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Freethought in the light of the sun
Since my post on the U.S. embassy riots had so many good comments, I thought I'd write a sequel and continue the discussion. I'd like to offer some further thoughts about Ayaan Hirsi Ali's article in Newsweek, on the mindset of "Muslim rage" and what this violence means for the future of Islamic ...
Back in July, I wrote about how the Secular Student Alliance's website had been targeted by denial-of-service attacks. In that post, I called on Christians and other theists to donate to the SSA to help them recoup the costs they spent on erecting defenses, and to show solidarity against people who ...
My latest column has just been posted on AlterNet, Right-Wing Religions of the World Unite to Oppress Women and Gays More Ruthlessly. In it, I write about the strange phenomenon of churches that were once bitter historical enemies now working hand-in-hand to fight the expansion of human rights, and ...
Here's the summary of this post: If you have a Facebook account and just a few minutes of spare time, you can help some hardworking atheist organizations win tens of thousands of dollars! All it takes is a few clicks, and this is your last chance. If you're willing to step up, please vote for Camp ...
As you've no doubt already heard, American embassies throughout the Middle East have been attacked by violent mobs in the last few days, ostensibly due to outrage over a YouTube video called "Innocence of Muslims" that lampoons the Prophet Mohammed as a blundering, deceitful fraud. At least one of ...
On the second half of my U.K. trip, we spent a few days in the lovely city of Edinburgh, the capitol of Scotland. My wife Elizabeth has written a thorough review of the best part of our stay: the pubs! Here are some other highlights: On our first day, we went out for a walk in what turned out ...
The Big Think editors have written an official reply to my post criticizing their decision to hire Satoshi Kanazawa. Whatever else I may think of that choice, I appreciate that they took my concerns seriously enough to write this lengthy explanation of their reasoning. I encourage you to go and ...
Ron Lindsay, president of the Center for Inquiry, wrote a column about Atheism Plus. I think he has some valid points, but also some concerns that I think are misguided. Here's my reply to those points I found most noteworthy. But if hate-filled comments and threats to women have not been ...
So, here's something you should know about me: I really don't care for racists. A few years ago, a simpering neo-Nazi named Kevin Alfred Strom wrote to me, having somehow acquired the delusion that I would be his friend. I handled him rather roughly, I can tell you, though I like to think it was ...
This is part 3 of my review of Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature". Read Part 1 here and part 2 here. In my previous post, I discussed how the invention of government led to a major reduction in the level of violence in human civilization, as compared to the constant battles of ...
I'm home again after my swing through the U.K., and I've finally had time to go through all the pictures I took. Here are a few of the best from our first few days in London: We got a taste of real English weather on our first day there, but the second day favored us with some sunshine. We ...
I've written in the past about the Secret, more properly called the Law of Attraction, the perenially popular New Age idea which says that merely thinking about something draws it to you and causes it to appear in your life. One consistent aspect of this idea is that its advocates claim it's an ...
If you have a Facebook account, you have an opportunity this month to help out two worthy secular organizations in a big, big way. The Secular Student Alliance and Camp Quest have both been nominated for the Chase Community Giving program, in which Chase gives out $5 million to the charities that ...
So, here's the question for today: How should we respond when people we admire make serious missteps? Just so there's no confusion, I want to say right up front that Richard Dawkins fully deserves his reputation as a great scientist and a communicator of science. One of my favorite book memories ...
This is part 2 of my review of Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature". Read Part 1 here. The most famous human being of prehistoric times is probably Otzi the Iceman, a Neolithic human whose mummified body was discovered frozen in a glacier in the Alps in 1991. What's less well known ...