Winter’s Haven

Here’s Peter Williams’s tidily formatted version of Aquinas’s “Degrees of Perfection” argument for the existence of god:

1. Among beings there are some more and some less good, true, noble and the like
2. But ‘more’ and ‘less’ are predicated of different things, according as they resemble in their different ways something which is the maximum
3. [...]

In the comments to a previous post, a reader calling himself “Deep Thought” said that he believes in god based not on blind faith, but rather based on logical evidence. I asked him to show me the evidence for the existence of god, and he pointed me to an article by Peter Williams. The article [...]

The 70th Carnival of the Godless is up at Friendly Atheist. Most of these pieces, of course, aren’t really directed at theists. The case against the existence of god(s) has already been made eloquently many times before. But it’s heartening to hear some other voices raised against all the madness in the world.

Alonzo Fyfe, the Atheist Ethicist, wrote an excellent article on Epistemic Negligence in Teaching Religion. I have just one quibble.
The article over-emphasizes the epistemic crimes of experts while ignoring those committed by ordinary people (i.e. parents). Fyfe points out that in some cases, non-experts do not deserve the same moral condemnation for making mistakes [...]

The New York Times compiled an enormous list of earmarks which Congress has handed out to religious organizations. This is completely unconstitutional, and it’s an outrage that the IRS is picking our pockets to fund religious groups.

…the question arises: When should you deflower each virgin so as to maximize your utility? Glen Whitman of Agoraphilia provides a detailed analysis of this important issue.

Phil Zuckerman (of Pitzer College) & Gregory Paul wrote an article entitled “Why The Gods Are Not Winning”, which documents the long-term decline of religion in advanced, prosperous nations. For an atheist living in the West’s most religious state, their article is a fresh breath of optimism.
The exceptional piety of America among Western states certainly [...]

Reposted from The Atheist Experience (see the original post):
This is hilarious. More than 800 Hong Kong citizens are pushing to have the Bible legally classified as indecent material. In actuality, this is all by way of making a point about freedom of speech and of the press. Recently a column in a university newspaper containing [...]

Nimpsy made a short movie, wherein two chaps walk up to a random person’s door, knock, and extend a friendly invitation to kiss Hank’s ass. Maybe someday a pair of people just like these two will knock on your door.
You’re probably wondering “Who is Hank?” and “Why should I kiss his ass?”. Watch the video, [...]

And now, some good news. According to data compiled by the Christian charity Tearfund, Britain is a very secular society, and it’s becoming less religious every year. Only 53% of Brits polled identify themselves as Christian, down from just under 3/4 in 2001; 40% say they “have no religion”. Furthermore, a mere 15% of Brits [...]