparent to us is far from self-evident. The claim could mean something along the lines of a divine command theory interpretation of value according to which [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, God, God, Homophobia, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Metaethics, Metaethics, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Rationalism, Religion, Religion, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Same Sex Marriage, Same Sex Marriage, Secularism 15 Comments »Louie CK On God
September 9th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Below is Louie CK’s NSFW full episode of his show “Louie” devoted to religion, focusing for the most part on the dubious means by which children in particular are emotionally manipulated through the Roman Catholic Church’s emphasis on the violent death of Jesus which they are told is their fault. Your Thoughts?
Posted in Christianity, Christianity, Comedy, Comedy, God, God, Hilarious, Jesus, Jesus, Religion, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church Tags: Abraham, Crucifixion, Louie CK, Stand Up 3 Comments »Sundaily Hilarity: Proof Of Monkey God
August 22nd, 2010 Daniel Fincke It’s about as good as all other arguments for a personal god: Thanks to Linus for the link. Your Thoughts?
Daily Hilarity: Are We God’s One And Only?
July 13th, 2010 Daniel Fincke In response to the attention I brought to the great comic strip about “The Four Horsemen” earlier tonight, The Vicar recommends this great comic strip, Head Doctor Productions, from Daniel B. Willingham: Your Thoughts?
Posted in Comic Strips, Comic Strips, God, God, Hilarious, Religious Satire, Religious Satire Tags: Daniel B. Willingham, Head Doctor Comics No Comments »Why Progressive Interpretations Of The Old Testament Still Do Not Justify Its God Morally
July 11th, 2010 Daniel Fincke In reply to this video on various immoral things outright commanded in what is supposed to be God’s law in the Old Testament, Loyal writes: Militaristic non-Christians often seize upon the many difficult passages where God is condoning morally repugnant acts. I am glad you admit that they are morally repugnant acts and neither morally [...]
On God As The Source Of Being But Not Of Evil
July 9th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Introduction This post is a long one but an important one for understanding what sophisticated Roman Catholic philosophers have traditionally meant when they have said that “God is good” and that the existence of evil is not to be taken as counter-evidence to their belief in God’s goodness. Very often we atheists are dismissed as [...]
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, Atheism, Atheism, Christianity, Christianity, Ethics, Featured, God, God, Historical Philosophy, Historical Philosophy, Metaethics, Metaethics, Metaphysics, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Benedict XVI, Problem of Evil, Problem of Evil, Religion, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Teleology, Teleology, Virtues, Virtues Tags: Thomas Aquinas 19 Comments »“What Is God?”
July 9th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Peter Rodger went around the world asking people from numerous viewpoints, “What Is God?” for his documentary, Oh My God. Watch it here. Your Thoughts?
30 Preposterous Things You Need To Believe To Be A Christian
July 7th, 2010 Daniel Fincke John W. Loftus, the former minister turned atheist, author of Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity, and the primary blogger at Debunking Christianity (whose updates you can follow daily in our blogroll feed) has a terrific summation of 30 extraordinarily unlikely ideas, at least most of which most Christians would have to [...]
6 Basic Kinds Of Answer To The Question “Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?”
July 1st, 2010 Daniel Fincke by Eric Steinhart Why is there something rather than nothing? This question includes God in its scope: if there is a God, then God is something, so we can always ask: why is there God rather than no God? This implies that the question cannot be answered by appealing to God. It can’t be answered [...]
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, Atheism, Atheism, Featured, God, God, Historical Philosophy, Historical Philosophy, Metaphysics, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Plato, Plato Tags: "More Precisely: The Math You Need To Do Philosophy", "The Logic of Metaphor - Analogous Parts of Possible Worlds", "Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?", Being, Charles Sanders Peirce, Eric Steinhart, Heidegger, Jakob Boehme, John Leslie, Leibniz, Logic, Nishitani, Nothing, Paul Tillich, Plotinus, Pseudo-Dionysius, Thomas Aquinas, Victor Stenger 7 Comments »South Park’s Chef Explains God And Answers The Problem Of Evil
June 30th, 2010 Daniel Fincke I used this video to help illustrate a point over a year ago. Back then we did not have the capabilities to actually embed the video. Oh, and we had almost no readers either. But now that we are at a new host that lets us embed whatever we want, it’s been finally added to [...]
Posted in Christianity, Comedy, Comedy, God, God, Hilarious, Parody, Parody, Problem of Evil, Problem of Evil, Religion, Religious Satire, Religious Satire, Satire, Satire Tags: Chef From South Park, Original Sin, South Park, Stan From South Park 3 Comments »
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