tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15956625526773118542024-11-01T03:02:40.428-05:00Free thinkers write here. This blog aims at any who believe that if your claim becomes stronger with every test and challenge it endures, then it should be believed in even harder. For those who support their claims on faith alone: leave! There is no space here for people with absolute convictions, nor for anyone that fears changing their minds or opinions. Warning: I will invite you to think, because that is the only way you will enjoy what's coming next...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-9042715106671214342011-10-17T15:12:00.002-05:002011-10-17T15:13:22.553-05:00

The new testament is seen as being the less cruel one. In it, Jesus is seen as the role model for Christians. However, he is not shy about the natural attraction humans may experience between them (lust): "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." Even after

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-35813442916314791512010-06-24T12:14:00.000-05:002010-06-24T12:14:00.275-05:00

A few years ago, Richard Dawkins made some very clear points about a reasonable stance to have on religion. This presentation he gave, is part of TED Conferences, and focuses on several aspects that defend the militant atheism stance.If you have 30 minutes and crave a challenge, press play:I thought this speech was a very good way to make a 30 minute point for militant atheism. It also

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-4752964283027902282010-02-05T15:37:00.001-06:002010-02-05T20:22:07.588-06:00

Week 2: This session had the effects of Christianity in world history as the center of topics.The whole idea behind all topics covered, was to convince the audience that Christianity was the source of a lot of good, and that the deaths caused by religion were a lot less in numbers when compared to modern atheistic regimes (Stalin, Mao, etc...), and that a lot of the morals and altruism of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-13574259757629062202010-02-02T11:56:00.002-06:002010-02-02T11:56:00.365-06:00

At the end of the event, this is how complex things got: Consider Exodus 31:14 and Genesis 3:16.How hard is it to make God look bad with these texts alone?One makes him cruel and intolerant, the other makes him sexist. It is hard to hear, yes, but I would say it is as easy for religious people to be shocked at the texts showed in the presentation, as it is for me to look at these 2 that I picked,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-6202476666740536712010-02-01T11:42:00.000-06:002010-02-01T11:42:00.180-06:00

Discrimination: Discrimination is a sociological term referring to the treatment taken toward or against a person of a certain group that is taken in consideration based on class or category. Genesis 3:16 "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." In other words, women are

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-52483764457929811132010-01-31T11:28:00.000-06:002010-01-31T11:28:00.158-06:00

In Christianity, New Testament, all variants of such religion claim to worship an infinitely merciful and just God. Except on one day of the week: Exodus 31:14 "Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people." In other words, do anything unholy on the sabbath and you must be put

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-73883086288893579102010-01-30T07:33:00.000-06:002010-01-30T07:33:00.168-06:00

It took me a while to notice Blogger had implemented a new feature called "jump break". That allows me to split the posts in two parts I sometimes feel appropriate: the main part, and some details. When that happens, you will see a "Read more" (or some similar one like, "Click for the rest", "Get the whole scoop"... I haven't decided yet.) link at the bottom of the posts. Clicking that link will

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-17967565885934470902010-01-29T23:14:00.005-06:002010-01-29T23:14:00.240-06:00

The 1st day at the Faith and Doubt event. After the surprising effect of that first quote, mentioned in our last post, the real interesting part of the speech began. One could almost say it matched the very definition posts about atheism that this blog contains, specifically, the ones that are labeled under definitions, and that covered, theism, atheism, agnosticism, and so on... It was with

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-53185530471049580642010-01-27T11:59:00.003-06:002010-01-27T22:25:40.934-06:00

How was my first trip to the event about faith and doubt? I was caught by surprise from the start. In my experiences with religious people and the fiery debates that come from the usual conflict between religion and atheism, I am used to resistance, and in some unfortunate cases, disrespect and aggressive stances towards atheists. This time it was going to be different. It started with a quote

Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-49790194030636093322010-01-26T11:52:00.003-06:002010-01-26T12:28:49.659-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, religious friends of mine asked me to go to some event that their church organized. The reason for the invitation is pretty obvious: I am an Atheist, and the event was about faith and doubt. We went, we listened, and we came home to talk about it. Unfortunately, Atheists were not very well portrayed, and I left under the impression that every religious person in that room

Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-42834805187362686262009-12-23T13:59:00.002-06:002009-12-23T14:23:32.189-06:00

Most people like the idea of tolerance.The truth is that they only accept it in a very generic way.To be tolerant, is to accept change, and to accept difference whenever it is upon us or just around us. Embracing change becomes a requirement for tolerance.World peace is all about tolerance. It is about accepting different people, with different ways and different values to be themselves even when

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-19820393637909436192009-10-26T17:13:00.000-05:002009-10-26T17:13:00.381-05:00

One day, someone in Denmark made some drawings of prophet Muhammed, of Islam. It was a cartoon about the muslim god. However, the reacting muslims looked more like this:Muslims at the Danish Embassy in Britain,preaching their views on tolerance,according to their religion.For these religious people in the picture above, it is ok to trust the invisible god they have never seen, and trust that his

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-56910736840366365482009-10-22T04:13:00.002-05:002009-10-23T10:20:21.158-05:00

Faith: confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.Faith is also a personal choice. The concept alone has little to do with reality, proof or fact. It can, but it does not have to. It is a trust based system, not necessarily a fact based or reason based one. You can trust a person, idea or thing, for any reason (or absence thereof) or fact whatsoever.Some

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-35370910855170036792009-10-19T14:21:00.000-05:002009-10-19T14:21:00.393-05:00

If I give you the remote to a TV with 99 channels but that only picks up the reception of 1, and then tell you have the free will to choose any channel, even though the 99 options are real, I do know what you will choose just because I know there is only 1 viewable channel on such TV.As long as I know what your choice will be, you have to real choice. You will choose exactly what I know you

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-61182180224308875272009-10-12T14:16:00.001-05:002009-10-12T14:16:00.219-05:00

A god is, according to many, the all powerful, all knowing creator of everything.When he was about to create Man, he knew how we would turn out to be, and made us the way we are anyway.Man is by far, the most cruel of all species. We are the only ones capable of torturing, killing for sport, genocides, mass pollution, the atom bomb, to name a few...When I was a roman catholic, I was once told

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-34065408334415114112009-10-06T09:55:00.001-05:002009-10-06T09:55:00.509-05:00

Defining what perfect is, can be very difficult.One of the reasons for that difficulty is the fact that some of us may consider something to be perfect, while others may not.Although I do not think this post will end up with an exact and precise definition of perfection, it is in the interest of this blog to at least present the readers with a definition that matches what we mean when mentioning

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-38938195903238244462009-10-03T12:18:00.003-05:002009-10-04T20:28:43.763-05:00

When I think about the movies I like and the actors that play them, I can't help to realize how good some are at playing roles that sometimes are so different from what the actors are in real life.If you lose some of your limitations, you also lose a part of what you were when you had them, to become what you now would be without them. For example, if you were to become immortal, then dying would

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-71333516304203975742009-09-28T23:59:00.003-05:002009-09-30T07:24:19.219-05:00

Religious people have a double standard when it comes to figuring out what their god(s) is responsible for.When we are about to be held responsible for something, two things come into play:Knowledge of whatever we're being held accountable for;Power to affect whatever we're being held accountable for.Let's imagine a parent and a toddler in a room.The parent holds the child while considering

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-60213941767293060652009-08-28T09:42:00.009-05:002010-02-02T12:36:41.377-06:00

The problems of Omnipotence - Part IVMotivation can be all sorts of reasons, feelings, cravings, fears, desires, that all put together create this need that moves us towards achieving something.Just like that thirst we have while we search for a drink and then disappears once we're done drinking. Or that sleepiness that goes away once we get tired of being in bed sleeping... Motivations go away

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-43100715925949367582009-08-25T20:49:00.004-05:002010-02-02T12:36:41.377-06:00

The problems of Omnipotence - Part IIIWe've seen here, how omnipotence can be a tricky concept.When we walk a path and that path splits, a choice is presented to us. Do I turn left, or right? We do not have the power to go to both paths at the same time. You can walk both paths simultaneously only if your power is limitless, only if your are omnipotent.If we can do everything, the power to

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-86900469020338029642009-08-23T21:50:00.006-05:002010-02-02T12:36:41.378-06:00

The problems of Omnipotence - Part IIThink about some of the few great pleasures you are able to enjoy in life. Pick your favorites.Not that perfect afternoon at the golf course, nor that perfect walk by the beach, nor that perfect night partying with friends. Try to breakdown those complex feelings into all those smaller ones that make those mentioned above.Think instead of simpler, more

Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-86719783483352160512009-08-21T12:18:00.002-05:002010-02-02T12:36:41.379-06:00

Omnipotence: unlimited power to do anything.Omnipotence raises a lot of problems to any god. Some even argue it is impossible, contradictory, and even paradoxal. What does it mean, and how?Unlimited power means that everything we can think of, one can do. Because of having a somewhat wild imagination, I reached a point where, already a non-believer, the concept of Omnipotent (or all powerful)

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-29422375070013123452009-07-26T12:10:00.006-05:002009-07-26T12:10:00.188-05:00

Omnibenevolence: unlimited or infinite benevolence.(Benevolence: the quality of being kind and altruistic.)If one is the universe's creator, and one is the God of any major religion, they are omniscient in that creation. God would know exactly what such creation is going to turn out to be, whatever the circumstances, whenever the circumstances. Given that perfect knowledge, the universe will

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-64571599386035776572009-07-24T12:03:00.005-05:002009-07-24T12:03:00.492-05:00

Omnipresence: is the property of being present everywhere.There seems to be no present major religion with god(s) that are omnipresent but not omniscient. Given this assumption, what would the purpose of omnipresence be, after already being omniscient?We go to places to interact with its contents. No one ever goes somewhere to do exactly what one can do where they already were to begin with. At

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595662552677311854.post-82534287457602793382009-07-22T08:33:00.000-05:002010-02-02T12:37:08.539-06:00

Omniscience: the capacity to know everything infinitely.This concept is very interesting. It means that all things that anyone can know, past, present, and future, are already known by an omniscient being.Gods of all major religions share this trait.And if for some reason the concept seems simple, or if you think that being omniscient would be something cool, consider this:Would you like to know

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0