Jerry Coyne falls into the gap
Eugene Berman, The Good Samaritan (1930). The Samaritan, a clear out-group representative from the perspective of Jesus’ audience, was plenty good. What Jesus didn’t know is that it was “evolution and secular reasoning,” and not God, that made him good. Turns out that’s what made Jesus good too. Image source: Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum [...]
Keep your eye on the story
As Scott at Scotteriology says, this must be what drove Noah to drink after the flood. WARNING Part 1 (above) is fantastic but Part 2 gets really tedious and features some harsh language Henry, my 11-year-old son, has a new hobby: magic. He’s getting pretty good at it, too. Whenever I take our toddler out [...]
Apophasis: Just the thing for beefy, well-fed liberals
Image courtesy of Jesus and Mo As I was poking about for images related to negative theology, I found this comic attached to a post at Why Evolution is True, biologist Jerry Coyne‘s blog. In said post, Coyne ridicules negative (apophatic) theology while avoiding saying what’s actually wrong with it. But the strip is pretty [...]
Or maybe it’s like this: The Breakfast Club Conceit
Claire, Brian, Andrew, Allison, and John may have belonged to different cliques, but they were united in their disillusionment with their parents’ value systems and their fascination with each other. Image source: My Vinter In my last post I introduced the Bronze Age Goat Herder Conceit. This is the idea, held by many atheists, that [...]
On upper-class medieval persons, Bronze-Age goat herders, and semi-enlightened Englishmen, featuring full-color illustrative proof of the Bronze-Age Goat Herder Conceit
Almost enlightened, but not quite: Sir Frederick William Herschel, artist unknown. Image source: Wikimedia Commons “Imagine we could revive a well-educated Christian of the fourteenth century. The man would prove to be a total ignoramus, except on matters of faith. His beliefs about geography, astronomy, and medicine would even embarrass a child, but he would [...]
On Christian atheism and (reverent) deconstruction
Oxymoron, by Camera Freak. By all accounts this guy in Hyde Park (London) is quite persistent. This picture was taken in 1998 and he was still at it in 2007. He may be there today. Apparently he sets up in a prominent location; have any Alert Readers ever seen him? Photo credit: Peter Gordon In [...]
Speaking of atheists and the periodic table, which we have been lately
Periodic Table of Atheists and Antitheists, courtesy of Michael at Ungodly News. He missed Nietzsche, Bill Nye, H. L. Mencken, and Ayn Rand, and I’m not sure Darwin belongs in there, but it’s a fine effort nonetheless. Look closely — there are some nice touches, like giving Ian McKellan the symbol “Gf.” Thanks for the [...]
Idols and icons
Theophanes the Greek, icon of the Transfiguration (1408). When Jesus was transfigured, Peter wanted to take the moment and hold onto it by building dwellings on the mountaintop. But Jesus, who knew the difference between idols and icons, said no. Image source: Wikimedia Commons Paula Kirby used to be a Christian but now she’s not. [...]
Meet good interatheist Chris Stedman
An inverted Chris Stedman and his “awful giraffe,” which I find rather endearing. Stedman is a humanist interfaith activist. Yes, you read that correctly. Image taken from NonProphet Status, Stedman’s blog Read Stedman’s shirt (in a mirror). It says “Good (Without God).” This particular atheist cliché always makes my head hurt. On one hand, as [...]
Door by door
Doorway in Galileo’s villa. I took this photo in 2003 when I visited Arcetri, a small Italian village just to the south of Florence. This is the interior of the house in which Galileo lived under house arrest from 1633 until he died in 1643. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art [...]
