Monday, 18 August 2014
Common ground
It is interesting that both non-believers and believers (regardless of god) have access to the same evidence but come to different conclusions. This evidence is not in dispute. For example, we all know that:
1. Humans invent gods. Over the course of our history humans have invented...
Saturday, 9 August 2014
Life in spirit Heaven
Christians differ on what Heaven will be like. Some say, we will have our bodies restored to their peak condition and it will be like life on Earth... There are many problems with this idea but I want to think about second idea of Heaven, the idea that we (well, not me) will live in Heaven as spirits.What will life be like as a spirit, I wonder? Without a body there will be no food...
Wednesday, 6 August 2014
This is no test
Christians say life on Earth is just a test to see who is fit for heaven. The death of a child is just a test; an earthquake is a test. Cancer, birth defects, tsunamis, volcanoes, tornadoes, malaria and ebola are all tests.God has an entire arsenal of tests for us.What Christians...
Tuesday, 15 July 2014
An infinity of gods
Why do people think there are so few gods? Most people think there is just one god but we know many gods have sustained humans throughout time. We have counted ten thousand or so but it could be a lot more—we have no idea how many there were before our recorded history.But counting...
Saturday, 5 July 2014
How we know Jesus
There are very many paintings of Jesus, all of them painted by artists who have never seen their subject. All these paintings are works of imagination with some, most likely, borrowing from the imaginative work of earlier artists. Exactly the same process was used to write the Gospels....
Thursday, 3 July 2014
The end of religion?
People sometimes ask me if I would like to see the end of
all religion across the planet. I say it depends.
It depends on what these religions would be replaced with. There
is no guarantee they will be replaced with reason, tolerance and universal observance
of human rights....
Sunday, 15 June 2014
Why deny revelation?
Some Christians argue the human brain is too feeble and logic itself is not up to the job of understanding the divine. They complain that we rely on reason and deny revelation.
One Christian friend recently said,
"We even trust reason above revelation to explain the things that cannot...
Saturday, 14 June 2014
How logic fails God-believers
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Here is a simple problem of logic.
“Jack is looking at Anne, but Anne is looking at George. Jack is married but George is not. Is a married person looking at an unmarried person?” The answer can be "yes" or "no", or "cannot be determined".
Around 90% of people will get this wrong...
Thursday, 29 May 2014
How to dismiss hell forever
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Not everyone has someone in their lives they love to distraction. Someone with whom they are so intimately entangled in so many ways that separation would be an unbearable torment.
But many do have such a precious person and these people can vouch for the absurdity of...
Tuesday, 27 May 2014
How much do you love your kids?
How you bring up your kids has a massive effect on their lives. I want you to think about doing something amazing for them.
It may mean making a sacrifice and it may be the most difficult sacrifice you have ever had to make or it may be the easiest. I don't know.
I want you to think of the values you would love them to have when they grow up. The values that will make them happy...
Sunday, 25 May 2014
Did the Resurrection really happen?
If there was no Resurrection—there is no Christianity. Problem is, evidence for the Resurrection is thin to non-existent."Not so!" Christians argue, "More than 500 people saw Jesus after the Resurrection. That is proof enough!"They are, of course, referring to Paul's words in 1 Corinthians...
Sunday, 18 May 2014
Who really is arrogant?
Honestly, I am astounded when believers tell me atheists are arrogant.Here's the thing, believers can hardly help but be arrogant. It's the nature of the beast. To be a believe in a god, you have to be sure your god is real (despite there being no evidence that it is so) and, for most believers, that entails being equally sure that billions of other people who believe in...
Thursday, 15 May 2014
Why don't Christians bring slavery back?
In the Bible, God clearly condones slavery—the type of slavery where slaves where bought and sold, where slaves were included as a man's estate when he died, where a master could split up families, where beating slaves was no crime, even if they were killed, so long as they survived the beating by a day or two.
A man could even sell his daughter to act as a bonded "wife" (sex...
Tuesday, 13 May 2014
How faith rescued Christianity
Imagine the men who invented Christianity sitting round a table...
At the head of the table sat an old man with an unruly beard, a checked shemagh covering his head. He looks at the men around the table, "OK, we've agreed Jesus is the son of God, we've added the ancient Osiris story about the death and resurrection—we know every god has to have that. But, we still need a strong...
Tuesday, 8 April 2014
How sin kills Christianity
According to Christian theology, before Adam and Eve's famous serpent-induced transgressions, they were sin-free, just as God had made them. But, with that single act of disobedience, they became sinners and they passed a sinful nature to all future generations. So now we are all sinners.
God...
Sunday, 6 April 2014
Finally, proof that God is stupid
God is said to be omniscient and unchanging. But what are the implications of these characteristics?
1) Stupid people cannot learn
God cannot learn because he knows everything.
2) Stupid people won't change their minds
God cannot change his mind because he has a perfect plan. If he changes his mind, his plan would become imperfect.
3) Stupid people cannot make decisions
God can...
Friday, 4 April 2014
Female circumcision: What it is and why it must stop
In a world with so much suffering and evil, if there was only one thing I could stop, it would probably be female circumcision.
It is carried out at any age from soon after birth to 15 years and, of course, it is done without consent. It involves removing a girl’s clitoris...
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Is it possible that Jehovah might exist?
Someone asked me if there was any moment in my life as an atheist when I accepted the possibility that Jehovah might exist.
To my knowledge there is no evidence that Jehovah exists and lack of evidence is a perfect reason not to believe something. But lack of evidence does not mean a thing does not exist, it means there is no reason to believe it does.
So a rational...
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
Particle Memory Technology computer announced
Researchers at Cambridge University have today announced a breakthrough enhancement of the quantum computer.
Quantum computers utilise the power of quantum mechanics to create tiny computers with speeds thousands of times faster than today's supercomputers.
The technology announced today, known as Particle Memory Technology (PMT) takes this to the next level. By periodically stressing...
Sunday, 23 March 2014
The benefits of religion for black Americans
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Black Americans are significantly more religious than white Americans. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reported in 2009 that 79% of black Americans say religion is very important in their lives compared with only 56% of all Americans. Over three quarters of blacks (76%)...
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
The Inside Story: God and Jesus, what REALLY happened...
So much misinformation surrounds the lives of YHWH (God) and Jesus that it is hard to unravel what is true and what is hyperbole. Almost everyone seems to have a vested interest in propagating one story or another. But now, I bring you the full inside story—find out what really happened...
Friday, 7 March 2014
The last Christian
Christianity is a folly. A theology so bizarre and fractured it must have been created by a committee.
Christianity's moral teaching, all apparently from the same unchanging God, ranges from brutal tyranny to masochism.
Christianity rests upon a series of miraculous events but there is no evidence that any of these events actually happened outside of the religion's own sales...
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Is US Christianity on a suicide mission?
Francis Xavier, co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), famously said, "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man." That was almost 500 years ago but the lesson has not been forgotten—around the world religious leaders understand the importance of instilling religious ideas into children and young people.
This is why it is surprising that so many Christian...
Saturday, 1 March 2014
Creationists are right—there is only microevolution
Evolutionary change can only happen because the process of copying DNA, though amazingly accurate, is not perfect. Errors occur. Measuring spontaneous mutation rates is complex but there is probably a lower limit of 0.1 mutation per generation for simpler genomes but it can be up...
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
What if Satan is real?
Imagine for a moment, a world in which God and Satan actually exist. God is omnipresent, omnibenevolent and omniscient.
Satan, like God, is a spirit with supernatural powers, including the ability to communicate with people. Satan likes to make life difficult for God and for humans.
In...
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About Me
- Nildogma
- As a 20-year-old I was insatiably curious about the world and passionate about rejecting superstitions and all kinds of false beliefs. I still am today. Sometimes when people believe things that are not true, it make little or no difference but sometimes the consequences can be disastrous and deadly. Now, I do what I can to help people improve their thinking skills, especially in how they impinge on core beliefs, such as cultural values and religious beliefs. I have an active Facebook page for which I create memes and write articles almost daily. I also engage people in on-line debates. You can find me here: https://www.facebook.com/bill.flavell.1 I lecture at universities around the world and present or debate at public meetings. I also, draw on my management consultancy background to help freethought groups, almost anywhere in the world, to get organised, develop strategy and improve their media and presentation skills. If you would like me to present at your university or for your church group or freethought group, please contact me.
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God is said to be omniscient and unchanging. But what are the implications of these characteristics? 1) Stupid people cannot learn God ca...
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According to Christian theology, before Adam and Eve's famous serpent-induced transgressions, they were sin-free, just as God had made... -
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People sometimes ask me if I would like to see the end of all religion across the planet. I say it depends. It depends on what thes... -
So much misinformation surrounds the lives of YHWH (God) and Jesus that it is hard to unravel what is true and what is hyperbole. Almost ...