"Unapologetic" is a tribute to the Influence of Three Atheist Intellectual Giants

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My book "Unapologetic" is a tribute to the intellectual goading and influence of Drs. Peter Boghossian, David Eller and Hector Avalos. Kudos to them, intellectual giants all.

LINK to Unapologetic

“I Hate to Break it to You Here at Notre Dame”

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“I’ve Started to Feel Distinctly Nauseous”

Quote of the Day, From My Book Unapologetic

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Who's to blame for Donald Trump winning the election?

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Staks Rosch summarizes the best answers right here.

The Democratic Party is to Blame for the Trump Presidency!

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They could have prevented this. I saw the signs as a Bernie supporter. We all did. If the DNC refused to nominate Bernie we might lose the general election The polls strongly suggested this. But the democratic party did not care. They nominated Hillary anyway. They were stupid stupid stupid. This morning I am embarrassed to be a Democrat. Let all Hillary supporters in the primaries chime in right now and apologize. Profusely. You were seriously wrong.

What Is the Best Argument for the Existence of Allah?

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In the comments I've been asked by Christian apologists Trent Horn and C. Michael Patton to tell my readers what I consider the best argument to the existence of God. Okay. Here goes. The best argument on behalf of Allah is the moral argument to his existence.

Let me quote from my book Unapologetic:
Regarding the case for the existence of God due to objective morality, the moral argument to the existence of God depends on one’s morality. Many Christian theologians and philosophers attempt to make an argument from the existence of objective morality to the existence of their God, who just happens to have the same kind of morality they do, surprise!
...
Take for example the Islamic State (or ISIS). They could make the same moral argument to the existence of their god, using their own morality, where it’s okay to rape women, own slaves, chop off heads, and burn people alive. Christians would have to agree with their moral argument, but subsequently disagree with their morals. However, the morals of ISIS are used as evidence that their god exists, just as the specific morals of Christians (depending on the century) are used as evidence their god exists. So certain kinds of morals lead to certain kinds of gods. Or certain kinds of gods are used to justify certain kinds of morals. Which comes first? I’m as sure as sure can be that the morals come first.
The moral argument works in an inductive manner with some degree of probability to it above 50%. But it only works if one's morals are absolute, unchanging and also good. Since it's demonstrably and unmistakably the case that morals are not absolute and unchanging then there cannot be an absolute and unchanging divine lawgiver. So even the best argument to the existence of Allah isn't a good argument at all. This applies to the Christian god Yahweh as well. Even the best argument to the existence of Yahweh isn't a good argument at all.

Discuss. What do you think of my answer?

Here is a wide ranging interview. Hope you like it!

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Finally the Chicago Cubs Won it and Did it in a Big Way!

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Yesssss! Chicago Cubs are the world champions!!! Finally! After all these years they did it with an amazing comeback for the record books! My great grandfather Tom Loftus (Thomas Joseph Loftus, November 15, 1856 - April 16, 1910) managed both the Chicago Orphans (Cubs) and the Cleveland Blues (Indians).

To the right is a photo of the 1901 Chicago Orphans (Cubs) that my great grandfather Tom Loftus managed. Top Row, L-R: Jock Menefee (OF/P), Cozy Dolan (OF), Bert Cunningham (P), Fred Raymer (3B/SS), Jim Delahanty (3B), Frank Chance (OF/C), Charlie Dexter (1B/3B/OF), Johnny Kling (C). Middle Row, L-R: Long Tom Hughes (P), Cupid Childs (2B), Mal Eason (P), Jack Doyle (1B), Tom Loftus (Mgr.), Danny Green (OF), Barry McCormick (SS), Jack Taylor (P). Bottom Row, L-R: Topsy Hartsel (OF), Mike Kahoe (C).

Here is a photo of the 1888 Cleveland Blues (Indians) that my great grandfather Tom Loftus managed.

The God Who Takes His Own Sweet Time

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The Supreme Procrastinator

My Book "Unapologetic" is Shipping!

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"What is the worst argument for the existence of God you have ever heard?"

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I'm being interviewed for a book. So I'll paste my answers here as I answer the questions.

"What is the worst argument for the existence of God you have ever heard?"

There are so many bad ones it's hard to choose. The topper is probably that a private subjective ineffable experience provides objective evidence that the universe was created out of nothing and that one particular god out of thousands created it. The only explanation for why believers think this is a good argument to their sect specific god is because of the delusionary nature of faith, which is the mother of all cognitive biases.

DC Regular Mattapult On Church Lightning Rods

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The subject of lightning rods on churches comes up occasionally on DC. I found some quotes on that subject in a biography on Benjamin Franklin. The context is discussing Franklin's experiments flying a kite in storm clouds, making sparks, and saving electricity in Leyden Jars.

How bad was the problem of lightning striking churches?
“For centuries, the devastating scourge of lightning had generally been considered a supernatural phenomenon or expression of God’s will. At the approach of a storm, church bells were rung to ward off the bolts. “The tones of the consecrated metal repel the demon and avert storm and lightning,” declared St. Thomas Aquinas. But even the most religiously faithful were likely to have noticed this was not very effective. During one thirty-five-year period in Germany alone during the mid-1700s, 386 churches were struck and more than one hundred bell ringers killed. In Venice, some three thousand people were killed when tons of gunpowder stored in a church was hit.”
Franklin's results are well known: he discovered that the electricity could be directed to a lightning rod which would save the building from being burned down. Most were delighted to find protection from this disaster, but not everybody:
“In some circles, especially religious ones, Franklin’s findings stirred controversy. The AbbĂ© Nollet, jealous, continued to denigrate his ideas and claimed that the lightning rod was an offense to God. “He speaks as if he thought it presumption in man to propose guarding himself against the thunders of Heaven!” Franklin wrote a friend. “Surely the thunder of Heaven is no more supernatural than the rain, hail or sunshine of Heaven, against the inconvenience of which we guard by roofs and shades without scruple.”
I'm sure most believers today could look back and understand the foolishness of opposing lightning rods—indeed, try to find a church that doesn’t have one and insurance. They could correctly identify how faith clouded the judgement of earlier believers. If only they could recognize the same effect today as it applies to evolution, homosexuality, birth control, etc.. It's the OTF with a dimension of time. Sadly, faith still holds the same power, only the details have changed.

Excerpts From: Isaacson, Walter. “Benjamin Franklin.” Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

Robert Ingersoll’s Creed

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Robert Ingersoll’s Creed, quoted by Bert Bigalow:

Robert G. Ingersoll is one of my heroes. He confronted religious faith and showed that it was nothing more than primitive superstition. At the end of the 19th century, he had accumulated quite a following for what he called “freethought,” based on reason, logic and experience. Sadly, he died in 1899 at 66, far too soon. He still had much work to do, and nobody of his stature arose to take his place. His writings, speeches and debates are collected in twelve volumes which can be found at Project Gutenberg and downloaded free. You will be greatly rewarded if you read them.

Here is a sample of his writings. He called it his Creed.

A Case of Colossal Cosmic Narcissism? Why Do People Worship?

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The faithful admit it: They are there on Sunday morning to worship God. A friend of mine once defined himself and his status as a believer. “I am a worshipper,” he said. Why would that be important or appropriate?

Schools are for learning, offices are for business, stadiums are for sports, hospitals for healing, and we all agree that they answer legitimate human needs (even stadiums). Churches, however, are dedicated to that most baffling of human obsessions: getting together frequently to boost God’s ego. When priests raise funds to build churches they always claim that the real purpose is to glorify God, which can only mean that there is a divine ego that must be stroked. My friend the worshipper had gulped the Kool-Aid. He has bought into this peculiar, warped view that our feelings of wonder and awe must be directed at a Supreme Being who isn’t satisfied unless the awe and wonder are directed at him.
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Jesus Got It Wrong, Really Wrong
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Paul’s Letter to the Romans: A Toxic Brew of Bad Theology

The Bible is too difficult to defend

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These religions are sick. It's hard to watch and listen to this. No wonder most apologists focus on the philosophy of religion in defending their faith. It's because the Bible is too difficult to defend.



You can read my further thoughts in Unapologetic: Why Philosophy of Religion Must End.

The Problem of Divine Miscommunication Revisited

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In chapter 7 of The Christian Delusion I had written on what I call The Problem of Divine Miscommunication and I dismantled all "solutions." Here is a Meme I recently posted to my FB Wall that powerfully states it. Then some guy named John Beckman wrote a common but ignorant reply: "Wouldn't have been different at all. We would have done whatever we wanted just like now. That's the whole point. Give a command. You break it. Proves you need salvation." This "solution" highlights exactly what I mean when saying faith deadens the brain since it's the mother of all cognitive biases. While I dealt with such an objection in my book, there's more to say in response to it.

I'm Against Cookie-Cutter Mentality

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I should compile a list of things that grate on me. The first two that come to mind are that I don't suffer fools gladly, and I'm against cookie-cutter mentality (or intolerance). [People who don't like this shouldn't pretend they are experts simply because they're popular online, nor act like my teacher when they aren't, nor claim everyone should step in line with them]. Neil Carter is an example of both in this particular post. On Facebook he said something others have recently been saying:
Most skeptics have become experts at dismantling religion. Would that they were half as good at creating something better to take its place.
I have so much to say on this topic but not enough time. I welcome a written debate on it. I had a brief exchange with him on FB because it didn't take long to dismantle what he said.

John W. Loftus: Neil, we can start by ostracizing thieves, racists, womanizers, misogynists, homophobes and plagiarists.

About My Recent Anthology, "Christianity in the Light of Science"

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I had missed this announcement of my book by Hemant Mehta: Christianity is Incompatible With the Universe As We Know It. Enjoy with an excerpt by the late Victor Stenger.

The Atheist Alliance of America Press Release Was Picked Up By CNBC, Among Others!

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As announced earlier I'm a board member of Atheist Alliance of America (AAoA). This is super fantastic!

The Pope’s Blood on Tour

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One of the best verses in the Old Testament is Psalm 145:8: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”—lot’s of potential for decent religion here. In this verse, “the Lord” is actually a translation of “Yahweh,” and we regret that this sentiment about mercy and love didn’t have more influence on those ancient thinkers who fleshed out the character of Yahweh. This tribal god rampages violently through so much of the Old Testament.

And when the religious bureaucracy took over the forgiveness business, it decreed that Yahweh wasn’t easy to please; animal sacrifice became part of the formula for earning this god’s favor. For centuries animals were slaughtered at the Jerusalem Temple, and the flow of blood was thought essential for getting right with god. Hence the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews could write (9:22): “…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” The too-full-off himself Jesus of John’s gospel took the ghoulishness to a new level (6:54-55): “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”

I suspect that the blood obsession still haunts the Christian psyche when I read that a vial of Pope John Paul II’s blood toured the U.S. in 2014, to be venerated by the faithful (not worshipped, church officials insisted), especially in the wake of John Paul’s canonization. Apparently, during one of the pope’s many illnesses, one nurse was savvy enough to spirit away a vial of his blood—no dummy she. A pope relic was a big prize; there were Catholic hearts to be set aflutter and coffers to be filled.

"Believers are simply not interested in asking the right questions or in accepting evidence based answers." --John W. Loftus

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The Shock Collar of Christianity, by Joe

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David, here are my thoughts as someone only 3 years removed from ministry and deconversion. I will use a metaphor. One day as I was on my job, a man was noticing the work I was doing on his neighbor's property. He wanted me to come over and talk to him which I did. In the course of our conversation I noticed he had this beautiful black lab named, "Bogey." I tried to get Bogey to come to me but he wouldn't. His tongue and tail were wagging furiously. He wanted to come to me, but he couldn't. His owner predictably said, "I have an electric fence," but followed with this zinger, "But his shock collar is NOT on."

This was a moment of enlightenment for me. Bogey could have come to me without being physically shocked. But all the time spent with the shock collar on had done its work. His mind didn't know the difference. The fear, threat, and pain conditioning effectively kept Bogey within the boundaries someone else had set for him. What began as a literal, physical boundary transformed into an imaginary one that was just as confining.

Bogey illustrates myself and many Christians. From the moment of our births, the tight shock collar of Christianity was placed upon us. Tight boundaries were placed all around us with 1000 threats warning us what would happen if we crossed the line. Threats such as be shunned, separated from, disowned, divine chastening in countless forms, being forever labeled an apostate, and of course the omnipresent threat of being "justly" barbecued for 100 trillion years cycle after 100 trillion year cycle in a lake of fire with no food, water, love, or hope. How nice.

The voltage of this collar system was increased every week of our lives through Sunday School, Awana, Youth Group, Revival services, and Sunday morning and evening worship. Many of us went on to attend Christian Bible College where we went to chapel 2-4 times a week and heard devotionals at every event imaginable. All of these sermons contained "applications" which were nothing more than new legislation laced with more threats for disobedience. Over the course of a lifetime, the Christian "conscience" is saddled with hundreds and hundreds (perhaps thousands) of rules and sub-rules all carrying threats of punishment for falling short of perfect obedience. Needless to say, it doesn't take long for the Christian shock collar to become completely central and all-controlling in the minds of those living in its yard.

Here's How Insiders Tell Which Religion is True

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Andrew J. Whittemore: In short,

Q: How can I tell which one to accept?
A: You have to accept one before you can tell.
Believers are simply not interested in asking the right questions or in accepting evidence based answers.

Discuss: "Christians Have An Infantile Morality"

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Christian morality is infantile morality, which is obeying the commands of an authority figure without requiring reasons for the commands. But if reasons are provided for the commands then no commands are needed.

My God's Bigger Than Your God

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What I Got Away With On My Way to Atheism

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It was about 1970, when I was a graduate student at Boston University School of Theology, that I wrote an essay titled On the Improbability of God. This was not part of any class assignment; I just wanted to get some of thoughts down on paper—and I showed the essay to only one colleague, who was not pleased. Many years later I found out that Percy Bysshe Shelley had been expelled from Oxford in 1811 for writing his essay, The Necessity of Atheism. Well, 1970 wasn’t 1811, and I survived my blatant cheekiness. Since I never went to chapel while I attended seminary, I was considered the class eccentric, the contrarian seminarian.

Jesus Was Not Against Imperialism

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The Bible & Interpretation online magazine has published a new essay adapted from The Bad Jesus: The Ethics of New Testament Ethics and titled “Jesus Was Not Against Imperialism: New Testament Ethics as an Imperialist Project.” Here is the abstract:
The portrayal of Jesus as an anti-imperialist pervades the scholarly literature of New Testament ethics. However, portraying Jesus as an anti-imperialist actually betrays a pro-imperialist Christian agenda on the part of many New Testament ethicists. Usually, the main evidence cited is Jesus’ resistance to the Roman empire. However, anti-imperialism should properly describe an ideology that is against any empire. Jesus’ endorsement of the Kingdom of God, which is envisioned as an empire, should certainly disqualify him from being an anti-imperialist. In addition, many prominent New Testament ethicists are Euro-Americans with no indigenous ancestry, and so are themselves part of an empire occupying Native American lands.
In the near future, I also plan to challenge more thoroughly one of the most important myths in Christian historiography—Constantine the Great (ruled 306-337) was where imperialism began in Christianity. Constantine, therefore, represents a corruption of Jesus’ teachings in this view.
The placement of the start of Christian imperialism in Constantine’s reign has served to deflect attention from the fact that imperialism is inscribed in the New Testament itself. Constantine only put into effect an ideology that was already there from the beginning of Christianity and one that reaches back into what Christians call "The Old Testament."

The Processed Word of God

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I suspect that many of us–well, those of us of a certain age–have an image of Billy Graham etched in our minds: the patriarch of TV evangelism standing in the pulpit and holding the Bible aloft as the very Word of God. However, few of those in Billy’s audiences, few of those who gaze reverently at the Bible on the altar every Sunday at church, realize that the richly bound, revered book isn’t the real thing. It is the processed word of God.

What do I mean by that? Can’t we just pick up the Bible, open it and read God’s Word? No, it’s not that simple–even if you believe that the Bible is God’s Word. Everything we see on the pages of any modern Bible is the product of countless hands and minds that were involved after the original authors wrote the books in it. So there are many uncertainties that stand between the reader and the original Bible authors and texts. It’s processed material.
For example, the earliest Greek manuscripts were written with no separation between the words and no punctuation, which can lead to confusion. Someone later made the word separations and added the punctuation.
There is a complex history of manuscript copying and recopying–and an enormous number of scribal errors to deal with. There is also the matter of translation, the meaning of words, and which manuscripts to rely upon. These issues required thousands of decisions–some informed, others not. All divisions into chapters and verses came later. Some Bibles print the words of Jesus in red, which may give the impression that these are the very words of Jesus, which is misleading. We are reading English translations of Greek manuscripts that purport to record words spoken by Jesus in Aramaic, perhaps a generation or two earlier. Was a stenographer present? It is false advertising to print the (supposed) words of Jesus in red.
And now we are confronted with many contemporary translations that attempt modernization and paraphrasing of the text, which allow the biases, prejudices, and agendas of the translators to have a voice–and there have been blatant, egregious distortions. Beware: The translators are commonly conservative theologians who do have their own agendas.
It is a theological affirmation that the Bible is the Word of God. But even if you do believe that, it is important to remember that the modern Bible you hold in your hands is the product of ongoing adjustment and manipulation over the centuries. Some of the pious handlers of the “holy text” have been competent and conscientious, but far too many have not been.