Category Archives: Atheism

Review of David Silverman

Posted on Wednesday 6 January 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

The book is FIGHTING GOD: An Atheist Manifesto for a Religious World, just published in December 2015, and I’m not linking it with a cover image as I often do with books I review, since I can’t especially approve of … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Book Notes, Culture, Politics, Religion, Social Progress | Comments Off on Review of David Silverman

Links and Comments: Lawrence M. Krauss, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, confirmation bias

Posted on Wednesday 9 September 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

A fine essay by Lawrence M. Krauss, at The New Yorker: All Scientists Should Be Militant Atheists. He’s reacting both to the current embarrassing kerfuffle about Kim Davis, the Kentucky court clerk who thinks her sincerely held religious convictions trump … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Conservative Resistance, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Lawrence M. Krauss, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, confirmation bias

Links and Comments: Reason; Morality; Wesleyan; Timeline; The Onion; Jeffrey Tayler

Posted on Friday 21 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Today, a collection of posts I’ve not read in detail, or do not have time to comment upon in detail, but wish to save for future reference. Science on Religon: Connor Wood: Reason™ is not going to save the world … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Morality, Science, science fiction | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Reason; Morality; Wesleyan; Timeline; The Onion; Jeffrey Tayler

The Methodical, Cheerful, Bluntness of Isaac Asimov

Posted on Wednesday 19 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I switched gears a couple weeks ago, after reading several recent (2014 and 2015) novels, to spend some time revisiting one of the 20th century’s most acclaimed science fiction authors, Isaac Asimov. It’s hard to tell, at this point about … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Book Notes, Conservative Resistance, Isaac Asimov, Personal history, Science | Comments Off on The Methodical, Cheerful, Bluntness of Isaac Asimov

Links and Comments: Derek Muller and the Beauty of Nihilism

Posted on Tuesday 18 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Via, a lovely video by YouTube vlogger Derek Muller, who runs a channel called Veritasium — “a channel of science and engineering videos featuring experiments, expert interviews, cool demos, and discussions with the public about everything science”. “The first principle … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Derek Muller and the Beauty of Nihilism

James Morrow: We’re not tourists on this planet, we’re citizens

Posted on Wednesday 24 June 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Many thoughts resonate with me in the James Morrow interview in the June issue of Locus, which I excerpted here. E.g., That’s the great gift of the 18th-century Enlightenment, that insistence on a conversation that must never stop, a conversation … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Culture, Evolution, Personal history, Quote at Length | Comments Off on James Morrow: We’re not tourists on this planet, we’re citizens

Links and Comments: Balancing the budget; the existential threat of atheists

Posted on Wednesday 6 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Balancing the federal budget has a simple-minded, intuitive appeal, but it’s not actually necessary. The nation is not a family; and even families don’t balance their budgets from year to year. (E.g. mortgages.) Vox: Families don’t balance their budgets, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Economics | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Balancing the budget; the existential threat of atheists

Links and Comments: Audiences Cheering and Egging Them On; Christian persecution and criminalization; Why people doubt science

Posted on Monday 9 February 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s been widely observed that the Internet has allowed like-minded people of all stripes to find each other, create online communities, and reinforce each others opinions and prejudices, in increasingly specific bubbles of interests and ideologies. But the visibility of … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Culture, Religion, The Gays | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Audiences Cheering and Egging Them On; Christian persecution and criminalization; Why people doubt science

Links and Comments: The Secular Life; Anti-Vax conspiracy theories; demonizing political opponents; the hell of heaven

Posted on Thursday 5 February 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

A couple days ago NYT op-ed columnist David Brooks wrote Building Better Secularists, in which he presumes to instruct those who do not share his religious beliefs how they are obliged to construct the social infrastructure that religion would otherwise … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Culture, Thinking | Comments Off on Links and Comments: The Secular Life; Anti-Vax conspiracy theories; demonizing political opponents; the hell of heaven

Links and Comments: Michael Shermer, Science and God, Religion vs Education, Your soul

Posted on Monday 2 February 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Michael Shermer’s new book As mentioned a couple posts ago, Michael Shermer has a new book out this week (I got my copy yesterday), The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom, which addresses … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Culture, Evolution, Morality, Religion, science fiction | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Michael Shermer, Science and God, Religion vs Education, Your soul