Atheism & Religion

Question: What should pastors do if they no longer hold the defining beliefs of their denomination?

When GlaxoSmithKline bought ToddStiefel's family business for $2.9 billion last April, he began to think about what to do with the rest of his life.

According to Christopher Hitchens, the pope's entire career has the stench of evil about it.

Interesting links brought to you by philosopher Massimo Pigliucci.

Science and critical thinking can be seen as exclusive and elitist. But now a new group is aiming to bring scepticism to the masses across Scotland.

The Devil is lurking in the very heart of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican's chief exorcist claimed on Wednesday.

Mr. Deity and Timmy conspire to test out the new gadget from R&D.

In response to the new gay marriage law in Washington, Catholic Charities closed its adoption and foster care programs and cut spousal benefits to future employees -- to avoid providing services to homosexual couples.

Most Americans believe God is concerned with their personal well-being and is directly involved in their personal affairs, according to new research out of the University of Toronto.

I have so far not commented on the Tiger Woods affair. While I enjoy salacious gossip as much as the next person and have followed the scandal in its general outlines, it is ultimately not a story with any deep significance. It is essentially a private matter for him and his family to deal with.

The Nineteenth Century Variation is similar to the Kierkegaard Gambit in that both seek to deflect attention away from awkward questions. The former is aimed at those who ask religious apologists if they really believe the absurd claims of their religions, while the latter targets those who ask believers for evidence for their claims about god. Both requests are embarrassing for religious believers and so people must be deflected from asking them.

Readers of this blog know that I am not fond of Krista Tippett, the fuzzy thinking host of National Public Radio’s “Speaking of Faith” (it really ruins my early Sunday mornings). She and New York Times’ columnist Stanley Fish make for entertaining targets when I feel like venting at irrationality disguised as profundity. And now Tippett has done it again.

Richard Dawkins answers "the most simplest question" from a Liberty U student.

The Kierkegaard Gambit (explained in yesterday's post) is a tactic used to deflect attention away from the awkward request made by atheists to believers to provide evidence for god by challenging the competence of the people making the request.

In this excerpt from her 2009 AAI lecture, noted astronomer Carolyn Porco discusses the conflict between science and religion.