HerbieP
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God continues to perform hands-on miracles. Read More
October 2, 2009 | In Belief
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Is religious preaching trying to teach us something or trying to convince us of something? Read More
September 21, 2009 | In Belief
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Apparently the evidence of design is all around us, I just don't see it. Read More
August 30, 2009 | In Belief
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What is the purpose of prayer? Read More
May 3, 2009 | In Belief
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I think that there are diffrent ways that we use the term 'belief'. Read More
May 1, 2009 | In Belief
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Are the things that science can't currently explain just magic? Read More
April 24, 2009 | In Belief
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There appears to be a contradiction in genesis Read More
March 19, 2009 | In Belief
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Arguments from design often refer to a watch found in nature, on a beach, in a wood or some such. The observer knows the watch to be designed as opposed to its surroundings. The argument is then extrapolated to deduce a divine architect for the universe. Read More
February 25, 2009 | In Belief
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wwwmind challenged me to be explicit about some theories of my own. Whilst my position of non-belief does not require that I hold any theories at all it would be disingenuous of me not to admit that I have some. Many religions have developed from creation myths. Many of the conflicts between fundamentalist Christianity and science in the US seem to revolve around issues related to creation. The Creationist argument usually takes the form of: 'Science says that everything came spontaneously out of nothing, that's stupid god made everything out of nothing'. There is a conceptual problem … Read More
January 23, 2009
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Re: is ther another dimension/universe?
There are basically two routes to so called 'scientific' multi-universe or alternate reality theories, from the cosmology and from quantum mechanics. According to general relativity Spacetime is shaped by matter. The universe that we are part of is a particular shape. Some models are closed shapes, some are open. In either case the universe is not infinite because spacetime cannot extend very far beyond the matter that shapes and creates it. It is difficult to imagine the universe as a closed four dimensional shape without picturing it as 'floating' in something, perhaps another infinit… Read More
November 20, 2008
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I've watched some recordings of various evangelical groups speaking in tongues in the US. It now appears to be spreading to the UK. What is this all about? This is quite a disturbing phenomenon. Deliberately induced hysteria is a common tool of fanatical religious groups but this speaking in tongues has become so commonplace that many individuals seem to have little problem turning it on casually with no embarrassment (even in the UK). Once Christian missionaries from supposedly developed countries systematically stripped native cultures of such rituals, developed to free group cons… Read More
November 18, 2008
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If a god created the universe could he have created a universe that did not appear to be beautifully well designed? Presumably if the universe is an example of good design then it must be possible for it to be designed badly otherwise there is no real trick to it is there? For it to be claimed that the universe was designed there must be a near infinite number of choices a designer could make at each stage in order to arrive at the preferred design. Creationists may assert that the design of the universe is as perfect as its designer. This means that out of all the possible designs the … Read More
November 11, 2008
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Science doesn't answer the big 'why?' questions. For me neither does religion. All religious 'answers' simply prompt further questions that generally lead to implausible chains of thought that forego reason. For science to answer why questions one must first clarify just what kind of answer will satisfy. It is possible that science will someday progress to the extent that it is confident in its answers to all the 'how?' questions. It may well be that we find that the way space, time, matter exist is the only possible way that they could exist and that the existence of the universe is i… Read More
September 5, 2008
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When god performs miracles does he use superior technology or magic? I am making a distinction here not made by Mr Arthur C Clarke. Superior technology is just manipulating the real world using real world forces and energies, measurable and in accordance with physical laws, doing the sort of thing that we do ourselves only better. Magic is subverting physical laws; that is working outside of the rules that we are forced to work with. When god helps Moses with his magic tricks and plagues or Jesus with healing, raising the dead, turning water into wine, extending loves and fishes, wal… Read More
August 18, 2008
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Believers often compare the process of doubt that they go through to scientific inquiry. They also compare science to belief systems. First of all science is not a belief system, it is merely a tool for investigating phenomena by putting forth theories and testing them rigorously. Believers often point out that many scientific theories are 'only theories' and that a number have been 'proved wrong' in the past and supplanted by other theories. Well this is just how science works. It is best just to think of scientific theories as approximations and models that just gradually become mor… Read More
June 27, 2008
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Thanks to the probing of Musycks and Skeptic44 I now think that I understand many believers' position on the spiritual world. The spiritual world exists separately from the physical world but can influence the physical. This can happen in two ways. Wholly supernatural entities such as god (and for some believers angels and such) can cause changes in matter and energy in the real world by exerting their will. Human souls can cause changes in the physical world only through their physical bodies. The physical world does not have causal effects on the spiritual world but information fr… Read More
June 2, 2008
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The natural and the supernatural
The world of physical phenomena can be investigated by science. Science has developed over the last two hundred years to put forward hypotheses, challenge them test them and develop theories about how the physical world behaves according to rules. In general this system works because we can make predictions about how physical things will behave and this has allowed the rapid development of technology so we know it works. Many people believe in a supernatural world. This world has been put forward in various forms to explain, the origin of all things, human free will and so on. If the su… Read More
May 30, 2008
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The interface of the physical and the spiritual
Those who believe in a spiritual world where god and the human soul reside presumably have in mind some process by which this world interacts with the physical world where our bodies exist and where we apply scientific method. When we have discussed free will it is clear that believers envisage the soul as the vehicle for exercising free will. Presumably physical brain activity plays some part in our behaviour but how does the soul exert control? How does the soul contend with physical influences such as brain damage, drugs and electro stimulation?Similarly god acts upon the world. Ho… Read More
May 27, 2008
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There is very little to precisely specify the nature of god in the Christian bible. What there is appears to me on occasion to be contradictory. The various books of the bible were written at different times by different authors and based on previous texts and other gods (the story of the flood had clearly been around in several versions before the Hebrews set it down). There remain many possible definitions for gods. It is often taken for granted in contemporary discussions that god is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient and there are references in the bible that can be interpreted … Read More
May 23, 2008
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Science, evolution, creation and all that.
A number of posts have challenged the theory of evolution in favour of creation. Here is an attempt to address some of those issues. If Darwin had never postulated the theory of evolution it would not render atheism untenable. There are many things that science cannot explain, the diversification of species would just be another one. There were atheists before there was the theory of evolution. Science doesn't have to (and never will) explain everything it's just the best tool we have for investigating the physical universe. It merely has to postulate testable theories. We can live and… Read More
May 22, 2008
As a young man I studied theoretical physics for a number of years but I have had no more than an amateur interest since and would not claim to have kept up with recent developments. My longest stretch in settling to anything was as an artist. A generous person would now regard me as a renaissance man, a shrewd one would recognise a dilettante.
I am married with two children and live for the most part in rural Suffolk, England, on a plot shared with horses and chickens.
I now work for an old endowed charity, manipulating assets to achieve the best return and trying to develop innovative and effective ways to distribute the funds to the least fortunate.
