Essays | The Eloquent Atheist

In Defense of Group Selection

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Carlton Coon

All my life I’ve been fascinated by unfamiliar lands and peoples; the mosaic of human cultures for me is the most fascinating subject in the universe. I have spent half my life abroad and almost all of it dealing in one way or another with what works in different cultural environments, and what happens when cultures collide. I’ve gotten to know my subject the way Mark Twain’s riverboat pilot got to know the Mississippi. Recently I have become involved with … Read on…

Antony Flew off? (Or Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?)

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Frank Robinson

I stumbled across an online article in eSkeptic about Antony Flew. I thought readers might be interested; so here’s the gist of the piece, authored by Kenneth Grubbs. Read on…

He Who Died for Our Sins

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Peter Kelly

In spring, 1968, a shot rang out, and a bullet passed through the face of a man who’s voice we all recognise today. He fell, his spinal cord severed, and breathed his last breaths. Martin Luther King Jr., champion of black rights, had been shot dead by a white man even as the ugly face of segregation marched to its grave in the United States. Read on…

Reflections on the Nature of Human Evolution

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Carlton Coon

I remember once asking my late son William, “What is the purpose of life?” William, a schizophrenic, was babbling nonsense, but he stopped and in a moment of clarity gave me a quirky smile and replied: “The purpose of life is to relieve God’s boredom”. Read on…

Faith versus Reason

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Frank Robinson

Frequent commenter Lee recently pointed me to a blog essay by philosopher Michael Lynch, “Reasons for Reason.”

He says current American divisions are rooted in fundamental differences about what makes a belief believable. Lynch sees a problem of circularity in validating reason by using reason, with all beliefs thus ultimately premised on something arbitrary. Read on…

The Allure of Religious Violence

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Peter Kelly

On the 21st of February, soldiers disposing of tools used by Afghan prisoners to exchange messages dumped a large volume of papers and books into a garbage pit to be burned. Amongst the texts were a number of Qurans. A superior, noticing the incredible error, doused the fires to retrieve what remained. But too late. Passing Afghan workers had spotted the thoughtless gesture, and within the day riots had spread across the capital. Over the past weeks protests have erupted … Read on…

Marginalized persons and Group Selection

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Michael W. Jones

Our readers and authors have once again sent me in the direction of unifying two seemingly disparate thoughts: many thanks to Timothy Travis for the link to a Steven Pinker essay on Group Selection and to Afzal Moolla for his recent poetry submission. You should read Mr. Pinker’s essay and Mr. Moolla’s poem. Both will help you to be a better world citizen and probably also cause you to reconsider a position or two. I will not belabor either the … Read on…

“Is faith necessary for ethics?”

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Frank Robinson

Last night I participated in a debate on this topic, at a local college; there were representatives of five different religions, and I spoke for the humanist viewpoint. Here is my opening statement: The French scientist Laplace wrote a book about planetary physics; and Napoleon asked him why it didn’t mention God. Laplace replied, “Sir, I have no need of that hypothesis.” We humans get morality first from our human nature, developed through biological evolution, and second, from our thinking … Read on…

The War Against Secularism Rises

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Peter Kelly

“They want to disown the traditions and heritage of the majority, including the Christian faith and the English language”. Surprisingly enough this quote does not come from the Bible-bashing deep south of America, but from the Local Government Secretary of the UK, Eric Pickles, following the visit of his colleague to show solidarity with the Vatican last week. Who lead this delegation? Baroness Warsi, a Muslim. The series of proclamations of faith and anger at the secular movement marks the … Read on…

Are atheists more religious than humanists?

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Carlton Coon

If you are an atheist, and find the title of this essay provocative, it is not entirely an accident. I have a point, and now that I have your attention perhaps you will listen while I make it. Religions have survived over the millennia because they thrive on boundaries between the “us” and the “them”. This applies in spades to the three great monotheistic ones. Christianity and Islam not only have evolved elaborate rituals and behavioral requirements to provide instant … Read on…

The Eloquent Atheist

Positive Atheism with Humanist Nuances

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