Author: Adam Lee

In “All Possible Worlds“, I wrote about the various religious responses to the problem of evil. Today, I want to say some more words about one of the common theodicies, the “teaching” or “soul-making” theodicy, as it’s defended in the Christian tradition. This theodicy holds that experiencing and resisting evil is the only way to…

I’m very pleased to announce that reader David Cabrera has volunteered to translate some of the essays on Ebon Musings into Spanish. He’s already completed work on five of them: the disclaimer and introduction, “Why Ebon Musings?“, “Life of Wonder” and “All Possible Worlds“. I’ve added links to the Spanish versions of these five from…

This just keeps getting better and better. Earlier this month, I wrote about the Senate campaign of Elizabeth Dole and how it was attempting to stir up anti-atheist bigotry to use against her Democratic challenger, Kay Hagan. Now, the national Republican Party has joined in, and once again, Daylight Atheism is a part of the…

Today’s Poetry Sunday features the British poet Stevie Smith. The Literary Encyclopedia calls her “one of the most important female British poets of the twentieth-century, and the most original voice to emerge from the 1930s”. Stevie Smith was born in 1902 in Hull (her birth name was Florence Margaret Smith; she acquired the nickname “Stevie”…

This comment was left on a different post by a visitor calling himself Ty: I cannot imagine how you could believe that there is no savior in this world. I am 14, and strongly believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of the whole world. I’m almost offended that you could…

Before now, I’ve written two previous posts offering, and soliciting, advice for atheist readers who’ve found themselves in difficult situations. With today’s post, I’m thinking I ought to make it a regular series. I was contacted by a reader with the following dilemma: As part of my job, I am often expected to attend and…

In last year’s post “The Default“, I quoted this astonishing concession from theist Andrew Sullivan: I have lived with the voice of Jesus read to me, read by me, and spoken all around me my entire life – and I heard it that day. If I had been born before Jesus’ birth, would I have…

Around this time last year, I wrote a post titled “On Atheist Janitors“, addressing an e-mail from reader Serban Tanasa that asked whether atheism has something to offer to people on the lower rungs of the economic ladder. The other day he wrote back to me with a follow-up post addressing some of the issues…

I woke up this weekend to the extremely welcome news that the State of Connecticut has legalized gay marriage, joining Massachusetts and California as the only three U.S. states with full marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. Although seven other states have civil unions or domestic partnership laws, as did Connecticut before this ruling,…

Although I get my share of kook mail, I’d much rather share the truly inspiring e-mails I receive – the ones that remind me why I write and give me the motivation to keep at it. I welcome the reminder that, beyond the political battles and debates that accompany every nascent reform movement, there are…