Category: High Heresy
Why Deism Is Critical to Religious Criticism
Atheists and theists sometimes notice—or think they notice—the same irony in the legacy of atheist thought. “Isn’t it funny,” they ask, “that many great thinkers atheists look up to are deists?” Many of the writers atheists admire are deists. Voltaire, Thomas Paine, and Mark Twain were all deists. All three also had insightful and funny …
What Is the Likelihood That the Bible Is True?
I wrote an e-book titled Disagreements I Have with Christianity. It details my gradual move away from the faith and several ethical and philosophical concerns about the central doctrines. Parts of my critique against Christianity essentially come down to plausibility or probability, not possibility. Do I think it is possible that the Bible is true? …
The Difference a Pronoun Can Make
The Roman Catholic Church is in an uproar, but it’s not about its pedophile priests or the bishops who diligently cover for them. This venerable institution has its theological panties in a wad because some of the faithful might have received “invalid sacraments.” Michael Stechschulte’s August 24, 2020, article in America, a Jesuit publication, gives …
Nihil Is Not Just a River in Egypt
“You accuse me of being a nihilist? Of course, I’m a nihilist. You say that like it’s something bad.” When I think of nihilists, I usually think of Russian anarchists trying to overthrow the Czarist monarchy at the beginning of the twentieth century. According to my ever-handy Google dictionary, an anarchist is a person who …
Chipping Away at the Cement and Imaginary Walls
“[T]his is the crime of which I accuse my country and my countrymen … that they have destroyed and are destroying hundreds of thousands of lives and do not know it and do not want to know it. … It is the innocence which constitutes the crime.” —James Baldwin, “Letter to My Nephew” As …
Choose Life?
An invisible agent forced our reluctant attention. COVID-19, a destructive stealthy force, an unrestrained actor, has a universal audience, subjecting us to the threat of death. Scientists are more unified than governments in containing, if not conquering altogether, this terrifying pathogen. It is only the latest, not the last, biological terrorist determined to destroy the …
Salvific Humanism
No thesis, this. It’s merely one person’s take on the questionable, even dubious, link between religion and morality. Doesn’t history belie that almost universally accepted view that morality flows from religion? Does not all good come from God/religion, as claimed in the Bible? People who practice religion always live in accordance with moral principles, do …
The Likelihood of Religion Being True
Mormonism is a sect of Christianity that has expanded to include even more incredible stories than those found in standard Christianity. In addition to believing in the absurdities of the Old and New Testaments, Mormons need to believe in the absurdities of the Book of Mormon, the Doctrines and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great …
Secular Mythology
What do you think of when you hear the word mythology? Many of us tend to picture a culture’s “mythology” as a collection of stories and personal narratives particular to that social group and their way of life—usually with the most popular and enduring myths of each culture intending to explain key features of social life, …
Why Am I Not Religious?
Why Nigeria needs humanism, so very intensely.
This article is available for free to all.The Eternity of Time
Editor’s Note: This essay by Britain’s longest-serving atheist activist harkens back to a time when most unbelievers assumed that the cosmos was eternal.
Trojan Horde
Jean Raspail’s novel The Camp of the Saints was not clairvoyant, but in 2015 it sure seems prophetic.