Yearly Archives: 2009

Why I Signed The Manhattan Declaration

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series Manhattan Declaration

Maybe it’s the Yorktown effect. I live just a few miles from the battlefield where America won its independence from Britain, and my commute to work actually takes me through that battlefield. Just a few blocks from there is the home of a patriot named Thomas Nelson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, who …

December 3, 2009 – 8:57 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Deep Social Change, Life and Choices | Comments (18)

Where Can the Small Things Take You?

Where can the small things take you? Responding to my last point on the distinction between magic and supernaturalism, doctor(logic) offered this: When you make a voodoo doll, don’t you have to follow a recipe and include one of the victim’s hairs or possessions? That would mean that there’s a very specific relationship between the …

December 1, 2009 – 10:01 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Evidences, Origins and Science | Tagged , | Comments (14)

Dallas Willard on Christianity, Magic, and the Supernatural

Dallas Willard, professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California, asks this question in his excellent book Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship With God: How does a life in which one speaks the creative word of God differ from a life of voodoo, magic, and superstition? Here is part of his answer (the …

November 29, 2009 – 9:42 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Knowing God, New Atheism | Tagged , , | Comments (18)

Will the Public Lose Its (Science) Religion?

More than two years ago I wrote “Servants of a Twisted God,” including the following: Recently in the influential journal Science, Matthew C. Nisbet and Chris Mooney bemoaned scientists’ difficulties with influencing public policy. They recommended that scientists back off from their technical language, and recast their communications in “frames”—alternative ways of viewing information—such as …

November 28, 2009 – 8:24 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Comments (42)

Close of First Debate At Discussion Grounds

The first debate at Discussion Grounds hit an unfortunate impasse very early on, and has unfortunately come to an end, I’m sad to say.

November 27, 2009 – 7:07 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in New Atheism | Comments (11)

“An Invisible Magical Friend Who Grants Wishes”

My debate with Luke Muehlhauser at Discussion Grounds has taken a detour to the question of whether Christianity is the belief in an “invisible magical friend who grants wishes.” Luke affirmed that in comments here, here, here, here, here, and here. I responded in my Letter 15 yesterday, and we have each added another letter …

November 27, 2009 – 9:59 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in New Atheism | Tagged | Comments (20)

The Basis for Moral Realism

Jordan has been saying things on the Manhattan Declaration thread like, Atheism does not entail moral relativism, and theism does not entail moral realism. I’m an atheist, and a moral realist. … I (imperfectly) perceive morality with my moral sense. What is the basis of your “alleged moral objectivity”? I imagine it will be long-winded …

November 23, 2009 – 8:57 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Ethics | Tagged , | Comments (162)

How I Spend My Free Time

In case you were wondering…  

November 20, 2009 – 9:27 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Just For Fun | Comments (1)

The Manhattan Declaration

I am pleased to have had my signature on the Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience when it was released today at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. I urge you to sign it too. It is a 4,700 word statement calling for justice and ethics in government and society, especially with respect …

November 20, 2009 – 2:43 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Deep Social Change, Life and Choices | Tagged , | Comments (63)