26 January 2020
Here I’ve collected a variety of general tips you may find useful for debating, whether you are doing a live formal debate, a formal written debate, or anything more informal online. It’s not a comprehensive tutorial. Just some of the first things you...
25 January 2020
Do we have free will? In what sense? What sort of free will are we supposed to be talking about? Who or what is a will a will of? What are praise and blame, guilt and innocence for? What is fatalism and why is it bad for you? Challenge yourself by studying these...
25 January 2020
I’ll be at Old Man Frank’s in Winter Haven, Florida (1005 South Lake Howard Drive) from 3 to 4pm (I might stay longer if there’s demand) next Saturday, February 1—with books and conversation! Come stop by, hang out, chat on any subject, maybe...
24 January 2020
I recently found an article from 2011 making a point I’ve long made myself, that the entire notion of a “presumption of naturalism” being axiomatic to history and the sciences is both an error made by some historians and scientists and an apologetic...
22 December 2019
In April of this year the Biblical History Skeptics talked shop for three hours with Tim O’Neill (this Tim O’Neill) and I was invited to talk shop about that with Godless Engineer last month. The latter video has now gone live and you can watch it here....
18 December 2019
Part 3 of my series on the new Macmillan reference Theism & Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy: my discussion of the Argument from Science, which holds that the collective consequence of the advance of the sciences is the substantial reduction in the...
17 December 2019
Part 2 of my series on the new Macmillan reference Theism & Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy: my discussion of the Argument from Miracles, which turns that argument on its head. Far from being evidence for theism, the collective evidence regarding miracle...
16 December 2019
This year Macmillan produced a peer reviewed collection of position papers between atheists and theists titled Theism and Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy (2019), in which I contributed several chapters. Like most academic monographs these days it’s...
6 December 2019
I’ll be hanging out at the Crown & Anchor pub in Las Vegas (4755 West Spring Mountain Road) on Friday the 13th, December 2019, from 6 to 7 pm. Come hang out with me! I’ll chat on any subjects and I’ll have all my books on hand to sell and sign if...
29 November 2019
Is everyone who lacks belief in a god an atheist? Or is there always some middle category—we’ll call it “agnostic”—such that (a) they don’t believe any gods exist but also, at the same time, (b) they can never be called an atheist?...
27 November 2019
Tim O’Neill is at it again, on Twitter this time, making false claims about my work, and about the Epistles of Paul. The item of contention again is my proposal that when Paul said Jesus was “made from the sperm of David” (which is literally what...
27 November 2019
I am nearing my half century of life—it will be official on December 1st! And Christmas is also just around the corner. To all who’d like to send me a gift for either or both, what I most want is more recurring patronage on either...
25 November 2019
It’s often claimed Medieval Christians invented the university. But this is as false as the similar claim that they invented the hospital. In both cases the underlying claim is used to sell a “Christianity saved the world” narrative in the halls of...
21 November 2019
Jordan Peterson has already become a joke in many circles. But enough remain mesmerized by his shtick to warrant a survey of why he’s just another pseudoscientific guru running a con. He is, essentially, the Deepak Chopra of the Nones; and his books, akin to The...
16 November 2019
I’ll be casually hanging out at the Cliffs of Moher Irish Pub tomorrow, Sunday, November 17 (2019), in Bowling Green, Kentucky, from 4 to 6pm. Come hang out with me! We can chat on all subjects. And I’ll have books on hand if you want to get any...
14 November 2019
Does atheism have a rational foundation? If we are just atoms in motion, how can anything be right or wrong? What is reason and why trust it? What is true? What should I believe, about myself and the world I live in? What should our politics be? What should our values...