Tag Archives: Atheism

Two Views of Reality, Completely At Odds

Two articles that showed in my RSS reader today: Godlessness is the last big taboo in the US, where non-believers face discrimination and isolation. [From Atheism in America - FT.com] and The InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapter at the State University of New York at Buffalo has three weeks to come into compliance with the school’s …

February 6, 2012 – 1:47 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Arts and Culture, New Atheism, The Faith | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (2)

Coyne Responds on Free Will

Jerry Coyne has responded to my piece (and others’) yesterday on his Free Will article in USAToday. He begins, Predictably, at his own website the Thinking Christian says that the assumption of natural laws that absolutely determine our choices is an unjustified a priori conclusion, not supported by science itself. (Nope, it’s a conclusion based …

January 3, 2012 – 11:53 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in New Atheism, Origins and Science | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (18)

“Why Atheism Will Replace Religion” — Psychology Today

Nigel Barber writes: It seems that people turn to religion as a salve for the difficulties and uncertainties of their lives. In social democracies, there is less fear and uncertainty about the future because social welfare programs provide a safety net and better health care means that fewer people expect to die young. In social …

December 3, 2011 – 1:02 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Evidences, The Faith | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (15)

Do Atheists’ Actions Have Any Connection To Their Beliefs?

Watch at video.foxnews.com Richard Dawkins (about 2:25): What I do think is that there is some logical connection between believing in God and doing some, sometimes, evil things, but there’s no logical connection between them [Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot] being atheists and doing evil things. It’s just incidentally true that, say, Mao Zedong and …

October 6, 2011 – 10:51 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (69)

The Materialist As “A Kind of Childishly Complacent Fundamentalist”

I’m reading David Bentley Hart’s Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies. I’ll post a review of it before long, but I suggest you not waste time waiting for me to do that. This is one of the best books I’ve read in years. Here’s a taste of it, and a topic for …

September 4, 2011 – 1:21 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in New Atheism | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (2)

Earth, Air, Fire, Water—and God

Several years ago my wife and I were hiking in the Anaheim Hills when we heard a drumbeat ahead of us. Our first thought was of a Boy Scout troop, but it turned out instead to be a pagan circle chanting their praises to earth, air, fire, and water. I can’t help thinking about that …

August 27, 2011 – 9:00 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in New Atheism, Religions, The Faith | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (25)

Why Scientists Should Reject Methodological Naturalism

This entry is part 4 of 6 in the series Science Doesn't Need MN

(Update 3/29: Please regard this series as a first draft with important revisions yet to come.) Review In three prior posts in this series I shown that Methodological Naturalism (MN) relies on assumptions that are: Theological rather than scientific Disputable rather than firmly established Unnecessary rather than required for science In particular I have shown that …

March 25, 2011 – 1:26 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

So Great Faith

Joseph Bottum Joe Carter, writing at First Things, speaks of atheists’ uncanny powers of belief. Brief, biting, and exactly on the mark. (See the first comment regarding the correction made here ).

May 13, 2010 – 1:16 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in New Atheism | Tagged | Comments (7)