Category Archives: Atheism

Links and Comments: Derek Muller and the Beauty of Nihilism

Posted on 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 →

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

Posted on 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 →

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

Posted on 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 →

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

Posted on 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 →

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

Posted on 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 →

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

Posted on 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 →

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Links and Comments: Mostly about the Evils of Religion, Not to Put Too Fine a Point on It

Posted on 7 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Tonight, many links and comments about religion, especially on this day when thin-skinned Muslim terrorists murdered French journalists who had dared to insult their omniscient, omnipotent god by drawing mocking cartoons about Muhammad. Some of the reaction has been to … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Good News about the state of the world; cultural concepts; science; religion and fantasy

Posted on 5 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Catching up on links and comments from the past three weeks or so, given the holiday lapse. * First some Good News: Slate: Steven Pinker and Andrew Mack: The World Is Not Falling Apart In the world is getting more … Continue reading →

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Phil Zuckerman, Living the Secular Life

Posted on 22 December 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: New Answers to Old Questions. This is a book that addresses the growing trend of non-religious people especially in the US, and how they live their lives without the assumptions that the faithful think are necessary for living a … Continue reading →

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Arthur C. Clarke: Two Religious Explorations

Posted on 29 October 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Arthur C. Clarke is, of course, the British SF writer (who lived much of his life in Sri Lanka) most famous for the novel and film 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as several other of the most popular and … Continue reading →

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