Advocatus Atheist

This is an interesting read (even coming from FoxNews ).  An Israeli team of computer scientists and Biblical scholars have developed a cutting edge computer software which shows that the theory that multiple authorship that wrote the Bible is not just a critical assumption--but a veritable fact.  The new software analyzes style and word choices to distinguish parts of a single text written by different authors, and when applied to the Bible its algorithm teased out distinct writerly voices in the holy book. What I found interesting was that the software agreed with 90% of what the traditional field of Biblical criticism and scholarship has been saying on the issue for the past 300 years.  However, it seems that even this cutting edge software will likely have it's detractors (predictably, probably only among the religious). This is evident by the tip-toeing around of the issue, as not to offend any religious people, by the teams leaders. I especially liked the last line of

Christians love nothing more than to distance themselves from other Christians they disagree with. I was recently talking to a Christian friend who said that her Church just lost a few thousand members because the overall congregation voted to uphold support of the LGTB community along with the right for Gays to Pastor.  Her Church seems to be moving in a more liberal direction, and I commend them on it, but I mentioned to her that it seems strange to me that several thousand would just walk out on their Church because they found a problem with allowing other human beings the same rights they have. Equality is no reason to quit a club, unless your club is evil, like the KKK (also a Christian organization by the way). At any rate, I mentioned that it was the dogmatic abuse of Church doctrine which frequently corrupts peoples beliefs and turns them into intolerant bigots. I put the blame squarely on religion. Not because I think all religion is evil, but because I know how i

Just bear with me... Even if she did receive magically new DNA, that doesn't magically unmurder those people she killed when she was... you know... still evil. [I really hate how becoming Christian means she's all forgiven and stuff... new DNA means she's not accountable. See the problem here? Get out of jail free card--well then, what's stopping Christians from murdering all the time?] Also, notice the big fat fallacies--appeal to authority and bandwagon appeal. I'm your preacher man, so listen to me, listen to this story I gotz for ya'allz. Now watch this... it's inspirational--stand up like a moron and raise your hands in praise--hallelujah!  I kept waiting for him to cite a source... but then I remembered... that's only something rational people who are in search of the unadulterated truth do. On a side note: there is a plausible scientific explanation for changing DNA . It's a rare medical condition regarding ones genetic make u

How to Write a Critique Strangely enough, one of the things I notice about online discussions is the poorness of clarity, the shoddy argumentation, and the amount of constant digressions. All this only seeks to confuse or confound a proper criticism of any given theory or proposition. My expertise is in literary theory, rhetoric, and criticism (I also have a history degree but many of the same critical thinking skills apply). So here I am going to offer a few suggestions on how to critique someone else's comment(s), essays, and writing. Before we begin, however, I have to explain what a critique is. In literary theory and criticism, a critique is an analytical criticism which gives a detailed analysis and assessment of something, especially a literary, philosophical, or political theory. We can extend criticisms to ideas, concepts, and beliefs as well. So without further delay, let us begin our investigation of how to write a better critique.

I have Christian friends and family members that don't believe in the theory of evolution. Some claim they believe in natural selection but not evolution.  Now often times we New Atheists will blame their religion for making them ignorant. I'm sure it's not helping any by filling their head with incorrect information, but is it really Christianity's fault when a Christian claims evolution is false?

Many of you might be wondering if I fell off the edge of the world. Right when about a dozen new subscribers jumped on board because PZ Myer's plugged my blog, most were probably wondering why I vanished from blogging. Well, the truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. Actually, in this case it was fiction. Although this is unrelated to the content of this blog, I thought I would offer my readers a proper excuse for my lack of posting. I wrote a book . Well, more of a novella really. It's now available on Amazon.com for Kindle , and if you don't have a Kindle and would like to check it out, be sure and download the *free Kindle app for the PC . The books is called The Scarecrow and Lady Kingston: Cafe Crunch and the Hollywood Express . It's part one of a three part series I've plotted. If you're interested, follow the links above and check it out! If you're interested in following the progress of the next volume, as well as news for upcoming

"Science is a way to teach how something gets to be known, what is not known, to what extent things are known (for nothing is known absolutely), how to handle doubt and uncertainty, what the rules of evidence are, how to think about things so that judgments can be made, how to distinguish truth from fraud, and from show." --Richard Feynman