'Critical Thought' Archive
Gapsters
Today's topic concerns one of the oldest forms of religious apologia: deliberately confusing the relationship between probability and mystery. ...
Ten Questions for Self-Transformation
1. What important things do I believe I could accomplish that no one else could?
2. What's my second or third ...
9.11 Anniversary Filled With Moral Illusions
[The human] moral sense licenses aggression against others as a way to prevent or punish immoral acts. That is fine ...
In Support of a Scientific Morality
I wanted to chime in with my two cents about the question of scientific morality. Sam Harris has laid out ...
Solipsism, Again
An article forwarded to me by a friend brings up the old New-Age argument, this time dolled up in ...
The Petulant Ignorance of the New Age
Once in a while you strike Facebook gold. The kinds of discussions I used to have here on BSJ ...
Conspiracies: Tawdry Subset of Generalized Delusion
I don't suffer fools gladly. As BSJ moves into a new decade, I've decided that certain subjects are not worth ...
Lying With Headlines About the Climate
As one of the most powerful liars in the world, Matt Drudge takes perverse pleasure in twisting facts to fit his right-wing denialist agenda. He's got this down to a ...
Twelve Steps For CO2 Addicts
"How can we ever agree, Like the rest of the world, We grow farther apart.
I swear you don't listen to ...
It’s Not Nice To Criticize People’s Myths
Editorials slamming "new atheism" as "strident," "tedious," "uninformed," or the kicker, "fundamentalist" crop up every week like new mushrooms sprouting ...
Sean Prophet - 26 Big Ideas
A few weeks back a friend of mine on Facebook asked me to fill out a questionnaire of "50 things ...
François Tremblay: Dénouement of a Demagogue
I've been called out today by former friend and colleague Francois Tremblay over a Facebook discussion (PDF) started by his ...
Radical Skepticism and Gullibility: Two Sides of a Coin
"Facts do not cease to exist just because they are ignored." -- Aldous Huxley
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing ...
Religion Rots Your Brain, And We Must Say So
Sam Harris has delivered a one-two punch of brilliant essays criticizing President Obama's nomination of Francis Collins to be the new ...
Debunking The Power of Now: The Greatest Obstacle
Chapter 1: You are not Your Mind
Subhead: The Greatest Obstacle to Enlightenment pp. 11-16
Tolle encourages "finding the gold inside yourself." It's ...
Debunking The Power of Now: Introduction
Eckhart Tolle is a first-class charlatan. Despite this fact, he has sold, and continues to sell millions of copies of his ...
The Brain, Engine of Creativity
Best selling New-Age author Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) recently delivered a TED talk in which she called into ...
Conspiracies and Climate Change
I received an email taking me to task for comparing the 9/11 truthers with climate change deniers. The correspondent claimed that while climate science was solid, the 9/11 truthers might ...
The Free Will Argument
Right-wing bloggers and pundits churn out a steady stream of cookie-cutter articles insisting on the "impossibility" of moral atheism, and presenting ...
Why I Choose Reality
My good friend Adam Lee, also known as Ebonmuse, who runs one of the most popular and enduring atheist sites Daylight Atheism, wrote ...
Fans of Michael and Marti Parry Respond
"What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence." --Christopher Hitchens Thanks to Google search or maybe word-of-mouth, a couple of ...
Psychic Smackdown: Michael and Marti Parry
Despite what they believe, or how they may view themselves, what is the appropriate response to psychics who take advantage of the vulnerable bereaved ...
www.isanyoneupthere.com
Oh, how the credulous are shaking in their boots. Searching high and low like jonesing addicts for their security blankets, their soporifics. Now comes ...
The “Radio Wave” Argument
"People in the middle ages didn't know about radio waves, yet they were everywhere. They just didn't have receivers in those days. How can ...
Science Education is not Totalitarianism
Recently I was called out by Elisheva Hannah Levin, a hypocritical homeschooling mom (supposedly a degreed Biologist). Levin balked at my stance (...