Advocatus Atheist

Weird scientific facts that sound unbelievable but that are, in actuality, true. 1. South Korean scientists put a jelly-fish gene into cloned puppies and made them glow in the dark. 2. Although we share 95% of our DNA with Chimpanzees we actually share 50% of our genetic code with a banana. 3. In the U.S.A. cloned animal food products passed FDA inspection and are FDA approved. 4. Denisova homini is a third species of humanoid after Neanderthals and Humans. 5. Black holes are real! 6. The human embryo goes through quite a surprising metamorphosis including developing gills, a tail, webbed fingers and toes, and a full coat of fur, among other traits, which it then sheds to become a fetus. 7. Traveling at the speed of light slows time down to a halt. It's also known as Einstein's special theory of relativity. 8. Using high intensity lasers physicists are bending space-time and attempting to send messages into the future, perchance to receive a message from the future! Gr...

Space: The Final Frontier: Hope After Faith Growing up my mother would set my brother and I down in front of the television set and go cook dinner. The only thing on in the six o’clock time slot was a strangely intriguing show, a little series known to the world over as Star Trek. I remember seeing my first episode of Star Trek on a little black and white box television at my Grandmother’s house just a few weeks after my parent’s divorce. My Grandmother was off in the other room consoling my mother, and for the next few weeks at Grandma’s this was the only show my brother and I watched. And the adventures of Gene Rodenberry’s sprawling space opera transfixed my imagination and unknown to my loving Christian mother the secular Humanist message would plant the first seeds of my atheism. To boldly go where no Christian has gone before… That’s the short version of the beginning of the end of my faith. Granted a little known science fiction series was not the cause of my dwindling fai...

God Cannot be Derived from the Cosmological Argument or Argument from Design An intelligent Christian blogger I often come across online, ran by a quote which he found and put to me: Why not consider the possibility that life is what it so evidently seems to be, the product of creative intelligence? Science would not come to an end, because the task would remain of deciphering the languages in which genetic information is communicated, and in general finding out how the whole system works. What scientists would lose is not an inspiring research program, but the illusion of total mastery of nature. They would have to face the possibility that beyond the natural world there is a further reality which transcends science. (Johnson, p.110) Johnson, Phillip. Darwin on Trial , Washington, D.C.: Regnery Gateway, 1991. This is a pro-Creationist quote, and nothing against the author, but it specifically asks to consider the hypothesis that there is an...

Adam and Eve Never Existed: It's a Myth!   The Garden of Eden story is a myth. How do I know this? For one, because it’s a myth! But seriously, how do I know it didn’t happen as a matter of fact? A couple things: the lack of talking snakes (or the lack of language genes within the DNA of snakes for that matter), and the lack of any evidence what so ever for its reliability as a historical occurrence. In fact, the lack of the infamous Garden of Eden itself is the biggest give away. Not to mention that talking animals are common to myth and fable, not historical fact, with the exception of a few talking parrots. Yet why is it so crucial for Christians to believe in the Garden of Eden story? Because it is where the concept of “original sin” comes from. If this story wasn’t told, then Jesus wouldn’t have had to die for humanity, and that would have meant his life and death were ultimately meaningless. If truth be told, it would imply he needn’t have died in the first place. ...

Writing with Persuasive Rhetoric: How to Craft a Good Argument Part of winning a debate or getting people to agree with you is by having the clearest and best reasoned argument possible. Here I will share with you some of the basic techniques for improving your arguments, backing up your claims, and supporting your position with evidence according to the critical method. I’ll be referring to The Norton Field Guide to Writing , by and far the best book on reading, writing, and rhetoric for college level writers that I have come across. If you’re a serious writer, or looking to be, this is a more than valuable resource. According to The Norton Field Guide to Writing , in part 9 of section 2, we find the section heading that reads “Arguing a Position.” I’ll be doing a paraphrased summary of pages 97-98 and page 105, breaking down the key points in sequence and sharing with you the skill set required for crafting the best possible argument you can. So without further ado, the key ...