Jonathan MS Pearce

Biblical Exegesis

Supernaturalism

I posted the other day about motivated reasoning and eric commented as follows: It's possible to 'dispassionately argue' but still be engaging in motivated reasoning. I just don't think that's really the case here. What that would look like is: let'

Consciousness

Let’s All Not Look at the Moon and See What Happens

Here's another guest post from Dana Horton - thanks! Let’s All Not Look at the Moon and See What Happens (5 minute read) Last week we speculated on whether the Universe came from an explosion, a creator, or an emanation. This week let’s take up whether

Crime & Punishment

Amy Coney Barrett Shows Her True Colours

We are in a situation where Trump's one-term administration has had three times more indictments than Nixon's. This is corruption central, and nothing reflects this more for me than the deeply hypocritical manner the GOP are going about their SCOTUS nomination. They are prepared to do

Empty tomb

Motivated Reasoning and the Resurrection

Luke Breuer reminded me of the old canard of motivated reasoning today (on Bert's piece on freethought), and it's a thing that is utterly foundational to beliefs and worldviews. At the end of the day, we are thoroughly psychological creatures. As you may know, I am

the Resurrection

My Resurrection Book

I am bloody loving writing my book on the Resurrection of Jesus (The Resurrection: A Critical Analysis of the Easter Story). It's almost writing itself. When you have as many books and sources to draw on, as I have at the moment, there is such a wealth of

Crime & Punishment

Dark Money and Selecting a Conservative Catholic Judge

This performance from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is stunningly good. And this should make anyone interested in far and honest politics utterly ashamed of what the GOP is doing right now. Vested interests. $250 million spent why? "If you find hypocrisy in the daylight, look for power in the shadows.

Economics

Libertarianism, "I'm Alright, Jack", the Free Market and Pandemics

Something that I have noticed about libertarians is that they invariably seem to be people who have everything alright, thank you very much. It just so happens that their health is fine and they have a pretty good job. Many of them are comfortably middle class, and those who are

Jesus

Visions of Jesus

I am just researching visions and hallucinations for my present book project The Resurrection: A Critical Analysis of the Easter Story and I thought I'd share my draft introduction to the section: When I previously came to read about visions (as something seen, whether or not it is

John Loftus

The Case Against Miracles

I have a lot to thank John Loftus for. Not only did I used to blog at his Debunking Christianity site, but he also commissioned me to write a chapter in two of his books (I wrote one on morality and one on free will). John recently sent me his

2020 Election

Why Christian Evangelicals and Fundamentalists Should Reconsider Their Vote For President Trump (Longer Version)

The other day, I posted the truncated version of this longer essay. Here is the full-length version for you. It is from Michael J. Alter, who wrote the masterful The Resurrection: A Critical Inquiry. Unfortunately, the evangelical audience that this essay finds in the thread below will react in a

2020 Election

Poll Analysis: Clinton vs Biden in Swing States; Grassroots Texas

I am interested in the polls for a host of reasons, not least because they supposedly got it so wrong in 2016 (they didn't nationally, though Wisconsin was inaccurate and some other states to a degree) and, if you look at present polls with a squint, they look

Biblical Exegesis

The Huge Importance of the Empty Tomb to Christians

We know from Paul's writings and from pretty much every other mainstream Christian that the Resurrection is massively important to anyone professing faith in Christianity. Without belief in the death and rising of Jesus, you get no atonement and no real point to Jesus living, and therefore to

2020 Election

Why Christian Evangelicals and Fundamentalists Should Reconsider Their Vote For President Trump

Here is a guest essay from Michael J. Alter, who wrote the masterful The Resurrection: A Critical Inquiry. Massive thanks to him. This is the short version; I will produce the longer version for you forthwith. Unfortunately, the evangelical audience that this essay finds in the thread below will react

Coronavirus

Regeneron, Aborted Foetuses, Corruption, Emoluments

Trump's entire presidency has been transactional. By this, I mean that he does things only with himself in mind and so that he gets some kind of benefit. Sort of quid pro quo. Do you remember that term? With everything that Trump does or says we can always

Big Bang

Where Did We Come From?

Here's another short one from Dana Horton. In this one, there are potential arguments to be had over epiphenomenalism and whether mind can properly causally interact with matter or whether it is a byproduct of mechanistic, material processes: Where Did We Come From? (4 minute read; lifetime to

Coronavirus

Pandemic Response and Healthcare Top Concerns for Secular Voters

Secular Americans are Shaping Modern Political Landscape A new national survey demonstrates that issues related to science, including both the federal coronavirus response and climate change, are among the issues driving secular Americans to the voting booth this year. Secular voters’ biggest concern going into the election is the pandemic

2020 Election

Why Cheat Your Way to Victory or Challenge in Court?

Trump is hell-bent on ruling for longer than two terms. He has been mentioning 16 years at rallies. But he is seriously losing in the polls, so he is trying to cheat through voter suppression, disenfranchisement, gerrymandering and casting aspersions on the democratic values and mechanisms of the US. Why?

humanism

Humanist Pastoral Carer Gets Volunteer of the Year

This is from Humanists UK: Charlie Barnes, pastoral carer and Manchester hospitals’ Volunteer of the Year: an interview Charlie Barnes is a humanist volunteering as a non-religious pastoral carer at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, providing valuable support as part of  the hospital’s chaplaincy team. He is also the recipient

Democratic Party

Katie Porter Rules

This here is the difference between Democrat and Republican politicians. Katie Porter is amazing. She fights for what is right and she fights for her constituents, not for vested interests. She not only eviscerates the US healthcare system (and the problem with no centralised procurement on behalf of citizens such

Problem of Evil

God: Why Don't We Photosynthesise? Revisited...

I posted this video the other day: But no one really listened to it and the conversation flowed anyway. That said, I want to clear up a few things. Firstly, this isn't a case of how doable human photosynthesis is, either in terms of biology or conversion efficiency.

morality

What's Good

Here is another guest post, this time from Martin Zeichner. Thanks muchly to him. Today's lesson, whether in terms of politicians or the police, is "Do as I do": Ascertaining what it takes to be a good person has long been a subject of philosophical writing.

Coronavirus

Brian Tyler Cohen Eviscerates Trump

Brian Tyler Cohen is my favourite commentator and interviewer at the moment. This video is, from start to finish, right on the money. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNUcx-3zdfE Watch it.   Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher You can also buy me a

Joe Biden

The Pope, Catholicism and Trump, and other US Political News

Trump's Covid Trump has just returned from hospital, seemingly fairly well. I don't go in for conspiracy theories, but these things always persist when there is a lack of transparency and clarity, which there clearly is on a number of things: * When did Trump last test

God's characteristics

Pearced Off! #9 - Why Don't We Photosynthesise?

I am running a series of the old podcast segments from my Pearced Off! section of the Skepticule Podcast (a British skepticism-based podcast now on hiatus) that I used to contribute to. Some of the earlier ones have some quieter audio. Apologies. They run at around ten minutes. Something to

Biblical Exegesis

More on Josephus on Jesus

In my ongoing conversation with Christin commenter Jayman, where I wrote "The Resurrection, Fideism and Circularity" to which he replied on his own blog and I returned with "Josephus on Jesus", I thought I would add a Quote of the Day, from a commenter here (who