Deep Dive

A collection of 1068 posts

atheism

God is Not an Old Man in the Sky. Now What?

Dana Horton is back with another look at atheism and spirituality, this time concentrating on what we do with the idea of God. Over to him: God is Not an Old Man in the Sky. Now What? (5-minute read) We often repeat in our posts that God is not an

Dana Horton

Determinism and Spirituality

Here's another Dana Horton post, with this one right up my philosophical alley, so to speak: Determinism — Did You Choose to Read This? (4-minute read) Let’s say we could rewind the Universe and do things over again. * Would lightning still strike in the same place at the

Dana Horton

Let’s Unpack Grace

Here, Dana Horton gives us another nugget to think about concerning his ruminations about grace and nontheistic spirituality. Grace is a tough one. It's a bit like "faith" - very difficult to get religious people to thoroughly nail down a useful coherent definition. Grace can also

AHA

Humanists Score Victory in Longstanding SC School Prayer Case

This is from the AHA: The American Humanist Association (AHA) scored a major victory for church-state separation in its seven-year lawsuit over school prayers and religious venues in Greenville, South Carolina. On Tuesday, the Greenville County School District voted 8-3 to drop its appeal and settle with the AHA on

Gunther Laird

Deism and Existential Inertia Revisited

As many of you will know, I recently edited a book by Gunther Laird called The Unnecessary Science, a book that counters the claims of Aristotle, Aquinas and recently Ed Feser on Natural Law Theory, a particularly religious moral value system. The context of the piece below is that Gunther

Dana Horton

Light and Spirituality — Metaphor or Real?

Here’s another offering from Dana Horton, for our spirituality hour, this week concerning spirituality and light... Light and Spirituality — Metaphor or Real? (3-minute read) This time of year we see the term “Light” used all the time in religious ceremonies and festivals. What is going on here? Religious symbolism.

afterlife

Humans: Abandoned by God, Made Obsolete by AI

I was having a social media conversation with an old schoolfriend, MG, where he came to a fascinating conclusion; the chat went like this: MG: I’m a fervent atheist. In fact an anti-theist. But I have a counterpoint to the atheist argument which is strong.... My counterpoint is less

AHA

Humanist Witness Testifies at Federal Hearing on Global Blasphemy Laws

From the AHA: At a virtual hearing conducted today by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Humanists International director of advocacy Elizabeth O’Casey testified to how the United States can effectively work toward the repeal of blasphemy laws around the world within the scope of the

conceptual nominalism

Spontaneous Abortion: God Has the Right to Take Lives?

I was recently involved in a discussion/argument that started off with a Christian stating: We want freedom from stupid govt. lockdowns for a non-pandemic. [I will edit these quick Facebook comments only for grammar/punctuation.] Which then distilled down to a conversation about abortion. Because that's what

AHA

Humanists Applaud House’s Commitment to Ending International Blasphemy Laws

This is from the AHA: In a momentous victory for the rights of humanists, nontheists, and religious minorities around the world, the American Humanist Association (AHA) applauds the U.S. House of Representatives for passing House Resolution 512, which calls for a global end to blasphemy, heresy, and apostasy laws.

Adam and Eve

Pearced Off! #12 - Nonsensical Theology: Adam, Eve & the Two-Horned Dilemma

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

Dana Horton

Is Time Irrelevant in Prayer?

Here's our weekly foray into non-religious spirituality from Dana Horton, this time dealing with ideas of time and prayer. But by way of introduction, let me quote this article on research into the psychological benefits of prayer: Researchers from Baylor University found that people who pray to a

atheism

On Atheism and Beyond: A Brief Reflection

I was linked this by a Christian on Facebook and it is worth reposting here as a stimulus for discussion. Certainly nutritious food for thought. It is from the author's blog: After God's End: A blog by Josh de Keijzer. It is reposted with kind permission

Alvin Plantinga

Comments on Transworld Depravity

This is a post or two from a commenter "Ficino" here, this time taking aim at William Lane Craig and Alvin Plantinga's reliance on the concept of transworld depravity. Over to him, with anything I say in square brackets:Since Wm. Lane Craig follows a version

God's characteristics

God Cannot Be Perfect Because Intrinsic Perfection Does Not Make Sense - REDUX

This has been brought up a number of times recently so I thought I would recycle some old posts on the topic. I am reposting this article as it is good to get previous writing seen by a new audience: So in a [not so-] recent post I was talking

Blasphemy

Humanist victory! Scotland drops plans to ban insulting religion

From Humanists UK: Scottish Justice Minister Humza Yousaf today announced that the Government will drop sections of the draft Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill that would have criminalised insulting religious beliefs. The Bill will now protect ‘antipathy, dislike, ridicule and insult’ of religious beliefs, as part of people’

equality

Jordan Peterson, Baking Cakes, Gays, Black People and Changing Minds

This clip is brilliant for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Jim Jeffries provides a brilliant analogy to show how denying baking a cake due to someone's sexuality is logically equivalent to denying black people entry into a shop or onto a bus; since that is intuitively wrong, then

Coronavirus

Finally, a President with Empathy to Replace One Completely Devoid of It

Recently, and I hope he won't mind me saying this, but Jim Jones sent me a link of a news piece about children showing beautiful Halloween empathy and kindness with a comment that these children were showing more empathy than a person in charge of the United States,

Buddhism

What Constitutes an Awakening?

Here is another look at spiritualism from a nonreligious point of view, another guest post from Dana Horton: What Constitutes an Awakening? (5 minute read) It is said that soon after his enlightenment the Buddha passed a man on the road who was struck by the Buddha’s extraordinary radiance

prayer

What Makes a Spiritual Practice Spiritual?

Here's another guest post from Dana Horton, who gives us more stimulus from a spiritual perspective: What Makes a Spiritual Practice Spiritual? (3 minute read) In New Thought ministerial school our instructors emphasized the importance of maintaining spiritual practices … no matter how busy we were. In theory, these

conservatism

Does Belief in God Drive One's Politics or Politics Drive One's Belief in God?

Disclaimer: I, like many of you, am an agnostic-atheist and so the answer is neither. Or is it? Because this question can be applied to me, too. Let me elucidate... In general terms, for religious people, what is the direction of causality? A few things to note first here; firstly,

morality

Can You Be Friends with Someone with Opposite Views to You?

Short answer: Probably not. This is a question that was asked to me when having this humdinger of a political argument with a Facebook "friend" that spilt over to a couple of posts here at ATP about being a Trump supporter and having cognitive dissonance. It is evident

2020 Election

Being Honest with your Moral Consequentialism: Single Issues and Trump Support

We're almost there, so a few more political pieces to go... Trump supporters must really be careful now. He has moved into such open lying in his rallies and messaging now that he is swimming in conspiracy theories and nonsense. It's dangerous. As I have said

Dana Horton

Is the Law of Reciprocity Really a Law?

Here’s another guest post from Dana Horton – thanks! Is the Law of Reciprocity Really a Law? (4 minute read) This week let’s talk about the spiritual law of reciprocity. What makes a law spiritual? It is hard to define a spiritual law. Because … it’s … spiritual. You can’

Biblical Exegesis

The Resurrection Belief Supervening on the Holy Trinity Belief

As most of you already know, I am writing a book on the Resurrection of Jesus, looking critically at the historical and theological claims involved. I wrote this aside section to highlight that without a coherent or working understanding of the Holy Trinity, the belief in a (Trinitarian) resurrection is