Author: Adam Lee

Most connoisseurs of poetry have heard of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a collection of poems originally written in Persian and attributed to the eleventh-century poet and polymath after whom it is named. The various translations of the Rubaiyat have given the English language some of its most enduring verses and images (most notably “a…

Since I’ve just wrapped up my series on blogging, it seemed appropriate to do this. This is an open thread purely for the purposes of self-promotion. If you keep a blog or other site that you want us to know about, then now’s the time! Feel free to leave a comment below telling us about…

Growing a Community Yesterday’s post offered advice to potential writers about starting a weblog of your own. This post addresses the next question: once your site is established, how do you get noticed and build up a readership? Be a good citizen of the blogosphere. To make yourself known, it’s essential to participate in the…

Starting Your Site Several bloggers I follow regularly, including Atheist Revolution, A Load of Bright, and Greta Christina, have written posts about blogging in the past several months. Since October was my best month to date, I thought it was about time for me to follow suit. Here follows a two-post series with my personal…

I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give. —Thomas Jefferson, letter to Alexander Donald, 7 February…

In essays such as “Three In One“, I’ve scorned the Christian doctrine of the Trinity: If a claim is labeled beyond our ability to understand, then how are we supposed to tell if it is true? What assurance do theists have that the Trinity is a true fact about the world that is genuinely beyond…

I feel as though I need to clarify something. In my Ebon Musings essay, “The Theist’s Guide to Converting Atheists“, I wrote that I would link to any theist who was willing to post a list of things they would accept as proof that atheism is true. That offer has been open since I first…

In August 1790, Warden Moses Seixas of the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, wrote an address to the recently elected President George Washington. Jewish congregations were still an unusual phenomenon in America at the time, and Newport’s was the new nation’s largest. Seixas’ letter expressed his congregation’s gratitude to President Washington, and to America…

For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous god. —Exodus 34:14 Many verses in the Bible, such as the one above, state unequivocally that Yahweh is a jealous and vengeful lawgiver. They warn of how he loathes idols, and graphically describe the dreadful punishments he will…

In The Case for Christ, evangelical psychologist (and demon-believer) Dr. Gary Collins rendered this appraisal of the mental health of Jesus: “We don’t see psychological difficulties in Jesus. He spoke clearly, powerfully and eloquently. He was brilliant and had absolutely amazing insights into human nature. He was loving but didn’t let his compassion immobilize him;…