Category Archives: Atheist

Is atheism dead? That is the provocative title of a new book by Eric Metaxas, a prominent cultural commentator from New York City.

The short answer is yes well, except for the spittle-flecked ravings of those in the camp of Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. I suppose one could call them zombie atheists, those who refuse to die despite the overwhelming proof their position is unsupported by any serious scientific evidence.

Metaxas assembles quite a collection of that evidence.

Atheism, of course, posits that there is no intelligent design of anything. All of the material world, including complex living organisms like human beings, are entirely the result of random occurrences.

To admit there is intelligent design is to admit there must necessarily be an intelligent designer.

Religious folks have a short, three-letter name for that intelligent designer God.

The Christian/Hebrew holy book starts with, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

When was that beginning? The science says it was 13.8 billion years ago.

We know this because astronomers have been able to determine that a) the universe is expanding at a measurable rate from an initial big bang and b) reverse calculations of that measurable expansion indicate that the bang occurred 13.8 billion years ago.

The Big Bang Theory was articulated by the Belgian priest/physicist Georges Lemaitre, who used Einsteins Theory of Relativity mathematics to prove his case.

Einstein wasnt happy about Lemaitres conclusions, but eventually conceded they were correct.

Other anti-creation scientists like Frederick Hoyle propounded a Steady State Theory and called the concept of a Big Bang ridiculous.

But then two radio astronomers at Bell Laboratories, Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias, discovered evidence of the Big Bang measurable background radiation that represented the partially dissipated heat from the original explosion.

The gamma radiation from that blast was everywhere and measured 2.7 degrees Kelvin.

They got a Nobel Prize for that discovery and poor Dr. Hoyle looked rather foolish.

It was poetic justice that his sneering name for Lemaitres discovery Big Bang, given in a BBC interview in 1949 became the name everyone now uses for what is undeniably a creation event.

Allan Sandage, one of the worlds pre-eminent astronomers and the man who carried on the work of Edwin Hubble (after whom the space telescope is named), had this to say about whether God was at work in the origins of everything, there was an event that happened that can be age-dated back in the past Just the very fact that science [can make] that statement, that cosmology can understand the universe at a much earlier state and it did emerge from a state that was fundamentally different.

Now thats an act of creation. Within the realm of science, one cannot say any more detail about that creation than the First Book of Genesis. Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking agrees.

In his 1988 bestseller A Brief History of Time, he writes, It would be very difficult to explain why the universe would have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us.

High-profile atheist Christopher Hitchens once admitted, on camera, that the most convincing argument for a creator was fine-tuning. He also stated that most of his co-atheists admitted as such.

Fine-tuning is the argument that there are certain things about the universe, the solar system and millions of biological systems here on Earth that are so perfectly calibrated that the chances that their fine-tuning is coincidental or accidental is so infinitesimally small as to be ridiculous.

For example, if our Earth was only slightly larger or smaller, life could not exist here.

Too small and the solar wind would strip away our atmosphere.

Too large, and the increased gravity would trap our atmospheric gases and make it unbreathable.

If Saturn and Jupiter were not exactly where they are in the solar system, we would have been pounded into oblivion by asteroids.

The gravity exercised by those two gas giants deflect the majority (but obviously not all) of life-killing asteroids. What about the idea we all learned in science class, that all life arose from inorganic compounds in a primordial soup being zapped by lightning to create life?

Physicist Paul Davies, writing in The Cosmic Blueprint, says, it is possible to perform rough calculations of the probability that the endless breakup and reforming of the soups complex molecules would lead to a small virus after a billion years it would be one chance in 10 to the two millionth power. In other words, a mind-numbing improbability. How ironic that atheists would insist on believing the ridiculous instead of what the scientific evidence clearly demonstrates.

When it comes to creation, God is in the details.

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Faith: God is found in the details when it comes to creation - Kamloops This Week

Robert Jeffress used his Dec. 5 sermon to claim that President Joe Biden has the most ungodly administration in American history.

The Biden administration is ungodly! I dont care how many rosary beads they rub, theyre ungodly, he intoned. This is the ungodliest presidential administration weve had in the history of our country.

Jeffress gave three reasons for his harsh judgment against Biden: opposition to a Mississippi anti-abortion law argued last week in the Supreme Court, efforts toward spreading this immoral transgender philosophy, and rescinding religious liberty executive orders implemented by Trump.

While mentioning his complaint about Bidens support for transgender persons, Jeffress attacked the administration for having as one of their own top officials a man prancing around in a skirt playing like hes a woman. Weve never seen something like that before. He added in his attack on Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health: Its sick! Absolutely sick and immoral.

Jeffress claims the Biden administration is ungodly, yet he defended a Trump administration that insisted on America First. This contradicts the servant motif of godliness and holiness found in the gospel.

Instead of being ungodly, I argue that the Biden administration may be the most gospel-filled administration since FDR. Bidens family leave provisions have received nothing but disdain and opposition from Republicans and evangelicals like Jeffress. Federal programs that assist the poor opposed by the Trump/Jeffress gang. Scientific research and aid to the nations of the world opposed by Trump/Jeffress.

With Trump, Jeffress endorsed in near erotic excitement moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem because he thinks that brings his beloved fiction of the rapture closer to reality. Jeffress has said that all Jews will go to hell and that Islam promotes pedophilia. Thats not godliness; thats self-righteousness. Jeffress has described gay people as taking part in the most detestable acts you can imagine and also slammed Mormonism as a cult.

Jeffress claims the Biden administration is ungodly, yet he defended a Trump administration that insisted on America First.

As Jeffress gave his heart and soul to the defense of the ungodly Trump administration, Trump gutted the Environmental Protection Agency and the Departments of Agriculture, Labor, and State. In the face of global warming and poverty, Jeffress went with Trump. Jeffress said nothing as Trump insisted on reducing funding by nearly $6 billion for the National Institutes of Health and attempted to reduce or eliminate funding for affordable housing, home heating, homelessness assistance, job training, clean energy, foreign aid and U.N. peacekeeping.

Theres nothing here thats good news for the poor, release for the prisoners, food for the hungry, clothing for the naked, houses for the homeless. Trumps ungodly budget proposals made deep cuts to domestic programs serving the working-class. As Eugene Robinson has noted, Trump attempted to reshape the federal government in his own image crass, bellicose, short-sighted, unserious and ultimately hollow.

Trump, with the complete religious support of Jeffress and his fellow court evangelicals, attempted to bust up and demolish the federal government and especially the social safety net. Jeffress, seeing governments function as punishing the wicked (meaning anyone associated with abortion and gays), has been gleeful of the idea of eliminating services, removing regulations, and cutting taxes for the very, very, very rich. The entire Trump agenda was just status quo materialism designed to protect the interests of the wealthy. It is hard to imagine a more ungodly agenda.

While Trump was dismantling democracy, Jeffress was aiding and abetting this vast criminal enterprise.

Together they were demolishing the gospel of Jesus to care for the widows, orphans, immigrants, children, families, strangers and the poor. They were reversing the gospel of forgiveness for one of revenge. They were going against Jesus severe condemnation of the wealthy in order to go whole hog for the big hogs at the economic trough.

Theres not enough gospel here to save the proverbial church mouse.

The Hebrew prophets would dismantle this charade with biting condemnation. Amos would have Jeffress sermon for lunch: I hate, I despise your Fourth of July festivals, and I take no delight in your patriotic assemblies. Even though you offer me your flag-wavings and fireworks in the sanctuary, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your affluent congregation I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise America is Gods land. I will not listen to the melody of your praise band and orchestra. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

The editors of Leviticus would diss Jeffress with straightforward exhortation: You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another.

When you have a leading evangelical pastor equating Christianity with freedom, patriotism and opposition to abortion, you should know you have a problem. That Jeffress, in a church service, would condemn the president of the United States for attempting to provide for the common good is a sign that he no longer knows how to recognize the gospel. The Christianity represented by the First Baptist Church of Dallas and its senior minister is not, in fact, Christian. It is American nationalism. To paraphrase Stanley Hauerwas, this version of Christianity is neither supported by nor shaped by the gospel.

Reaching deep into the emotional playbook, Jeffress imagined that he and his congregation were being persecuted, and he wasnt going to stand for it. I dont care where that persecution comes from. I dont care where that attempt to muzzle our witness comes from, whether its from some atheist organization like the Freedom from Religion Foundation or whether it comes from this ungodly administration were living under right now in Washington, D.C. Thats right, I said it! I said it, he declared to applause.

Persecution is a favorite trope of evangelicals. With such thin skins, they often mistake criticism for persecution.

Jeffress churns out the emotion of fear: We know if they ever succeed in taking the First Baptist Church of Dallas down, theyre going to go after every church everywhere that preaches the gospel. Were going to preach the gospel here no matter what it does. And if the Biden administration doesnt like it, they can hang it on their beak. (Whatever that means).

We know if they ever succeed in taking the First Baptist Church of Dallas down, theyre going to go after every church everywhere that preaches the gospel.

Jeffress seems to believe that nefarious forces, powerful enemies that are almost invulnerable are trying to take down First Baptist Church of Dallas. After the sermon, the godly dispersed to high-end restaurants across Dallas to revel in how the preacher really let them have it.

Jeffress rankled me deeply. I composed a letter, a preacher-to-preacher letter to my colleague in ministry. I thought I would at least feel better if I could just explain how I felt after reading the sermon about Bidens ungodliness. Heres what I wrote:

Dr. Jeffress, this criticism is not from an atheist organization but a fellow Baptist preacher. You have already served as the temple priest of the ungodliest administration in history the Trump presidency. Does my directness anger you? Good. I can work with that.

The majority of the nation sees President Biden as Americas grief counselor, but you deem him ungodly. And why did you have to attack the Catholics? Your snide anti-Catholic slap at rosary beads puts you on a par with Trumps relentless attacks against almost everyone. You sounded like a preacher who was opposing prayer at a prayer meeting, and if not opposing prayer, opposing prayer aids.

Since you have brought up the subject of being ungodly, let me remind you that with every misstep, every misleading attack, every lie, every misdeed, every disgusting piece of demeaning weaponized rhetoric, there you were smiling and defending the personification of evil.

Robert, do you remember when Trump called some African nations shithole countries? Heres what you said: Apart from the vocabulary attributed to him, President Trump is right on target in his sentiment.

When President Trump called NFL players who kneel for the National Anthem sons of bitches, do you remember your defense: These players ought to be thanking God that they live in a country where theyre not only free to earn millions of dollars every year, but theyre also free from the worry of being shot in the head for taking the knee like they would be in North Korea.

I know this is old news, but I laughed out loud at your defense of Trump when he paid hush money.

Robert, you blast Catholics, Mormons and Muslims with incendiary rhetoric. When you go off on America being founded as a Christian nation (a whopper of a lie), you specifically put Christianity on a higher plane of possessing a righteousness that other religions lack. Did you pay attention to the letter you received from fellow Dallas minister Rev. Eric Folkerth? Eric wrote you after you made such damning comments about Muslim leader Omar Suleiman: Can you not see, dear Brother Jeffress, that YOU have become a Pharisee of our time? Can you not see, dear Brother Jeffress, that leaders like YOU are the reason that so many young people leave our faith, never to return? When will you see the harm that you are not only causing, not to people of a man of peace like Omar Suleiman, but also to the very witness of our Christian faith in todays world?!

I know this is old news, but I laughed out loud at your defense of Trump when he paid hush money. You engaged in a bit of biblical chicanery to add an 11th commandment. Evangelicals still believe in the commandment: Thou shalt not have sex with a porn star. However, whether this president violated that commandment or not is totally irrelevant to our support of him. Your presumption that you can add an 11th commandment is a small-change perversion compared to how you have rewritten the gospel to fit Trump.

When the Democrats hired Derrick Harkins, a senior vice president at New Yorks Union Seminary, as their new religious outreach director, you claimed Harkins was a Trump-hating pastor and that Union Seminary was a liberal seminary that is filled with liberal professors who couldnt find God if their life depended on it. When you run down a fellow Baptist and a historically prominent seminary, you are (in the words of Raney) putting yourself lower than the belly of a hog.

Do you remember the interview on the Lou Dobbs show when you went too far even for Dobbs? Let me refresh your memory: And if the left ever gains control of this country again, I predict its going to be like the French Revolution. Its going to be bring out the guillotines and execute every thought they object to and every person who holds every thought that they object to. That is why what happens in November is so crucial. The future of our nation is at stake here.

Robert, I understand that you are a hyperbole addict. I have read all your sermons and interviews, and the hyperboles have piled up at your door to haunt you. Last Sunday you went too far. Its not President Biden who is ungodly; its former President Trump who is ungodly and evil.

I am convinced there is nothing you will refrain from doing on behalf of Donald Trump. You are his unofficial Secretary of Defense, the prophet of denial, demolition and distraction.

Rodney W. Kennedycurrently serves as interim pastor of Emmanuel Freiden Federated Church in Schenectady, N.Y., and as preaching instructor Palmer Theological Seminary. He is the author of nine books, including the newly releasedThe Immaculate Mistake,about how evangelical Christians gave birth to Donald Trump.

Related articles:

The leap from The Bible says to Believe me and God told me | Opinion by Rodney Kennedy

The Trump Card: How white evangelicals are being played| by Joel Bowman Sr.

Understanding the evangelical civil war| Analysis by Alan Bean

From 2016 to 2020, Trump grew in support from white evangelicals

Continued here:

Dear Robert Jeffress: You've called the wrong U.S. president 'ungodly' - Baptist News Global

The tumult of our recent past has left a lot of collateral damage in its wake. Myriad features on local and national news have covered how family gatherings in the so-called post-COVID era are strained due to vehement disagreement on economic, political, and even religious issues are as predictable as a lunar eclipse.

We may personally have experienced such tense exchanges where harsh feelings and harsher words are fired back and forth at family gatherings, sometimes with only a bowl of mash potatoes keeping some from coming to blows. Sadly, this us against them or me against you mentality has seeped through the cracks in a lot of church doors as well. At a time when we need friends the most, friendship is at greatest risk.

Imagine if our new standard of friendship boundaries existed in the past. Things might have turned out a lot differently. St. Peter and St. Paul were very different people; St. Peter a simple fisherman under the yoke of imperial Rome just trying to make a living and St. Paul, or Saul of Tarsus then, a Roman citizen and a Pharisee. Even immediately after St. Peter took the helm after the Ascension, Saul of Tarsus violently persecuted Christians. Their differences did not end after St. Pauls conversion, but they never threatened their friendship.

Friendship today now has so many transactional elements to it. A friendship can be damaged beyond repair if words are not checked carefully before spoken. It wasnt always this fragile. Some of the most profound friendships in history were forged between people who had very little in common. Some of these friendships even survived two people holding polar opposite views on very important issues.

Ulysses S. Grant won the Civil War. James Longstreet, a general on the losing side, was Grants friend before the war. He was Grants friend after the war. You would think if two men such as these could maintain their friendship during what they went through, why cant two cousins get along, even though they have different views about polar bear populations above the Arctic Circle?

Other examples of famous and unlikely friendships abound. Groucho Marx was a pen pal and friend of British Nobel Laureate T.S. Eliot. Granted it was a strained friendship at times, but one that lasted in one form or another until Eliot passed away in 1965. Marx summed up the relationship in a way only Marx could by stating he and Eliot had only three things in common: love of literature, a penchant for puns, and cats.

J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were friends when Tolkien was a devout Catholic and Lewis was an avowed atheist. It was due in no small part to this friendship of opposites that a great Christian thinker was born.

Henry Fonda and James Stewart in "The Cheyenne Social Club." (IMDB)

During the Golden Age of Hollywood you could not find two bigger stars than James Stewart and Henry Fonda. They were responsible for some of the greatest films ever made, such as Its A Wonderful Life, The Grapes of Wrath, Vertigo, and Mister Roberts. The list of their great movies is a lot longer, but you get the idea.

Stewart and Fonda were lifelong friends. They met in Hollywood when they were both promising young actors struggling to make it big. They made it big, very big, and their friendship stayed intact. Besides their talent and star power, they had other things in common. They both served their country during World War II, Stewart in the U.S. Army Air Corps and Fonda in the U.S. Navy. Stewart took it a step further, becoming the Commanding Officer of a bomber group in the U.S. 8th Air Force, where he flew many missions in harms way.

Politically, Stewart and Fonda could not have been further apart. Stewart was the rock-ribbed Republican and Fonda was the New Deal Democrat. I can only imagine the private discussions these two men had.

Things must have gotten more tense when, during the Vietnam War, Stewarts stepson served and was killed in action and Fondas daughter became famous as a war protester. Miraculously, their friendship survived.

We may not all have the ability to star in major Hollywood movies, fly B-24 Liberator bombers over Berlin, or powerfully portray Abraham Lincoln, but we can and should emulate Stewart and Fonda when it comes to the care and feeding of friendship. They were bigger than the things that divided them, and we should be, too.

Read more:

The care and feeding of true friendship - Angelus News

The holidays have different meanings for everyone. For some its a good excuse for a well-needed rest. For others its a time for traditional religious values and rituals. For many of us, its a time for reflecting on what needs to be different in our lives.

Because of the time of year, many countries have a cold and dark climate during this season. The holidays are a way to bring light into that darkness. No matter how you were brought up, whether it be Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, Sikh I could keep listing different belief systems, but my point is that this time of year is just a time where people, whoever they are, wherever they come from, can find a way to bond together and share the universal need for hope.

Many religious rituals involve light. Whether its the lighting of a menorah candle, stringing up a strand of Christmas lights around a tree, or lighting oil lamps for the Diwali festival of lights, all involve bringing light into dark, therefore allowing ourselves to hope for better times.

The consumerism and commercialism that has seeped into this time of year has, of course, made it difficult to remember the original meaning of hope and grace. There are line-ups and fistfights in Walmart aisles; theres pressure to get the toy that the offspring has to have, because theyll face ostracization at school if it isnt gift-wrapped in glitter and tissue paper under the tree on Christmas morning. (Tissue paper that inevitably gets eaten by the dog or shredded by the cat anyway.)

Then theres the really hard part to reconcile: the people outside roaming the street who hope that maybe there will be some generosity because its the holidays. There are shelters that are full because of the temperature; what makes me feel ill is that often as a society we condemn the homeless for their hygiene or addictions. What other choice do they have? As people, we are all looking for comfort, and that can come in many forms. I so admire the volunteers that march to Our Place to dish out a real holiday feast to those who have ended up there.

So, we continue to hope. We look forward to the holidays because thats what it offers, whether its shredded tissue under a tree or putting $5 into someones hand who needs it far more than we do. We light lamps, we bake pastries, and we enjoy the families that we were born into, or the families that we have chosen.

Its fascinating looking into all the different cultures and how they celebrate this time of year, not only because of the beautiful rituals and traditions, but because they all involve stories of renewal and hope. Stories that tell you to do things a little different or a little better this time around. Every culture celebrates light in some way, and we should all celebrate having the vigilance to let go of what has been bringing you down. Traditions and rituals started for a reason, and the holiday season is a wonderful way to celebrate hope and light and the future of better things to come.

Happy Holidays.

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Open Space: Celebrate the light this December - Nexus Newspaper

(RNS) One day in March of this year, Owen Morgan walked into a Walmart in Kentucky for a quick stop at the stores newspaper rack. Wearing a mask and a hood to avoid being spotted by anyone who might recognize him, he rifled through newspapers to see if his name had made the front pages.

A few days prior, Morgan, who is known as Telltale on YouTube, had uploaded a video on his channel titled My Daughters Health Teacher Tried To INDOCTRINATE THE CLASS. The video featured a recording of his 12-year-old daughters health teacher discussing religious beliefs in class. Since then Morgan had been receiving hate messages online and offline.

Morgan objected to the teacher telling her sixth-grade students not only that it was wrong to be sexually active, but relating her cautions about sex to the Bible and God.

If youre brought up with morals and values, then Gods gonna be there to help you make better decisions, the teacher is heard saying on the recording.

When Morgan released his video saying that involving the Bible in education is against the law, many of his neighbors in West Virginia threatened him and his daughter, he said, and started posting hate comments about him on social media and repeatedly driving by his house and honking their horns. In a later video, Morgan said he couldnt leave his house, open his doors or even take the trash out for fear of abuse or reprisal.

Owen Morgan. Courtesy photo

Born into a family of Jehovahs Witnesses, Morgan came to think of his familys beliefs as destructive. At the age of 18, he was disfellowshipped for smoking a cigarette and shunned by most of his relatives and friends. He continued to believe in the religion till he was 22 before changing course.

I wanted to understand how this happens to people. How they come to the point where they believe this extremist ideology. Not Jehovahs Witnesses, but even non-religious ones QAnon and Scientology and things like that. So I started researching and trying to understand and started a YouTube channel, he said.

Morgans channel, which has drawn about 290,000 followers and 54 million views since he launched it in 2016, focuses on cults and religions he deems to be oppressive, with clips from religious leaders trying to convert others, viral Christian TikTok theories suggesting Beyonce is a demon and examinations of cult psychology.

But when he turned his focus to his hometown, he suddenly found himself not just ostracized but under attack. Morgan and his daughter had already planned to move to New York City, where they live now, after school was out last summer. The incident forced them to move up their plans. In the middle of the night that week in March, they packed up and fled.

RELATED: The nones are growing and growing more diverse

Morgans experience only emphasized the necessity for nonbelievers to find communities such as the Faithless Forum, which Morgan helped found with fellow YouTubers Thomas Westbrook and Jeremiah Jennings in 2018. The groups goal is to encourage atheist content creators and to build a secular community over time. It declares on its website that it aims to build community, promote collaboration, and fight pseudoscience with scientific skepticism and critical thinking.

Panelists participate in the third Faithless Forum conference in Austin, Texas, in Nov. 2021. Photo courtesy of Thomas Westbrook

The group held its third Faithless Forum conference in Austin, Texas, in late November to what its organizers call a pandemic-reduced crowd of 170. The three-day event offered workshops to support those who have left their religion, discussions on how religion promotes anti-science culture and how to raise children as atheists, as well as YouTube marketing techniques.

We had an overwhelmingly positive response, said Westbrook. A lot of people told us that they have been isolated and that in their community, oftentimes atheists are viewed as, you know, with hostility. And so being in a community where they are being in a group setting like this where they can be open and out and freely discussing issues like this (is important).

Thomas Westbrook. Video screengrab

Westbrook, who was raised in a religious evangelical missionary family, said his doubts about faith came through reading as he got older.

I read a lot of books by physicists. I read a lot of books about evolution and about biology. Took online classes just out of curiosity. And I started realizing that a lot of the stories that I was taught were at the very least not literal. At the very least, they couldnt physically happen the way that theyre literally described, he said.

He gradually transitioned to liberal Christianity and later atheism after discovering logical fallacies in religious teachings about the creation of the earth and evolution.

When I became an atheist, I didnt feel comfortable coming out right away. I was a closeted atheist for a while. I didnt really tell my family or friends, and I didnt really tell my coworkers because I didnt want that to affect my job or my chance for promotions or raises. I just acted like a liberal Christian who believed in evolution, he said.

But Westbrooks feeling of being lied to pushed him to create awareness about atheism. His channel, Holy Koolaid, a reference to the mass suicide of cult members at Jonestown, in Guyana in 1978, now has over 216,000 subscribers and over 23 million views.

RELATED: Many scientists are atheists, but that doesnt mean they are anti-religious

Jeremiah Jennings. Courtesy photo

On Jeremiah Jennings YouTube channel, Prophet of Zod, Jennings appears with a signature look: a gray jacket and an oval filled with static covering his face. Growing up Pentecostal in Alaska, he left his familys faith in his 30s and started his YouTube career writing material for his brothers channel, TheFaithCheck before launching Prophet of Zod in 2016. He uses his channel to counsel non-believers on talking about atheism with the believers they know and love.

I get messages from people talking about some of the difficulties they had figuring out what it means for them to not believe, and communicating with family members and stuff, he said.

While they have left Christianity behind, these creators are missionaries in their own right, ones who primarily use social media to spread their message. But not all social media platforms are the same. TikTok is great for new exposure, but it doesnt have the same audience retention, Westbrook said. But with YouTube, you can have a lot more depth. You can have longer conversations. You can get really laser focused with stuff and flesh out a topic.

And while TikTok is trendy, Twitter attracts a very diverse crowd, including those who may not agree with his messaging. Morgan said he also likes YouTube because he receives less hate on his channel, partly because of how its algorithm is structured to bring in viewers with similar interests.

He noted that TikToks lively conversation was slightly different. If youre a Christian, you go to the Christian TikTok hashtag. If youre an atheist, you go to the Christian TikTok hashtag because you want to see people saying really weird stuff, he said.

Excerpt from:

Atheists find community on YouTube and in person - Religion News Service

Second Sunday of Advent: Todays readings: Baruch 5:1-9; Psalm 126:1-6; Philippians 1:4-11; Luke 3:1-6.

Last August, Greg Epstein, author of Good Without God. What a Billion Non-Religious People do Believe, was elected president of the religious leaders, or chaplains, at Harvard University. Epstein is an atheist. The move respectfully acknowledges that the younger generations are mostly describing themselves as atheists, agnostics, humanists, or spiritual but not religious. Indeed, a third of the worlds population does not believe in God.

Statistical data shows that younger generations locally tend to be less religious, even if Malta has just ranked fifth as the most religious in the EU. Epstein argues that one can be good without God; that religious people can be as dreadful as non-religious; and that non-religious can be as good as their religious peers. Mirroring ourselves in each other, Epstein contends, provides us with the accurate compass to act in righteousness. Seemingly Epstein is succeeding in bringing together traditionally-sworn enemies, believers and non-believers alike, in mutual understanding and in the search for the common good.

Reflecting on the Harvard experiment, Domenico delle Foglie, from Agenzia SIR, queries whether believers should start accepting the apparent decline in the search for religious meaning. Is the world better off without religious beliefs? In particular, delle Foglie purports that Christians should start seriously asking themselves whether modern man believes that Jesus Christ has nothing more to say to individual consciences about what Christianity means by good life.

What do we make of evangelisation in this context? Pope Benedict XVI warned against the dangers of proselytism, and in Evangelii gaudium, Pope Francis admonishes Catholics to distance ourselves from narcissistic and authoritarian elitism and from the self-absorbed Promethean neopelagianism of those who ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. (EG, 94).

One might legitimately ask whether the signs of the times are showing us that humanity is perhaps already stepping on new sacred ground. The prophecy of Baruch in todays first reading, that God is gathering children from the east and the west, and that lofty mountains be made low and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground should thrust us to be sensible to the unassuming signs pointing to the manner the Spirit is effectuating this today.

Recognition of these signs demands a docile readiness to receive from above knowledge and every kind of perception,to discern what is of value as the Apostle points out in the second reading from the letter to the Philippians.

The gospel underlines the truth that Gods revelation takes place in the unfolding of tangible human history. Luke recalls that it was in a particular historical moment, that the Word of God came to the prophet John the Baptist, incisively in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar when Pontius Pilate was governorof Judea,and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis,and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas.

Advent is the time when Christs faithful are summoned to take seriously the Word of God irrupting in the here and now of human history

Advent is the time when Christs faithful are summoned to take seriously the Word of God irrupting in the here and now of human history, challenging and surprising believers to come to grips with the logos incarnandus, the divine Word who incarnates itself anew, demanding of us to rethink and reshape ourselves according to the signs of the times.

Are you prepared?

charlo.camilleri@um.edu.mt

Independent journalism costs money. Support Times of Malta for the price of a coffee.

The rest is here:

From the Gospel: Are you prepared to change according to the signs of the times? - Times of Malta

(JTA) Curb Your Enthusiasm has always been a Jewy show, but this season it is downright Jewish.

On the HBO sitcom, now in its 11th season, Larry David has never been shy about surfacing, and lampooning, Judaism and Jewishness. He has contemplated the dilemmas of Holocaust survival, waded into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (via a local chicken restaurant) and gotten stranded on a ski lift with an Orthodox Jew on Shabbat.

This season, its not just the occasional matzoh ball joke, or the Yiddish lesson he gave Jon Hamm in the season premiere. David is plunging into questions of Jewish pride and belief, and if he isnt exactly Abraham Joshua Heschel, he could provide a Jewish educator with a semester of lively classroom debate.

In the latest episode, for example, a Jew for Jesus joins the cast of the show that Larrys character is developing for Hulu. Although neither Larry nor his Jewish friends are remotely religious, they seem genuinely upset by the actors apostasy, and Larry gives him a rather sober warning that he shouldnt proselytize on set.

A week earlier, a member of his golf club (played by Rob Morrow) asks Larry to pray for his ailing father. Larry declines, saying prayer is useless. He also wonders why God would need, or heed, the prayer of a random atheist like himself instead of the distressed son who wants his father to live.

For anyone who has gone to Hebrew school, its a familiar challenge, usually aired by the wiseacre in the back row who the teacher suspects is perhaps the most engaged student in the classroom. And it is not just atheists posing the question, Why pray? The Israeli philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz, a devout Orthodox Jew,believed that worship of God must be totally devoid of instrumental considerations.

In addition to a Jewish funeral, the episode has a bonus theological theme: Middah kneged Middah, or as Morrows character puts it, what goes around comes around. Morrow warns Larry that his actions will have consequences, which actually gives Larry pause. If anything, the entire Curb enterprise is an exercise in Jewish karma. Larry is constantly being punished in ways large and small for his actions, inactions, meddling and slights. As the old theater expression has it, if Larry opens a donut shop to drive a rival out of business in act one, his own shop will burn to the ground in act three.

A prior episode was even more self-consciously Jewish: Larry attends High Holiday services only because he lost a golf bet to the rabbi, and he literally bumps into a Klansman coming out of a coffee shop. The latter sets off a string of plot twists, as he and the KKK guy trade a series of favors and obligations that will have disastrous consequences for both. Larrys salvation comes at the end, when he blares a shofar from his balcony, literally raising the alarm on antisemitism and waking his neighbors to the threat of white supremacy.

The episode suggests the failure of good intentions. Larry spills coffee on the Klansmans robe and offers to have it dry-cleaned. Good liberal Jew that he is, Larry appears genuine in his belief that empathy is a better response to hate than confrontation, and that if he turns the other cheek it might lower the temperature in a post-Trump America. Of course, it doesnt work out that way, and the last word goes to his friend Susie Green, who performs a pointed act of Jewish sabotage that gets the Klansman pummeled by his fellow racists. Give David credit for embedding within a preposterous half-hour of television a debate about vengeance and resistance that engaged the followers of Jews as different as Jesus and Jabotinsky.

Make no mistake: The Larry David character is sacrilegious and heretical, and Curb is no friend of the religious mindset. But to dismiss him as self-hating is to miss out on the unmistakably Jewish conversation at the heart of the show. Davids character is a deeply principled person: Most of the nonsense he gets himself into is the result of his enforcing unspoken social rules that others appear to be flouting, whether it is taking too many samples at the ice cream counter or dominating the conversation (poorly) at the dinner table. Larry is rude and inconsiderate, but he is seldom wrong. He is what Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik might have called a Halachic Man an actualizer of the ideals of justice and righteousness, even when the rest of the world resents it.

If you think I am overdoing it, remember that there is an actual discussion in Talmud about the right and wrong way of putting on a pair of shoes.

And just as in the Talmud, there are no easy answers in Davids moral universe: If a friend lends you his favorite, one-of-a-kind shirt, and you ruin it, what are your obligations to him? (See: Bava Metzia 96b)If a thief breaks into your house and then drowns in your swimming pool, which wasnt protected by the required fence, who is owed damages and how much? (See: Ibn Ezra on Exodus 22:1-2)

In last weeks episode, Larry even touched on consciously or not a classic debate in the Talmud: If you and a friend are stranded in the desert, and your canteen has only enough water for one of you to survive, must you share it or save your own life?

Yes, Larry was talking about sharing a phone charger, but if the Sages had cell phones, what do you think theyd be talking about?

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

Excerpt from:

Larry David has never been more Jewish than in this seasons Curb - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

A slippery kind of totalitarianism

Rita Lombard warned of acommunisthellscape (Letters, Nov. 28)in TheRegister-Guard. Communism began with the good intention of helping the people, but then dictatorships robbed people of their freedoms. Cuba is a good example.

It instituted free education and free health care and produces many doctors, but it took away the peoples freedom. Republicans today are embracing all of the worst totalitarian aspects ofcommunism yet denying the good. They are eliminating a womans choice, minority voting rights and democracy in general.

An example is Texas where 95% of the new growth is from Democratic-trending Latinos, yet Texas redistricting eliminates most minority influence. Of 150 districts, onlysixhave a chance of switching sides. About a third of the people in the country are obstructing the will of the majority with the filibuster.Likely voters support the Build Back Better Planby 29points, yet it will receivezeroRepublican votes.Seventy-eight percentsupport expanding Medicare coverage,66% support funding for affordable housing,61% support funding for child care and universal pre-kindergarten, 53% support extending the child tax credit,59% support a 15% corporate minimum tax rate for large corporations.

Total obstruction from the wannabetotalitarian Republicandictatorship.

Jerry Brule,Eugene

Inhis Nov. 25Your Turn column about Thanksgiving, James Newton includes what seems like a bizarre non sequitur: Even if you are an atheist, you can thank fate or blind chance.

But when you notice thatGodis mentioned in thefirst sentence, you see the connection. Newton apparently thinks atheists need a substitute forGod some other higher power such as fate or chance. Personally, when I think of giving thanks these arent on my list because it implies agency,and its the wrong emphasis. Atheists dont need condescending instruction on what to give thanks for based on religious bias.

James Newton: Guest View: A moral quandary of celebrating Thanksgiving?

A surgeon acquaintance of mine talks about when, after telling loved ones that a surgery was successful, their response is often thankGod rather than thankyou. In a comedy routine, Daniel Sloss goes further and points out thatGodevidently gave the patient cancer in the first place. Shouldnt we give thanks and credit topeoplewhen people do good things?

I dont needGod, fate or chance to be thankful for a loving partner, friends, modern medicine and the general comforts available to us through science and engineering when people are responsible for these things.

Charles H. Jones,Eugene

Campaign finance reform. Getting money out of politics. No matter what side of the aisle you sit,or if by now you are totallyover politics,we should all be able to agree bigmoney buying campaigns and elections wont help us solve any of the problems we care about. We should all be asking our representatives, where do your campaign contributions come from?

Donors have huge influence over the decisions legislators make. And a lot of that money is coming from corporations with special interests. If we are going to have success in ending corruption, we need transparency when it comes to who funds these campaigns and their ads, etc.

2022 is right around the corner and for me, Im looking at candidates who prioritize this issue.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Patrick Starnes has made campaign finance reform amain focus of his candidacy. Its the first thing you see on the homepage of his website. Hes also committed to taking no contributions over $1,000. Starnes wants to put an end to unlimited money in our elections.

In 2020, Starnes successfully advocated for a state constitutional amendment that allows theLegislature to set limits on campaign donations.

Whitney Randall,Springfield

If the city of Eugene intends to mandate all single-family home lots be converted to units of high density, then those new homes must alsobedesigned, priced and made available for sale to home-owning residents who are most in need of housing. Otherwise, the temptation may be too great for the builders to keep non-market rate units as rentals or sell them to other landlords to retain the appreciation and tax benefits that accrue to non-wage income.

Guest Opinion:: What to do as Eugene City Council votes to rethink natural gas

The long-range outcome of converting established neighborhoods could result in more rentals, while fewer resident-owners have the opportunity to accrue the wealth from capital appreciation they will need to retire comfortably and pass something on to their children.

The city of Eugene has already shown an alarming preference for taxing wage income alone for public services that benefit all residents.For Eugene to be so determined to impose a high-density, concrete heat island on what has been an acclaimed northwest tree city, shows narrow, panicked thinking, not the long-range thoughtful planning process that gives due consideration to possible adverse consequences.

Ellen Otani,Eugene

The good news is automakers are transitioning to electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The bad news is, they are still marketing and selling gasoline-powered vehicles, each expected to be on the road for10years or so.

According to EPA estimates, the average car (22.5 mpg, driven 12,000 miles) emits about 4.8 metric tons of CO2 each year. Could we offset these emissions by planting trees?The EPA estimates that planting one urban tree and allowing it to grow for10years sequesters 0.06 metric tons of CO2.Thus, one could offset one years car emissions by planting 80 trees.

Lane County has 335,000 passenger cars registered.Assuming 300,000 of those are gasoline-powered, we would need to plant 24 million trees each year to offset average car emissions for the county.Assuming higher mileage and less use, planting 12 million trees each year and ensuring they grow for10years might offset most car emissions for this one county.Nationwide?

Transportation accounts for the majority of our CO2 emissions.If you are thinking of purchasing a new vehicle, buy electric. Things must change if we hope to maintain some of the fresh water and forests we have in Oregon.

Arthur Farley,Eugene

With tears of sorrow, I pay tribute to the iconic member of a valued species important to sustaining natural systems wherever they exist: male wolf OR-93. His epic journey from near Mt. Hood into southern California is thought to be the longest travelled by his species, bringing about worldwide attention.

This two-year-old wolf greatly contributed to the well-being of his species by becoming a poster child for what wolves should be: wild and free. Why? Because science shows that the presence of wolves and other large predators is essential to maintaining the layered complexity of biodiverse ecosystems. Removing wolves from ecosystems as humans are wont to do degrades their biodiversity and resilience, negatively impacting the world around them. Every ecosystem is an important component to the existence and health of our planet.

Thank you, OR-93, for your too-short, but incredible life. Your howls now join the voices of the ancient ones voices to which all of Nature listens. If humans will listen and protect, rather than destroy natures fauna and flora, there is hope for Earths survival. If not, we doom ourselves along with the planet.

Thank you, special one, for having shown us the way.

Judith K. Berg, Eugene

Letters should be200 words or fewer andsent with the writers name,address, and daytime phone number via e-mail torgletters@registerguard.com. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and maybe published in any medium. We regret that owing to the volume of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter.

Link:

Letters to the editor for Sunday, Dec. 5: OR-93, campaign spending, and carbon emissions - The Register-Guard

its all about commercialism. Specifically, buying my books. Especially the one on the Nativity. Please help to support my work!

I have written a number of books over the last few years. Here they are listed with links to Amazon; below you will find more detail:

Lets start with a few of my latest ones.

The first book to exhibit is my case for atheism and against theism: Why I Am Atheist and Not a Theist: How to Do Knowledge, Meaning, and Morality in a Godless World. If you want to know what I believe and what I dont and why, and why you should too, this is the book for you.

While Jonathan MS Pearce has written a whole suite of books that have produced a barrage against theism, in this book, he pulls a number of threads together that build up a case for his own entire worldview. This book is not just about why atheism is a more rational position than its counterparts, but it also builds the foundations for a sound epistemology (theories about knowledge and truth) and morality from the bottom up. Pearces account for reality has far-reaching consequences that cover many bases, from God to guns, personhood and abortion to racism, and why he thinks his positions on these subjects are rational.

InWhy I am Atheist and Not a Theist, Pearce tackles all of reality in an accessible manner, presenting a cogent case for why he concludes as he does, and why you should too.

Pearces clear writing and charming wit allow even those unfamiliar with philosophy to enjoy this deep dive into a non-theistic worldview. He lays out a humanistic, naturalistic philosophy that is not only epistemologically sound and logically coherent, but enjoyable to read. This book serves as a wonderful introduction to the philosophy of irreligion, where ones ideology is not just defined by an absence of beliefs, but instead by the presence of better beliefs. Dr Caleb Lack, author ofCritical Thinking, Science, and Pseudoscience: Why We Cant Trust Our Brains

This collection of essays is the best introduction to the debate between atheists and theists in the market today. With both gentle humor and admirable rigor, Pearce makes technical philosophical terminology clearly understandable to the uninitiated reader, and then persuasively lays out a very convincing case for his clearly defined concept of naturalism. A must for anyone just starting to engage with the philosophy of religion! Gunther Laird,The Unnecessary Science: A Critical Analysis of Natural Law Theory

Pearce has written an engrossing treatment of some of the most compelling questions of human existence. This book skillfully builds a worldview that is based on scientific naturalism in a way that is highly accessible to the non-philosopher. Virtually every page will make you think. Dr. Joseph Berger, author ofScience and Spirituality.

The Resurrection: A Critical Examination of the Easter Story is a part of a trilogy of books eviscerating the foundations upon which Christianity is built, together withThe Nativity: A Critical Examination and a forthcoming book on the Exodus. Here is the description and a few of the fantastic reviews it has garnered:

The Resurrection story is integral to the Christian faith; its truth has been crucial for Christians since the inception of the belief system. But did the events reported in the Christian Bible actually happen? How do the claims made by the authors look in light of careful historical analysis? Are the Gospel claims internally coherent? Do Christian believers have justification in believing the chapter and verse of this most famous of miraculous stories?

Jonathan MS Pearce looks at all of the problems with the Easter story in the same way he analysed the Nativity accounts in the sister bookThe Nativity: A Critical Examination.This later book is a diligent examination of the Easter story, the claims, the likelihood of truth, and what may have been the original events that inspired the biblical writers and believers to write and believe what they did. And still do. Historical, philosophical, and biblical exegetical analysis are woven together to form a terminal case against the accuracy, and ultimately truth, of the Easter story.

[I]f you want to take such a belief seriously, read this thoroughly documented terminal case against the resurrection based on the latest research! This is the only book youll need. Pearce is your expert guide on all the essential issues. John W. Loftus, author, and editor ofThe Case against Miracles

Jonathan MS Pearce puts the resurrection genie back in the bottle (and the body back in the grave). If you are digging for truth, this book is a goldmine! Dan Barker, author ofGodless

This book is the definitive starting point for anyone intent on questioning or defending the resurrection of Jesus. Introductory and aimed at a broad audience, but thoroughly researched, all the key works are here cited and arguments addressed, and with sound reasoning. If this book cannot be answered, belief in the resurrection cannot be defended. Dr. Richard Carrier, author ofJesus from Outer Space: What the Earliest Christians Really Believed about Christ.

My second book remained within the philosophical realm, but this time concentrating on philosophy of religion, namely the characteristics of God.The Little Book of Unholy Questionsis described as follows on the cover:

Jonathan M.S. Pearces second book (after Free Will?) continues along the same philosophical and theological vein, aiming to provide a cumulative case against the existence of God, and more specifically, Gods triple characteristics of omniscience, omnipotence and omnibenevolence. Split into useful categories with an introduction to each category, these are questions that demand to be answered adequately and plausibly in order for the believer to retain a rationally-based faith. Pearces easy writing style and explanation of philosophy, theology and science on the popular level make this book as enjoyable to read as it is thought-provoking. Does God change his mind when prayed to, and why has he never produced a miracle since biblical times that couldnt have occurred naturally anyway, like re-growing an amputees leg? God only knows.

Pearce demands from God a rational explanation to all of the problems that seem illogical or incoherent. These are damningly challenging inconsistencies in the Christian narrative that necessarily antagonize any rational reader. If you are still or used to be Christian, The Little Book of Unholy Questions is an overview of the critical questions you need to be asking yourself. Derek Murphy, Jesus Potter Harry Christ

And a review selected from the great reviews on amazon:

Easy reading with a profound content

by S.P. Sider

I met Jonathan in a couple of forums over the internet. When the subject is religion and philosophy you surely expect passion and hot debates. But Jonathan stood apart for his calmness and patience, probably due to his teaching background.

When I learned he wrote this book, I decided to give it a try.

And it was worth it! Dont be fooled by his philosophy background. Thankfully you will not see any logic equation that would be pretty boring. Its all in plain English. The format is very interesting: Questions and comments well mixed. You may find some questions very funny, but very often the funnier are the most profound.

Its a book for the believer and non-believer. And thats very difficult to achieve, a definitive plus. Jonathans intention is thought provoking and its a must for believers who dare to ask questions, and I am sure I made dozens of them when I was a believer. And non-believers will find a bunch of questions they never thought about.

My suggestion: read it slowly, taste every question for a couple of minutes. You wont regret it.

My third book moved towards a different discipline: historical analysis and biblical exegesis, being a synthesis of the work analysing the historicity of the nativity accounts of Jesus birth in the Bible.The Nativity: A Critical Examinationis described as follows:

The nativity of Jesus is an event that carries much cultural recognition. However, is it a narrative which commands much support in the academic world? Is it a story which holds much historical truth? Or were the two biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus an opportunity for the authors to impart a theological truth or otherwise? These are the sort of questions that are often asked of the nativity accounts and questions which are answered in this concise and yet well-researched and informative book. Some twenty arguments are looked at and presented in a clear and detailed manner, building a cumulative case for the objection to the historical nature of the Gospel accounts. The author also questions what purpose these stories do serve if indeed they do carry little or no historical truth. With reference to a wide array of contemporary and iconic works on the subject, Pearce has created a compendium of critical arguments against the historicity of a story which still remains a vital piece of our collective cultural and religious tapestry.

For anyone beginning to doubt the reliability of the gospels as eyewitness accounts, Pearces The Nativity will teach you everything you need to know to move past the limitations of biblical infallibility and explore the complicated process that went into the gospel narratives of Jesus Christ. Derek Murphy, author of Jesus Potter Harry Christ

And a review from amazon:

Did you think you knew the nativity story

By ungodly

When was Jesus born? What was his birth date? Where was he born and why was he born there? Who knew of his birth? How is Jesus related to biblical characters past? Who thought that baby Jesus was the messiah and why? What important historical events do you expect we should have records of if the bible accounts were accurate?

If you think you know the answers to these questions, think again.

Jonathan Pearce points out how, despite the heartwarming Christmas pageants we are all familiar with, there is no real cohesive narrative regarding the birth of Jesus. It appears that when they originally calculated the year of the nativity in the 6th century, they were averaging two different years as estimated by the two very different accounts of Jesus birth given in the bible both of which seem purposefully manufactured to make Jesus birth match the description of the messiah foretold in Jewish prophesy.

Step by step, Pearce shows us how it is impossible for both biblical accounts (Luke and Matthew) to be true, and, as we delve into the finer details of each account, it become increasingly obvious that neither account comports with historical facts.(How can a star guide the three wise men towards the birth site when a star would move across the sky as the earth rotates and disappears during the day? Why do people think there were three wise men anyway when that is not mentioned in the bible?)

If the Christian would not accept specious reasoning to suffice as an explanation for another religions miraculous claims, this book should give a clear understanding as to why an outsider rejects the bibles miraculous claims. The Jesus story doesnt make sense from the get go.

This little book is a must-read for Christians brave enough to consider whether their beliefs could be as mythological as conflicting faiths. Its also a gem for those outside the Christian faith who want to know whether Christianity is built upon a coherent narrative. This, however, is most definitely is not a book for those afraid that their god will damn them to hell unless they believe in the inerrancy of the bible. Before you read this book, ask yourself, If the nativity story is a myth, would I want to know?

Next isBeyond an Absence of Faith:Stories About the Loss of Faith and the Discovery of Self.

Leaving ones religion behind, walking away from faith, is never an easy journey. With family, friends, jobs, and every aspect of ones life to consider, the decision is not to be taken lightly. This anthology is made up of sixteen fascinating, and at times moving, accounts of such decisions, and the consequences they entail. Whether it be Christianity, Islam or any other life-impacting worldview, leaving it can be a difficult ordeal. This collection details the trials and tribulations, the joy and liberation involved, by people from various walks of life and corners of the globe.

Heartfelt, it offers hope to those equally questioning, and understanding to those who themselves question the motivations of these often brave people.

Here is a review:

Pearce and Vick have brought together a diverse group of voices with one thing in common they have moved beyond being former believers into being active participants in humanity. Each of the stories shared is unique, but former believers will find something they can identify with in every one. From the pain of separation from friends and family, to the joy of being liberated from a sexist mindset, to the harsh reality of having to find a new career in the middle of your life because you have embraced reason, these personal stories help to reinforce for the non-believer that you are not alone in your journey. Instead, you are walking a path many have gone down before, and you can take solace in knowing that these authors have been there as well.

For13 Reasons to Doubt, I took on an editing role as well as contributing a chapter on free will. This is a great book because it offers a great variety to the skeptical reader.

Extraordinary claims and extraordinary evidence.

The mainstream and social media feed our minds a diet of fringe science and outright pseudoscience. They relentlessly stream paranormal, supernatural, and otherwise extraordinary claims. Where do all these come from? Theyre spread by shysters and charlatans, by corporate propagandists with cynical eyes on the bottom line, by priests and preachers of all kinds, by axe-grinding cranks and ideologues, and frequently by well-meaning dupes.

This may be a scientific age, but all too often, science, well-grounded scholarship, evidence, and logic are ignoredor even denied.

Scientific skepticism offers a corrective: skeptics defend science and reason, while demanding the evidence for extraordinary claims.

In this volume, we offer you thirteen ways to scientific skepticism: thirteen reasons to doubt extraordinary claims. The authors discuss groupthink and cognitive biases, science denialism, weird archeology, claims about religion and free will, and many other topics. Within these pages, there is something for anyone who wants to avoid biases and fallacies, cut through the masses of misinformation, and push back against fakers and propagandists.

This review sums it up nicely:

Informed skepticism is one of the most important ways of looking at the world, and Thirteen Reasons to Doubt does a wonderful job of illustrating the need and the challenge of this intellectual virtue.

The essays contained in this short, accessible, charming read challenge some of our dearest notionsfor examples, free will, the prevailing attitudes of the groups with which we identify, the trustworthiness of our own abilities to work out problems, and moreand ask us to look at them without simply taking them at face value. As philosopher and skeptic Russell Blackford articulates in his essay, which is written with his usual eloquence and care, we have a heavy burden of intellectual honesty in our current age, one in which propaganda runs rampant in favor of ideologies and faith still stands strong. It is to save ourselves from ourselves when it comes to this peril that informed skepticism proves its worth, and the collaborators on this enjoyable book illustrate clearly what it means, how to cultivate and guard it, what it implies, and how to use it even upon ourselves for self-correction when our biases start to lead us astray.

Each of the contributors, not only Blackford, does a superb job writing with clarity and passion in their areas of expertise, presenting a thought-provoking contribution to several important conversations at once. Thirteen Reasons to Doubt is ambitious and unpretentious, a friendly and welcoming guide of sorts to spotting bull, doubting yourself, and becoming the better thinker for it.

I found Thirteen Reasons to Doubt to be a pleasurable, accessible, quick, and edifying read on the position of informed skepticism, and I heartily recommend it to any who wish to push the clarity of their thinking and their intellectual integrity.

Although there are some books to be released early this year, I have also released a reasonably priced ebook:

This book sets out a cumulative case that puts classical theism, the belief in an all-powerful, -knowing and -loving God, under the spotlight. God is left wanting as Pearce brings together previous blog writing, adapted pieces and original writing to hammer home the point: classical theism is incoherent. This ebook is perfect for armchair philosophers, Christian apologists, and interested atheists and theists everywhere, as well as packing a solid philosophical punch suitable for the more philosophically inclined reader. Something for everyone.

The Problem with God intends to put classical theism under the spotlight and on the rack, and that is a goal that it achieves in one concise essay after another. It constitutes a welcome addition to any library of philosophical challenges to the classical, philosophical conception of God, and for that purpose and all need remaining to it, it is pleasantly recommended. James A. Lindsay, author of Dot, Dot, Dot: Infinity Plus God Equals Folly.

A review reads:

Think of this as Jonathan Pearces greatest hits all compiled together. He is one of the most interesting and convincing philosophers of modern times. Some of my favorite posts are here, which I have at my fingertips when I need its resource.

It was somewhat difficult to read this on my phone, I dont usually read kindle books, I prefer old school books, but I managed to just finish it.

These blogs are fascinating, deep and well written and persuasively convincing of why theism fails on several accounts. The choice of topics are amazing, and no one can deliver this as good as Pearce can.

If you are a Christian, you wont find this book rude or obnoxious, it is fair, well balanced and I encourage you to give it a chance. Challenge yourself, for no one will challenge you better than Johnny can.

Excellent selection and content, and Johnny hits another home run

in 2016, I releasedDid God Create the Universe from Nothing? Countering William Lane Craigs Kalam Cosmological Argument,which is a critical look at the Kalam Cosmological Argument and how it supposedly concludes that the universe had a cause (i.e. God).

The Kalam Cosmological Argument is a simple argument:

Everything that begins to exist has a cause for its existence;The universe began to exist;Therefore, the universe has a cause.

Apologists love to use these three short lines to argue that God is the cause of our universe. Jonathan MS Pearce takes the argument to task and finds it seriously lacking, despite its common appeal. Sounding the death knell for the Kalam, this is a must-have counter to the well-worn religious argument advocated by famous Christian thinkers such as William Lane Craig.

This is a beautifully crisp and clear introduction to, and discussion of, the Cosmological Argument. Suitable for beginners but also those who want a more insightful and detailed discussion. This is an ideal book for students, and indeed anyone who is interested in what remains one of the most popular arguments for the existence of God. Stephen Law, Reader in Philosophy at Heythrop College, University of London and head of Centre for Inquiry UK.

Pearce has again delivered, treating the important topic, the notorious (and bad) Kalam Cosmological Argument, in a concise and erudite way. James A. Lindsay, Ph.D., author of Dot,Dot Dot: Infinity Plus God Equals FollyandEverybody Is Wrong About God

If youve read enough about Kalam to be intrigued and want the thorough takedown, this book is for you. Bob Seidensticker, author ofCross Examined: An Unconventional Spiritual Journeyand theCross Examinedblog at Patheos.com

...remarkable. He has written an accessible, yet philosophically sophisticated, critique of the Kalam Cosmological Argument. he makes some novel contributions to this literature in the course of his analysis. If you have teethed yourself on popular discussions of atheism and religion, and now want to feast on something a little bit meatier, this is the book for you. John Danaher, PhD, Lecturer in Law, NUI Galway (Ireland), and author of the blogPhilosophical Disquisitions.

With his latest bookDid God Create the Universe from Nothing?,Jonathan Pearce has collected a vast array of the most powerful academic and popular-level responses to one of the most well-known cosmological arguments for the existence of God. Theists will be surely challenged by this wide-ranging book which seeks to put an end to this theistic argument about the beginning of the universe. Justin Schieber, public debater on the philosophy of religion, creator of the channelReal Atheology

The Kalam argument enjoys much respect that it doesnt deserve, and Did God Create the Universe from Nothing? gives the unsparing rebuttal that it does deserve. Pearce is a capable and confident Virgil, guiding us through the philosophical and scientific fine points of the response. If youve read enough about Kalam to be intrigued and want the thorough takedown, this book is for you. Bob Seidensticker, author ofCross Examined: An Unconventional Spiritual Journeyand the Cross Examined blog at Patheos.com

The first book I wrote is called Free Will? An investigation into whether we have free will or whether I was always going to write this book. As the annotation reads:

This book is a fine introduction into the age-old philosophical debate as to whether we have free will, or whether we live determined lives. Pearce approaches the subject in a lively manner, explaining terms clearly and using anecdotes to break down some of the heavier philosophy so that it is available to the popular philosophy reader. Now that we are understanding our genetic heritage and our neurology better, can we account for all our characteristics and decisions? The author also looks at how theories of free will and determinism integrate with religion, particularly Christianity. If we live under the illusion of free will, do religions need reassessing? How does free will work when God knows what we are doing in advance? Does God have free will? How does prophecy interfere with free will?How is our justice system affected if we know exactly why people commit crimes?These and other crucial questions are investigated with a deft touch, and the author uses recent and important scientific findings to support the text supplying a valuable overview to the subject.

It has received good reviews, such as this one:

Great, thought-provoking read

by Frances book lover

I recommend this entertaining and well-argued, mind-blowing book in which the author examines a notion we all seem to take for granted in the West, i.e., our dearly beloved notion of free will. In this book we learn that in spite of the overwhelming dominance of this cherished notion deeply embedded in our cultural, legal and religious belief systems, it is clearly scientifically and demonstratively false and does not exist. First, the author gives us the basic definitions of terms, then examples, philosophical and historical arguments, important religious positions and rebuttals. One of the authors early hypothetical examples is about a couple going out to dinner and trying to decide what to eat. To choose to have pizza, the couple has to rely on many reasons determined by a variety of known and unknown facts concerning their biology, psychology, economic status, childhood and the environment causing their preferences and showing their overriding susceptibility to these kinds of influences that leave no room for a free choice on their part. After the author brought up this couple for the third time, I had to put my Kindle down and go to the kitchen and heat up a pizza! I was falling under the discussions suggestion that pizza would taste pretty good right now and I realized I was demonstrating the authors point about human susceptibility to suggestion and lack of free will by my own spontaneous behavior!

The author convincingly shows that determinism is borne out in countless recent scientific discoveries in neuroscience, psychology, biochemistry, physics and genetics which new findings are important and have wide application in all aspects of our lives. There is a new dawn of knowledge exploding around us and our lives depend upon our absorbing many new scientific discoveries in many complex fields. We cannot blame a god or a devil for our circumstances; the author deftly dispatches them from the new matrix. We have to get with the new paradigm and look at how we can improve our critical thinking, how we can make better economic decisions, how we can use our new scientific knowledge to create new art, how we can see one another in a more compassionate light and how we may reform education and the criminal justice system. I recommend this book because we need to make a lot of informed decisions every day and we need all the rational help we can get to understand our common humanity and to develop the full power and beauty of our finite being.

Check it out using the link above or click on the book cover.

And finally, for now, is my first foray into fiction:Survival of the Fittest: Metamorphosis. The description is as follows:

No one seems to know where it started. Or exactly when. And certainly not how. But it is here, and everything that everyone holds dear falls prey to the ravages of the virus. Some are unaffected, and they must quickly come to terms with their new world a dystopian Britain in the early convulsions of collapse.

Follow a disparate collection of people as they fight for their lives in this first installment of the Survival of the Fittest series.

Where the journey will take them is anyones guess.

A frightening and credible zombie apocalypse. This is the way the world would endnot with a bang or a whimper, but with a snarl and the gnashing of teeth Rebecca Bradley, author of Cadon, Hunter and From Hades With Love

Pearces rollicking suburban adventure begs to be consumed and it wont let go until life is sucked from the final pages. Glenn Andrew Barr, author of Skin of Them

Johnny Pearce has written a shockingly good zombie story with a literary quality unfamiliar to the genre. Dont let the slow build fool youthe growing tension plays a vital role in allowing everything to snap with a most satisfying sort of frayed devastation. Once all hell breaks loose its a no holds barred gore fest! Tristan Vick, author of BITTEN: Resurrection and BITTEN 2: Land of the Rising Dead

The sequel is now out!Survival of the Fittest: Adaptation[UK] follows on from where the last left off.

Set immediately after the events ofSurvival of the Fittest: Metamorphosis, and as the global pandemic has ravaged society, the disparate survivors are gradually brought closer together as they fight for their lives or seek out family and help. Ordinary citizens are thrust together and forced to make choices that they are not used to as they evade the viral victims of the outbreak.

Pearce writes dystopian horror not just with a punch but with thought as well, interweaving philosophy and thought-provoking moments into the genre.

Adaptationbegins whereMetamorphosisleft off, with a scattered cast of characters gradually finding each other-and finding ways to adapt to the terrifying metamorphosis of the world. As the storylines merge, we see how the good and the bad, the bright and the feckless, the brave and the cowardly, begin to change to meet the new challenges, or fall victim to their own inflexibility. An absorbing read, with glimpses of light and hope through the dark clouds of the new reality. Rebecca Bradley, author ofCadon HunterandFrom Hades With Love

And

Eerily prescient, breathlessly paced and wonderfully written, this is a sublime story of survival and friendship in the face of unrelenting horror. Its the human heart that sets this tale of a post pandemic apocalypse apart from others in the genre. The characters never feel falsetheyre endearingly flawed, reacting to the unfolding terror in ways you can genuinely relate to and sympathise with.

The writing, too, is a cut above much other fare in the genre. Pearce expertly weaves themes as diverse as the loss of parents and the existence of God in between scenes of suspense and creatures with a craving for human flesh.

The undead may be the propulsion, but the characters and their interactions are the engine of the story. You find yourself rooting for them, bemoaning each moment of peril and cheering each narrow escape.

If the first book was a slow burn of suspense, this sequel is a raging inferno of terror, burnin

g through the pages with a ferocity that doesnt let up from the first page to the last.

The greatest compliment to any book in a series is how eager you are to find out what happens next. When Id finishedMetamorphosis, I put the book down, took a deep breath, and asked when I could read the next installment.

If you like your horror well written with characters and situations you can believe and invest in, and a story that will have chewing your nails down to the quick, do yourself a favour and dive in. Andy Logan, Creative Director, FavOURite Productions.

Go here to see the original:

Christmas Is Almost Here, and | Jonathan MS Pearce - Patheos

The second season of HBO's new original sci-fi series, Raised by Wolves is coming in February.

The first teaser for S2 of Raised by Wolves is here, and our feelings are mixed. On the one hand, once again, the visuals are amazing, and we're thrilled that the strikingly androgynous Danish actress Amanda Collinis returning to star as Mother. Her extraordinary performance anchored the first season's narrative arc and spooky, otherworldly vibe, and that same moody, disquieting vibe is present in the teaser.

On the other hand, we were seriously disappointed in the S1 finale, which has shaken our confidence that S2 will rebound from that fiasco to become the genuinely original and visionary series it initially promised to be.

(Major spoilers for the S1 finale below.)

The series was created by Aaron Guzikowski, with Ridley Scott serving as executive producer and directingthe first two episodes. As I've written previously, the story involves two androids serving as Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim) figures on a strange virgin planet, Kepler-22b(an actual observed extrasolar planet), after Earth has been destroyed by the outbreak of a religious war. They are programmed to incubate, birth, and raise human children to rebuild the population and set up an atheist civilization to keep the human race from going extinct. It's a harsh, dangerous environment, even for androids, and only one of their original six children survived: Campion (Winta McGrath).

Then the remnants of an extreme religious sect from Earth found their way to the same planet. Known as the Mithraic, they worship Sol and came to 22b aboard a spaceship, or ark, called Heaven. The reconnaissance team tried to abduct Campion and kill Mother.

That's when we discovered that Mother has special abilities: she's actually a reprogrammed weaponized android called The Necromancer, who once slaughtered atheists back on Earth. Her deadly sonic screamswhich can disintegrate humans in secondswere turned on the Mithraic, and she crashed their ark into the planet. Her new maternal instincts led her to bring the surviving Mithraic children into her fold.

That did not go over well with the few surviving Mithraic, especially Marcus (Travis Fimmel) and his partner, Sue (Niamh Algar). They were determined to rescue their (technically adopted) son Paul (Felix Jamieson) from Mother and Father, against the orders of Mithraic leader Ambrose (Awissi Lakou). The various conflicts inevitably escalated, and the planet itself has its own mysterious secrets and hidden dangers, withthe fate of the human race ultimately in the balance.

YouTube/HBO Max

Some viewers found the pacing of Raised by Wolves S1 to be too slow, but I genuinely found it atmospheric and weird in interesting waysuntil the finale. Mother became pregnant after having virtual sex with her VR creator, "downloading" the required information. Except instead of giving birth to a baby as she'd hoped, Mother literally vomited up a creepy, sucker-coated snake thatI kid you notcan fly with no obvious means of generating lift. In my review, Icalled it"a jarring, over-the-top ploy that simply wasn't sufficient payoff for the viewer, and clashed mightily with the original set-up."

Apparently the flying alien sucker snake (FASS)which had rapidly grown to an alarming size in the final sceneis going to be a major part of the overall narrative arc for S2. This was not welcome news, especially since the ultimate fates of Mother and Father remained ambiguous. Fortunately, this teaser confirms that the pair will be back in full force for the second season, and there's barely a hint of the FASS to be seen, apart from a brief glimpse of a snake figure painted on a rock.

YouTube/HBO Max

It's not clear what's happening in terms of plot, but the teaser opens with a shot of a badly injured Mother. "Androids can change, just like human beings," her voice tells us. Father also has survived, along with the children and Sue.Marcus appears to be devolving into the strange creatures Mother and Father first encountered on the alien planet, and he hasn't become any less zealous and violent. He still has some minion survivors to boss around and is still intent on "bringing purity to this planet."

Something violent seems to be reawakening in Mother as well, although her primary purpose is still to keep her children safe and find them a new home. The teaser ends ominously. "Perhaps we are becoming too human," Mother muses, covered in what might just be blood. Will she reappear in her full Necromancer glory? That would be a sight to see.

The second season of Raised by Wolves will premiere on February 3, 2022, on HBO Max.

Listing image by YouTube/HBO Max

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Raised by Wolves S2 teaser reminds us why we loved the seriesuntil the S1 finale - Ars Technica