You see, I’m not a big fan of musicals. Yes, I guess you could say, I’ll admit it, I’m a musical hater. But it could be I’m getting soft in my old age. When I heard that a film was being made of the Broadway hit Les Misérables I yawned. But my daughter sure didn’t; she was ecstatic. And the wife thinks musicals are great too. Being a fan of Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel I figured I’d join them to see what this musical adaptation…
Since Friday there have been a million and one response to the evil experienced against the innocents at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Often in such responses there is little humility, but in the face of the inscrutable humility is the only wise attitude. Yet at times of such blatant evil, the religious skeptics come out in force as if such evil proved their view of reality was axiomatic. Hardly.
A truly liberal person will steadfastly oppose actions of government that force people to act against their conscience or allow individuals to do harm to other human beings. I believe that those are the principles we should consider when looking at facts about government-financed public education and a government-enforced policy of unlimited elective abortions. I welcome those who disagree, to state the principles by which they do so, with equal directness and brevity. Nothing else can justify any sort of collective action against individuals. .…
Many fundamentalist atheists have an abnormal sense of certainty about what they think they know to be. Humility isn’t welcomed company amongst the militant atheists, and they don’t come much more militant, or absolutist, than Richard Dawkins, the world famous author and enemy of all things religious. Yet here we have Dawkins in a debate calling himself an agnostic, of all things.
You gotta love Woody Allen. Most atheists claim, and some vehemently, that finding meaning in a God-less universe is no big deal. Not so Woody Allen. His honesty about the matter is nothing if not refreshing.
Quite simply, the Constitution prohibits the state from interfering with the church, but does not prohibit the church from influencing the state. And there is no limit whatsoever to what states may do in the realm of religious expression. The First Amendment ties only the hands of the federal government. Once again, this truth is hiding in plain sight. “CONGRESS shall make no law …” Congress was prohibited from picking one Christian denomination and making it the official church of the United States (the Establishment…
Spoiler Alert: If you have heard of and plan to read the best seller, “Unbroken,” and if you don’t want to know details of how the story ends, you will not want to read any further. And it really is a worthwhile read. Literally everyone likes it. So if you want to read it, bookmark this and come back after you’ve finished it. Actually, this would be a fantastic book for atheists to read, because it would challenge some of their cherished assumptions about Christianity.…
By Mike D’Virgilio I take everything back! No, not really. I’m sure all the vitriolic God-haters (yes I know, they wouldn’t say they hate God, who they believe doesn’t exist—it’s those lousy religious morons they hate) who took me to task for implying that atheists contribute nothing to Western culture won’t be commenting on what an open-minded person I’ve become. I found nothing persuasive in the knee-jerk, clichéd comments about how stupid religious people are and how logical atheists are. But after reading the book…
Watching It’s a Wonderful Life for the zillionith time last weekend, and still loving every minute of it, a thought struck me: Could an atheist or an atheistic culture have produced such a movie? Most of us would probably consider that a rhetorical question, with no as the obvious answer. This is also partly inspired by a book I read not long ago, The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success, and one I’m reading now, The God That Did Not…
An inspiring Christmas story: Virginia public school students were apprehended for wearing funny sweaters and tossing candy canes to fellow students before the start of school. “They said the candy canes are weapons because you can sharpen them with your mouth and stab people with them,” a student reported. Thanks for defending us from the horror of Christmas, O, all-wise administrators of Battlefield High in Haymarket, VA! You’re our heroes! Story here.
Actor-writer John Cleese explains the rock-solid evidence for atheism, in this very funny video: H/t to Bruno Behrend.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair may seem an unlikely choice to defend religious faith, but there he was doing that in a debate with anti-theist Christopher Hitchens in Toronto:
by Mike Gray Recently in a comment on this weblog the Bible came under criticism from one of our readers named Ray: Of course atheists know more about religion than believers. That’s why they’re atheists. I was raised in an ultra-religious family, and when I felt my faith starting to waver, I vowed to read the bible from cover to cover to strengthen it. I did – and never believed again, or missed my beliefs. Most believers simply have no idea of the barbarity and…
by Mike Gray Why is our universe unique? It’s the only one that string theory can’t explain! According to Jonathan Sarfati: Hawking has again made the headlines with his new book, co-authored with science writer and physicist Dr. Leonard Mlodinow, strangely called The Grand Design. This supposedly proves that no Creator was necessary. Yet once again, he goes way beyond the evidence. Indeed, Hawking’s early training, like the current president’s, was probably decisive in determining his world view: As usual with atheistic scientists, Hawking’s atheopathy…
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