I never intended for this to be a series, but maybe it would be useful after all.
Recently, there was/is a bit of back-and-forth both online and in certain literary and academic communities over Bart Ehrman’s latest book, ‘Did Jesus Exist?‘
Category: Critical Thinking
Attorney for god
Over at Why Evolution Is True, Jerry Coyne featured a comment from a reader giving very precise criteria for his/her own conversion to believing evolution. Provided with several examples, however, said reader suddenly became intently interested in the fine print and actual wording of both their own statement and those of the responses. Why am I not surprised?
I guess it’s because I’ve
Yeah, on the bandwagon
Just in case you haven’t already come across enough recaps of the Reason Rally, I’m going to succumb shamelessly to the fad and feature a few of them myself, vicariously through several people who were able to attend. While I want to get these out of the way before recaps of Rock Beyond Belief come rolling out, I also greatly admire the various perspectives evident in the Rally.
One thing
Personal god
Walkabout podcast – Personal god
I am, if nothing else, a fan of perspective. One of the greatest benefits of critical thinking is that it can often encourage people to take stock of a situation, compare it against other experiences, and most especially, to see where a common attitude can lead us to fall for unwarranted assumptions or misleading values. So I’m slightly irked in that
Redirect
Okay, I will only accept you being here if you’ve already seen Friendly Atheist’s Reason Rally recap. If not, hie thee hence right now! Even if you think it’s a diabolical attempt to seduce people to the dark side, treat it as a challenge and tell me how many flaws you can find. I’ll wait.
If you can read this…
First off, your assignment for today: read the post found at The Diamond In The Window – it shouldn’t take five minutes. I’ll wait here and chase the cat off the keyboard.
oiuc3uvcdugfybel,,l
Done? Good. That was a great example of how too many school systems within the US have completely lost sight of their goals, and most especially, a demonstration of the issues with “teaching
But that’s different!
To everyone reading this right now, kindly send me your Social Security number. I am a taxpayer, and I help pay to support this program, so you need to send it to me so that I may confirm that your own contributions are in order. I have no intention of carrying more than my share of the burden while you remain off of the grid, shrouded in privacy.
I also need to know what car you drive
What would it take?
All right, I suppose I have to comment on this after all – I usually try to let other bloggers handle things like this.
Long story short: In a discussion between Richard Dawkins (notoriously shrill and strident militant atheist, according to ‘media sources,’ which means vapid nitwits,) and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Dawkins noted his personal ruler
Occam’s razor
Occam’s razor is a proverb, if you will, that underlies critical thinking and the consideration of alternatives. In its most commonly used form, it reads rather simply: If there are multiple explanations for some observed phenomenon, the simplest one is likely the most accurate.
But how? Part six: Love and Beauty
Walkabout podcast – But how? Part 6
I probably should have tackled this one sooner, but I’d gone through a period with too few discussions on religion and this favored argument had simply slipped my mind. So for the next part of the “But How?” series