Mere Machines

New Atheists In the days of the frothing-at-the-mouth “new atheists” starting in around 2008, many of the more vulnerable fence-sitters on the God question were swallowed up and inoculated against rational thought on the subject. “Nones” What followed was an even larger rise in the number of people who apparently think one can remain neutral […]

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Lane Encroachment

In Science and Anti-science, we looked at two theses.  One:  that exclusion of any possibility of the supernatural is bad science.   Two:  that some atheists depart from science altogether, subverting its principles, by attempting to brand their opponents “anti-science.” An astute comment to that post occasions this expansion of it.  The suggestion is made that theists […]

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Review: God—The Failed Hypothesis, by Victor Stenger

This book is exasperating, because Stenger sets up a meta-analysis that games the entire discussion.  Having built for himself the restrictive form in which his reasoning is to be poured, he ends up with exactly the structure he set out to build.  The trouble is that it defies reason, not to mention, in many instances, […]

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Is nothing something?

Analogy:  the absence of light You’re in a deep cave.  The tour guide directs you and those with you to find a comfortable place to stand, or lean, and to get ready for the sensation of total darkness.  Then he switches off the lights.  The darkness is so complete that you imagine it to have […]

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Review: The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is certainly incendiary, and it’s not just because he makes free use of acerbic anti-Christian language.  It’s also because he would advocate prior restraint on free speech (chapter 1); considers religious teaching to children to be child abuse (chapter 9); and lays violence at the feet of religion while excusing the bridle-high materialist […]

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