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TechnoratiPOST PUBLISHED INSeptember, 2010
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Carl Sagan's old time religion
September 30th, 201002:42 PM ETI would like to say some more about Sagan’s Pale blue dot fallacy but before doing so let’s say something about Sagan’s (ir)religiosity. It is often assumed that Sagan was an atheist. (Here I am assuming the standard definition of atheist as one who believes there is no God where “God” is defined broadly as the being as defined by the wes... -
You're not special because the universe is really, really big
September 27th, 201011:39 AM ETToday we’ll start with one of my all time favorite youtube bits, one which offers a magisterial 2 minute journey through the comparative sizes of various celestial bodies. You must watch it before you continue: Star Size Comparison Clearly size is the issue here. We start off with the moon and end up with a star so big that it would take 1100 ye... -
Everybody's gotta god
September 23rd, 201007:55 PM ETA new/old visitor to the Tentative Apologist, whatifitstrue, asks: "When does a belief system (including , perhaps atheism) become a religion...?" So what is religion? Perhaps belief in God, an authoritative revealed text, and a set of sacred rituals? In Bob’s garage is a cherry 70’ Chevelle 454. On the shelf beside the car is a well worn cop... -
Say, whatever became of ole' whatshisname?
September 22nd, 201002:49 PM ETIn the last few days I've had a few people inquire as to the status of the Tentative Apologist. Yes, I've been remiss in keeping the blog crackling along, this is true. But I've hardly been resting on my laurels. On the contrary, it's been a couple weeks of fever pitch activity. Here's a quick run down. First, the new semester stuff. Lots-o-fun th... -
Why Richard Dawkins can't be the world's leading atheist
September 10th, 201005:59 PM ETRichard Dawkins is widely touted as the world’s leading atheist. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. I suppose there’s no easy way to settle the matter. (Counting numbers of books sold or google hits seems a bit arbitrary, no?) But then again, maybe there is a way to settle the matter... William Lane Craig is generally acclaimed as the world’s l... -
How to burn a Qur'an (and get CNN to report it)
September 07th, 201001:17 PM ETIt is a tiny church of fifty members in Gainesville Florida, but the D___ W____ O_______ C_____ found a way to put itself on the map: threaten to burn copies of the Qur’an on September 11th in protest of the “evil of Islam”. But this story isn’t about the evil of this wackadoodle group, and it certainly isn’t about the “evil” of Islam... -
I have an interstellar spacecraft in my basement. Come take a look!
September 06th, 201012:44 PM ETLet’s talk about testimony some more in dialogue with Silver Bullet. In a recent comment SB quotes little ole’ me as I observe: “So it is testimony that wears the trousers (to be politically incorrect) and it is through testimony that we can gain all sorts of properly basic beliefs ... Absent defeaters we are justified in holding those belie... -
The Indistinguishable Bible
September 05th, 201010:27 AM ETTwo issues need to be dealt with before I, finally, hopefully, I wish, I hope, can get back to reviewing The Christian Delusion: the epistemic status of testimony (of which there is no end of confusion) and the "divine detection" objection to the Bible. I'll deal with the latter here (although I've already addressed it, I'll happily do it again. On... -
Anarchists and atheists and Bibles, Oh My!
September 02nd, 201007:04 PM ETIt is a danged shame that I can’t give all the fine comments that find their way into my blog the attention they deserve. But I do what I can, and last week I made a note to get back to the comments of AnAtheist.Net. I’ve included them below and numbered them for ease of reference (just like a medieval monk numbering biblical passages you might...
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An exploration of faith, knowledge, reason and doubt (with the occasional trite pop culture reference thrown in for good measure).
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