Jonathan MS Pearce

atheism

Using Common Sense to Not See God: Christianity Cannot Be Deduced from Nature

Bob Seidensticker, of Cross Examined here at Patheos, contributed a chapter to the recent book Not Seeing God: Atheism in the 21st Century. In his piece, he joins a few of us in the first section who look to philosophically dismantle the notion of God. The book is set into

determinism

From The West Wing to Devs

I came to The West Wing twenty years too late. I say too late, but the show doesn't age. Yes, it's set in the late 90s and early 00s, with all that entails. But as a political drama, displaying the machinations of the White House and

equality

On Castigating Peaceful Protest

This isn't something that I haven't said before. A part of Minneapolis is on fire as a result of the protests about police violence after George Floyd died after a policeman knelt on his neck for nine minutes, in a rerun of Eric Garner's

atheism

Using Common Sense to Not See God: Monty Hall Problem & Board Games

Bob Seidensticker, of Cross Examined here at Patheos, contributed a chapter to the recent book Not Seeing God: Atheism in the 21st Century. In his piece, he joins a few of us in the first section who look to philosophically dismantle the notion of God. The book is set into

Coronavirus

EXCLUSIVE: Big Pharma Using Developing Nations to Underhand Rush through Hydroxychloroquine Trials

This is a guest post from Patheos writer Suzanne Titkemeyer at No Longer Quivering. This is important. You need to read this in the context of Trump pushing a hitherto untested drug for reasons only guessed at, and the ramifications of this, or a reflection of US Big Pharma in

2020 Election

White Evangelical Support Through the Pandemic, and Going Forward

The coronavirus has caused all sorts of changes in behaviour over its course, but one demographic that is always interesting to look at is the support white evangelicals have for Trump. This is because Trump, if he had been a Democrat, would have been absolutely eviscerated for his moral behaviour

Trump

Al Franken and Steve Schmidt Chew the Trumpian Cud

Okay, so this will be the last exclusively political one for a few posts. I'll get back to religion! This is a fantastic interview that Al Franken (shame he had to step back from politics - so much potential) gave to Steve Schmidt. Schmidt is an interesting person,

Beyond an Absence of Faith

Christian Rocker Steingard Loses His Faith; What of His Friends?

Friendly Atheist, fellow Patheoser, recently posted the details of Christian rocker (from band Hawk Nelson) Jon Steingard's loss of faith as announced in a 2,200 word Instagram post. His preamble stated: I’ve been terrified to post this for a while - but it feels like it’

Church

Trump Demands Governors Open Churches "Right Now"

Special dispensation for churches because those religious types get me my votes! CNBC: More than 1.58 million cases and at least 95,052 deaths from the coronavirus have been confirmed in the U.S. so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Trump said at a veterans event

Creationism

Origin of Us: Human Anatomy and Evolution

I recently posted a talk by Prof Alice Roberts. Here is another one, but now we are well in her sphere of expertise. There were actually a number of nuggets I got out of this talk; it's well worth a watch. Here, she talks about human evolution and

left-wing

Political Compass

The political compass is always worth doing to see where you fit on a more pluralistic spectrum other than a simple left/right continuum. It works between left and right, authoritarian and libertarian. I think it's genuinely quite accurate with its appraisal. I do get annoyed at answering

faith schools

Morals Without Religion - Alice Roberts

I like Prof. Alice Roberts. She is a scientist and author who is excellent at communicating science on TV and other media and, now, humanism. She is relatively newly appointed to the President of Humanists UK. She courted controversy courtesy of the Times and other right-wing newspapers when, in an

climate change

Renewables, Going Forward

This piece isn't apropos of anything in particular. There is an organisation in the UK called "Look After My Bills" who won the biggest ever Dragon's Den (Shark Tank in the US) backing. What they do is survey the energy field and have a

Biblical Exegesis

Using Common Sense to Not See God: Christianity vs Mormonism

Bob Seidensticker, of Cross Examined here at Patheos, contributed a chapter to the recent book Not Seeing God: Atheism in the 21st Century. In his piece, he joins a few of us in the first section who look to philosophically dismantle the notion of God. The book is set into

bible

Using Common Sense to Not See God

Bob Seidensticker, of Cross Examined here at Patheos, contributed a chapter to the recent book Not Seeing God: Atheism in the 21st Century. In his piece, he joins a few of us in the first section who look to philosophically dismantle the notion of God. The book is set into

Coronavirus

Every (UK) COVID-19 Briefing Ever

Just for a bit more light-hearted, yet spot-on entertainment. This is very pertinent for those who have sat through countless UK coronavirus updates. Very formulaic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYUMQL5ABPw   Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher You can also buy me a

humour

Philosophy Gags

Time to share some philosophical jokes. Here's my philosophical joke, the only one I remember consistently: A travelling professor enters a philosophy faculty. He sees all the students really pander to and look after this one particular professor, giving him all his needs. He finds this odd and

anti-vax

Anti-Vaxxers are Winning Their Facebook Battle

Anti-vaxxers have a special place in my Hall of Infamy. They are idiots, plain and simple, and no amount of whining by them or on their behalf will change my opinion. Yes, Big Pharma is a problem, yes there are issues with the financing and distribution of such drugs -

News

Lobbying: Corporate and Political Corruption

This is well worth watching. Cracking speech from the MP for Coventry South, a newcomer. See Citizen Representation: Corporate Lobbying and Legalised Corruption in the US and On Campaign Finance Reform. Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher You can also buy me a cuppa.

Coronavirus

How Trump Is to Blame for the Depression

This is drawn from the Washington Post in a short but good article, inspired by a comment from sycophantic Fox contributor Maria Bartiromo: BARTIROMO: We’ve got 33 million people filing for unemployment, we’ve got 20 percent— TRUMP: Nobody blames me for that. Except, it turns out, they do.

equality

Equality of Opportunity, Homogeneity & Granularity

Here's the context: During our Tippling Philosophers' Zoom meeting last night, we got to discussing identity politics, positive discrimination and positive action. Being the leftie liberal I am, I was arguing that positive discrimination is most often straw manned (as I thought it was last night), is

Trump

It Turns out that the World Is Fundamentally & Massively Ignorant

I only found out what a trillion was in my mid-thirties. And it was only recently that I heard, and man I was shocked, of the number 35,000! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uUyiE0fzJ4 What a total twit. I would love to classify this under epistemology, but that

COVID crisis

Responding to Wilcox #5: When Is a Human a Human Being?

This is the fifth piece in series debating Clinton Wilcox at the Life Training Institute (a pro-life organisation) with the following chronology: JP: Abortion: The Human/Human Being Distinction CW: About the Alleged Human/Human Being Distinction CW: About the Alleged Human/Human Being Distinction, Part 2 JP: Pro-Life Debate:

Coronavirus

Trump and His Own Deep State Madness

I haven't talked about Trump for some time simply because there is not much else he can do to surprise me. He is compulsive viewing and I am continually engrossed with his sheer ineptitude, failing cognitive abilities (just listen to him speak for chrissakes) and unerring march to

2020 Election

Bitecofer on Republicans' & Democrats' Election Strategies & Predictions

If you're going to watch anything today, watch this. Bitecofer has really created a reputation for herself to be one of the most reliable and interesting pollsters and analysts around. Here, there are loads of nuggets and I only wish that she was interviewed for longer: Lots to