With all of the fun and fascination at Skeptrack 2009, a couple of controversies emerged in the conversations there. The first, discussed openly in a few panels, was the role of religion in the skeptic/atheist/freethought movement. This is still a sore spot for some, particularly given the wide range of individuals who fall under the …
Category Archive: Philosophy
Sep
16
The Skeptrack Experience at DragonCon – Part 1
Every Labor Day weekend 40,000 or so geeks descend on Atlanta to revel in at least four days of Nerdvana at DragonCon (www.dragoncon.org). It’s the largest fan-based popular culture convention in the U.S. There is a fan track dedicated to almost any science fiction, fantasy, horror, game, comic, art, or geek subculture that you can …
Jul
14
Starry Night: My Thoughts on Death
There is a preacher for every intelligence level. On the feeble fringe of the bell curve you’ve got the droolers watching Pastor Benny Hinn on cable TV perform his forehead-shoving healing miracles. Toward the other end of the believer IQ spectrum you’ve got well-groomed men who can tie a real tie and confident women capable …
Jun
04
The Hot-Air Balloon of Spirituality
Human beings have vivid imaginations. Hence we’ve got mythologies up the wazoo. People have dreamt up a variety of stories for explaining the unexplained and to help them achieve at least the perception of control over the world around them. If we sacrifice a virgin, that will pacify the rain god, and he will let …
Jun
01
My Amazing Meeting with James Randi
“Hello” was the response on the other end of my newly initiated phone call. I knew this voice instantly, from the hundreds of times I’ve heard it on television, podcasts, and YouTube videos. I was shocked that it could be he who answered the phone and believed I might be wrong. “Yes, um, we are …
May
30
Getting Support as a Nonbeliever
Skeptic. Freethinker. Non-believer. Humanist. Agnostic. Secularist. Deist. Nontheist. Bright. Atheist. Whatever you call us, whatever we call ourselves, two things are certain: there are many who hate and fear these labels…and we nonbelievers are not alone. Despite what you might have heard to the contrary, we never were. From Epicurus in approximately 300 B.C.E. to …
May
30
The Star Trek Prophecy
The most obvious appeal of Star Trek lies in its anticipation of human technological advancement and in its ability to entertain the dream that along with phasers and transporter beams, we may eventually acquire the secrets of our universe. And yet the real seductiveness of Star Trek is tied up not with technology, but with …
May
21
Fighting Stereotypes
Stereotypes provide great fodder for comedy. They can also obstruct social progress. Consider the stereotypes in this Onion news parody: Why is the medicinal use of marijuana illegal in most states? Blame a stupid stereotype. It just happens that I am for both the legalization of marijuana and for the legalization of atheism. But wait …
May
13
The Assumed Anarchy of Atheists
Because I don’t pray, nor imagine some invisible alpha watching over me, I am free to live in a state of hedonistic anarchy. Yah, right. The reality: I have inner, pro-social, drives. Call them “voices” if you must personify. I have a conscience, in other words. This conscience no doubt originated in my parents’ teachings …
May
05
Life Just Is…And So Is Death!
“Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.” — Leonardo da Vinci, thinker, scientist, artist Presently our scientific knowledge doesn’t know the origins of our …