Author Archives: Dwight

Bad Faith

Reliance on faith demonstrates bad faith on the part of the faithful. What makes reliance on faith “bad”? It’s bad, I would say, because it is intellectually dishonest. But what makes reliance on faith dishonest? If the way we determine … Continue reading

Posted in Articles Highlighted, Faith & Reason | 1 Comment

CS Lewis’ Moral Argument

In Mere Christianity, C S Lewis wrote: If a good God made the world why has it gone wrong? And for many years I simply refused to listen to the Christian answers to this question, because I kept on feeling … Continue reading

Posted in Ethics & Morality, Moral | 41 Comments

Five Revelations

I became an atheist through the back door, as explained elsewhere. It wasn’t until after I had been godless for several years that I began to discover the usual arguments that, for most non-believers, led to atheism. It was only … Continue reading

Posted in Christianity, Faith & Reason, Prayer, Religion, Unsacred Texts | 3 Comments

The Key to Happiness

The key to happiness is discovering—and reconciling with—the fact that we are not minds. If you grow up in a Christian culture this is the most important mental health lesson you must learn, and if you haven’t yet than you … Continue reading

Posted in Articles Highlighted, Atheist Culture, Naturalism | 2 Comments

Seeing Red – Understanding Consciousness

An article by John Searle (“Minding the Brain”) in the Nov 2, 2006 edition of The New York Review of Books shows how confused most of us (including philosophers & scientists) are about something as everyday as vision. Searle reviewed … Continue reading

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Atheism as the Defense of Naturalism

In general, types of atheism match types of gods. For example we often hear about “weak” versus “strong” atheism. While the strong atheist asserts that there is no God, the weak atheist claims only that there is insufficient evidence to … Continue reading

Posted in Articles Highlighted, Atheist Culture | 1 Comment

Zeno & Infinity

Pivotal moments in one’s intellectual development come unexpectedly. For me the key moment arrived in 9th grade English class when Miss Blumenstock gave a brief run-down of Zeno’s “theory of motion” [see footnote] and asked us to write a paper … Continue reading

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Theism’s Rose-Colored Glasses

Atheists often find it difficult to understand why theists continue to believe in God despite lack of evidence and the nearly insurmountable problem of evil. But the theist position isn’t difficult to understand once we recognize that the divide between … Continue reading

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Ingersoll’s Birthday

Robert Green Ingersoll, one of the most famous progressives of the 19th century, was born August 11, 1833. Following in the tradition of Paine & Jefferson, Ingersoll spent his life as an advocate for progressive causes, becoming arguably America’s greatest … Continue reading

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Intro to Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274) sought to find a workable fusion of Aristotle and the Church; nonetheless he strongly objected to Plato’s formulation of man as strictly a thinker and the Platonic abandonment of matter. In particular, Plato’s program consisted … Continue reading

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