The problem of evil

If God is all-good and all-powerful, why is there such a thing as evil? This is known within philosophy of religion as the problem of evil or the problem of theodicy.[1]+ Believers can solve the problem of evil by admitting…

Atheists for sobriety

  James Randi, the magician and pseudoscience debunker, advocated legalizing recreational drugs and allowing natural selection to weed out those who misuse the drugs.[1] Smart man. Dumb idea. Life expectancy among Americans has recently undergone the longest sustained drop since…

Full Religious Liberty

There are two kinds of religious liberty: basic and full. Basic religious liberty is granted by the First Amendment, which establishes the principle that each person has the legal right to choose his or her own beliefs. Full religious liberty…

The Shipwreck of Faith

William K. Clifford, a mathematician, philosopher, and fellow of the Royal Society, was praised as “a brilliant, witty, charming man, who was also an excellent teacher.”[1] Clifford proposed the development of a geometric theory of gravity, later accomplished by Albert…

Lift that rock, punk

Suppose a woman defines God as a pancake. She has given us a bizarre, even silly—but nonetheless intelligible—definition. We can say with confidence that her god exists. Indeed, multiples of her god exist in a diversity of shapes and flavors.…

Demarcation Problem

How do we distinguish the supernatural from the natural? When we contemplate any object, what are its characteristics that justify our ascribing it to one realm as opposed to the other? Answer: none. We could, of course, classify as supernatural…