Why is an explanation always needed?
- Details
- Created on Saturday, 27 April 2013 06:22
- Published on Saturday, 27 April 2013 06:22
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 242
One of the major reasons given for the existence of God is that he is needed to explain where we came from. Not just the existence of the Universe but also the existence of life and mankind. He is also used to explain complexity – the old watchmaker story (more in graphic below). But stop and think a minute. Why is any explanation needed? OK, so it’s a human characteristic which surfaces around the age of 4 when we start asking “why”. Parents usually go along with this but will often finally say “Because I said so”. This instills in us the concept that there is an answer for every “why” question even if it’s an authority figure who decrees what it is. So it’s natural when we get a little older to accept that the priest/minister or perhaps the holy book has all the answers.
Read more: Why is an explanation always needed?
Does religion really provide comfort?
- Details
- Created on Thursday, 25 April 2013 06:38
- Published on Thursday, 25 April 2013 06:38
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 3097
Atheists are often told - leave the religious alone, it gives them comfort. But does it? The implication is that in hard times, religious people are happier than atheists - they are happy to accept their fate because god wills it. In the time of their biggest trauma, when they know they are dying, you'd think they would be happy to die since they are going to a better life. But The Journal of the American Medical Association reports otherwise. A study in 2009 showed that: "Terminally ill cancer patients who relied on their religious faith to help them cope with their disease were more likely to receive aggressive medical care during their last week of life."
The study did not identify a reason for this but one possibility is that they have faith that their prayers will be answered with a miracle and they are not really dying. However, if they are truly religious, they will know that "God does not work like that". (Although I would say, "zero chance of a miracle").
Lawrence Krauss on Q&A - Science vs Religion
- Details
- Created on Tuesday, 23 April 2013 06:18
- Published on Tuesday, 23 April 2013 06:18
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 317
Lawrence Krauss is getting more visibility as a speaker and atheist activist. On Feb 18, 2013, he appeared on the Australian TV program Q&A (produced by the Australian Broadcasting Commission) and the subject was Science versus Religion. The program is a panel set up for questions from the public and it covered a number of issues including Lawrence's specialty "Something from nothing". That's a favourite reason given by Christians for why there must be a God. It's difficult to explain in a few minutes but Lawrence gave it a try. One notable thing about the program was that the Christian representative was a strong supporter of Science but tried to position Christianity as providing additional insight and answers. It was noticeable that no-one contradicted Krauss like Cardinal Pell tried to do against Richard Dawkins in a similar situation (More here). I couldn't help thinking that Australian Christians, like most of them in Canada, are a lot more rational than the strident American Christians. At least they accept that being rational is important.
Freedom of Press worst in Middle East
- Details
- Created on Sunday, 21 April 2013 06:37
- Published on Sunday, 21 April 2013 06:37
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 4828
Freedom of the press is one of the fundamental freedoms alongside freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The organization "Reporters without borders" does an annual survey of press freedom by country and publishes it on their web site.
There are few surprises on their list – countries with little freedom of religion, also have poor freedom of the press. Some western countries who nominally value freedom, like France, Italy and Greece, seem to have only moderately good freedom of the press but the worst offenders are places like North Korea, the strict totalitarian Muslim Countries and Communist China & Cuba.
Atheist Movies
- Details
- Created on Friday, 19 April 2013 06:18
- Published on Friday, 19 April 2013 06:28
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 373
If you know me personally, you know I have other interests besides atheism – I trust all atheist bloggers are equally diversified in their interests. One of these interests is movies; movies of all sorts – current, vintage, movies to make you think and movies that are just simply fun. I talked about movies that are mystical and religious here (Religion and mysticism in movies) but what about movies that are atheist? That is, movies that have atheist themes and do not promote religions nor the supernatural (no zombies etc) and don’t even tell fantasies that make you think of religion (like Life of Pi). I want to provide a list – I’m sure there are more but I’ll add to the list as I learn of them. By the way, I have not included trash movies.
Are you an atheist?
- Details
- Created on Monday, 15 April 2013 06:16
- Published on Monday, 15 April 2013 06:16
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 324
Christians would have us think that atheism is another faith – just one without god. Atheists will usually say that atheism is not a faith or a religion and is simply the absence of a belief in god. But some might believe in a “higher power” – whatever that might be - but never in a personal god who should be prayed to. Atheists may be mystical and believe that there is something that others call the supernatural that has not yet been explained. It’s probably easier to decide if you are an atheist by what you do not believe than in what you do believe. Many atheists and even Christians and Muslims have tried to define what an atheist is – it’s time I did the same.
Why does anyone believe in psychics?
- Details
- Created on Wednesday, 17 April 2013 07:00
- Published on Wednesday, 17 April 2013 07:00
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 2474
Craig & Jane, UK based "psychics", made 10 predictions in 2008 for 2009. They do this each year because there are people who believe them despite the fact that they are plain wrong - other than the occasional "hit" through luck. Many so-called psychics make year-end predictions yet they are always the same mix of mostly wrong. The "ability" they claim to have has never been proved - in fact James Randi has challenged all comers to demonstrate psychic ability and has offered $1M to anyone who can prove scientifically that they have such powers. (More on Randi here. See also the related articles listed).
So why do people believe? It's the same reason that people want to believe in god or a "higher power" - people want to believe in immortality, they want to believe that the human mind is more than just a flesh and blood brain and we all want to believe we are more than just an advanced animal. We like to think we have a spiritual side that is somehow detachable from the rest of us.
Too many people
- Details
- Created on Saturday, 13 April 2013 06:12
- Published on Saturday, 13 April 2013 06:12
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 2379
Few seem willing to come right out and say that there are simply too many people on this planet. Two recent examples have brought this home to me - one was Mike Nickerson talking about sustainability and the other was a report by HSBC Economist Karen Ward. Mike gives a great speech on how the planet we are on cannot continue indefinitely with the growth that everyone seems to want. Resources will run out - food supplies such as fish and grains plus forests, clean air, oil and minerals all have a limit. Mike preaches sustainability and while that is a necessary close-in goal it won't by itself solve the problem in the long term. As Mike points out, corporations and economists insist on growth - without growth we get a recession and economic pain. But he avoids saying the obvious - there are too many damn people.
Then I read about a report issued by Karen Ward that says that by 2050, the top 10 countries in economic output will be (in order):
