Skeptic Freethought

Many college students know of Brother Jed. Especially those in the skeptic movement. I first heard his name mentioned at the SSA Conference this summer where it was followed by a groan from the whole room of 200+ students. I was unenlightened as to who this man was, but as I will chronicle here, I soon found out. more…

Hello all,

This is the first in a series of posts deconstructing and refuting some common arguments in favor of theism, religion, faith, etc. This article will feature the so-called “TAG,” or Transcendental Argument for the Existence of God. This is the argument employed by Prussian philosopher & anthropologist Immanuel Kant in his 1763 book, Der einzig mögliche Beweisgrund zu einer Demonstration des Daseins Gottes (The Only Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of God’s Existence). Put simply, it goes like this:

(1) If reason exists then God exists.
(2) Reason exists.
(3) Therefore, God exists. more…

Two weeks ago, I was invited to be a participant for Center for Inquiry-Michigan in downtown Grand Rapids on their “Living without Religion” discussion panel as coverage of our new billboard. My first thought was, “hell no!” since I’ve been a lifetime introvert and I have pretty extreme social anxiety, especially speaking in front of crowds. But as I thought about it, I realized that I really wanted to speak on this panel and have my story heard on what it’s like to live without religion as a person happy and content with being an atheist. I finally responded with a ‘yes.’ more…

Just as the Old Testament was a culmination of material spanning multiple sources over time, so too are the four gospels of the New Testament. The Four-Source Hypothesis, an extension of the earlier Two-Source Hypothesis proposed in the 19th century, argues that the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all pulled from interrelated source material. A British scholar by the name of Burnett Hillman Streeter introduced the Four-Source model in the early 20th century as a way to understand the development of the synoptic gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke. more…

Unless you have a member of your group who’s well versed in public relations practices, most campus organizations are fairly clueless when it comes to publicizing an event. Building a media list, properly distributing a news release and handling press are all skills that have to be learned. However, before any of those things happen, you have to know HOW to write a press release. Perhaps the most basic, yet one of the most important skills, a PR practitioner needs is the ability to write an efficient news release. While everyone has their own method for writing a release, there are a few basics that can be helpful when you’re just starting out. more…

Texas A&M University, an amazing university and one of my past research institutions, has made a significant discovery in transitional fossils during early human evolution. Dr. Darryl de Ruiter and his team of world wide scientists have been studying fossils of an extremely early human form, called Australopithecus, in South Africa. With the discovery of these approximately 2 million year old remains, a portrait of a lineage of human evolution is finally being painted. more…

It has become almost cliché to say that the attacks on September 11, 2001 were the Pearl Harbor or Kennedy assassination of our generation.  Ten years later, nearly all of us remember what we were doing the moment we heard the news.  The day is seared into our collective memory not simply due to the emotional impact of the moment, but because of the startling realization that our lives would never again be the same.

The events of that day profoundly affected our way of life. Not just foreign policy or airline safety standards, but also our sense of security and our relationship to fellow human beings. For many people, it even changed their relationship with their god and religion. more…

I was recently alerted to this video’s existence via a Facebook post by a conservative Christian associate of mine.  It was created by CitizenLink, a Focus on the Family affiliate.

CitizenLink Report: Tools for Parents

It’s more of the same message we often see from “pro-family” organizations: that “parents” (read: heterosexual Christian parents) should be “concerned” (read: alarmed) about “homosexual indoctrination” (read: teaching kids that they shouldn’t regard gay people as horrible, immoral monsters) in schools. more…

I’m currently in the process of moving to a new city, so I only have a brief post for this week. Here are a few news stories you might have missed:

Despite riches, Fort Lauderdale family of psychics facing cloudy future - This is an article about a family of psychics being arrested in Florida. They are being accused of taking over $40,000,000 over the past 20 years. more…

I’m reading a book right now called “Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism” by Bishop John Shelby Spong. It’s a fascinating read, and it has gotten me all geeked out once again (as though I ever stopped) about the origins and evolution of the Bible. Rational, skeptical folk know that the Bible didn’t spring fully formed from the forehead of Jesus in the first century. Its origins extend deep into the past to the tenth century B.C. via the oral traditions of the Hebrew tribes living in the middle east, and its evolution consists of the merging and compiling of these differing oral traditions along with an idealized retelling of Hebrew history. more…