It is not easy for a Mormon to publicly renounce his or her faith. This article shares the story of four young Mormons who realized that they did not believe during or soon after they finished their obligatory missionary work. The author of the article Greg Wilcox says that this disenchantment with religion is part …
Category Archive: Religion and evidence
May 27 2010
Religion and evidence-7: Uniqueness and the problem of induction
(For the complete series of posts on religion and evidence, see here.) In the previous post, I argued that under the rules of logic, existence claims placed the burden of proof on the person making the claim to provide evidence in support of it, while universal claims required the person disputing it to provide evidence. …
May 26 2010
Religion and evidence-6: Is it unscientific to reject miraculous claims?
It is undoubtedly true that what may be considered a miracle at one time may not be thought so later as science advances. In fact the steady replacement of the miraculous and the inexplicable with the natural and scientific has been the recurring pattern of history. This pattern has been so influential in shaping the …
May 25 2010
Religion and evidence-5: Miracles without god?
Jacalyn Duffin, author of the book Medical Miracles (2009), has an interesting professional history. A hematologist by training, she was asked in 1986 to analyze blood samples taken eight years previously from someone whose name and medical history were kept from her. Under her microscope she found all the signs of a kind of leukemia …
May 24 2010
Religion and evidence-4: Incorruptibility of the bodies of saints
The existence of bodies which allegedly do not undergo decay after death (i.e. ‘incorruptible bodies‘) was something I was made aware of only a few months ago but is apparently fairly well known in the religious community, especially among Catholics, and is taken as a miraculous sign from god. The Catholic Church used to make …
May 21 2010
Religion and evidence-3: Evidence-based belief
One of the interesting things about letting people know that you are an atheist is that you learn quite a lot of new stuff from religious people who try to persuade you that there is more to this life than a material world that runs according to scientific laws that are either known or yet …
May 20 2010
Religion and evidence-2: Belief in belief
In their study of people’s religious beliefs, Michael Shermer and Frank Sulloway identified the seven strongest predictors in favor of belief in god: being raised in a religious manner parents’ religiosity lower levels of education being female a large family lack of conflict with parents being younger Four of the factors that favor being religious …
May 19 2010
Religion and evidence-1: Why people believe
The main reason that atheists deny that god exists is because there is no credible evidence for him/her/it. In trying to meet this challenge, religious people tend to split two ways, those who accept the need for evidence and those who think evidence is unnecessary for belief. Ordinary religious believers tend to say that yes, …
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