Author: Adam Lee

By way of Dangerous Intersection, I came across this sorrowful, beautiful story: He spent his life conducting world-renowned orchestras, but was almost blind and growing deaf – the music he loved increasingly out of reach. His wife of 54 years had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. So Edward and Joan Downes decided to die together.…

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 3 Up until now, Jonathan Wells’ critiques of evolution, although misguided, have been fairly sophisticated, touching on topics such as abiogenesis, the Cambrian explosion, and embryology. That’s about to change. In this section, Wells and Strobel haul out the most breathtaking, shameless lie bandied about by creationists: that there…

I’ve been reading this essay from Sikivu Hutchinson in the L.A. Watts Times, which calls on black atheists to come out of the closet while acknowledging the difficulties they face in doing so. The cultural barriers, she says, are even greater than for white atheists: African-American culture is “heavily steeped” in Christian dogma, the legacy…

While we’re on the topic of science and the public, I came across another opinion poll worth mentioning: a survey released this month by Pew, Public Praises Science; Scientists Fault Public, Media, which analyzes how the public views scientific achievement and what professional scientists think of how their work is covered in the media (HT:…

I was asked in e-mail to pass along news of this contest, which some Daylight Atheism readers may be interested in. Quark Expeditions is sponsoring a “Blog Your Way to Antarctica” contest. Anyone can submit a 300-word essay explaining why they should be the one to join a voyage to Antarctica scheduled for February 2010,…

“Ignorance, poverty and vice must stop populating the world. This cannot be done by moral suasion. This cannot be done by talk or example. This cannot be done by religion or by law, by priest or by hangman. This cannot be done by force, physical or moral. To accomplish this there is but one way.…

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 3 Strobel’s discussion of embryonic similarities with Jonathan Wells leads into a broader discussion of homology, which deserves its own post. I’ve been harder on Wells than I otherwise would because he, unlike the vast majority of creationists, has a legitimate degree in biology. It’s impossible that he doesn’t…

A great deal of flak has been flying back and forth across the blogosphere in recent weeks on, once again, the issue of compatibility between science, atheism and religion. The latest round was sparked by a Pew study on how the public views conflicts between science and faith, with Jerry Coyne arguing for incompatibility, Chris…

Summary: An eye-opening look at just how much the text of the Bible has changed over the centuries. Not to be missed. I’ve read two other books by Bart Ehrman, Jesus, Interrupted and God’s Problem, and while they were both competent, readable works explaining the principles of biblical textual criticism, neither one really floored me.…

Welcome to the 39th edition of the Humanist Symposium! This is a blog carnival for atheists and agnostics with a mission: not considering yet more arguments for or against the existence of God, but taking that as settled, to demonstrate how nonbelievers find happiness and meaning in life, and how a rational perspective informs our…