Truth: Stop Arguing About It, Understand It!

"What is truth? You can speak of moral truths and aesthetic truths, but I’m not concerned with those here, important as they may be. By truth I shall mean the kind of truth that a commission of inquiry or a jury trial is designed to establish. I hold the view that scientific truth is of this commonsense kind, although the methods of science may depart from common sense, and its truths may even offend it."

Three years ago, Richard Dawkins presented one of the best explanations of the meaning of truth. Click on the link below for such:

Science: The Gold Standard of Truth

No, The Religious Are NOT More Moral. In Fact - - -

Phil Zuckerman's book "What It Means to Be Moral: Why Religion Is Not Necessary for Living an Ethical Life" is one of the best counter-apologetics to the claim that one must be religious to be moral.

Click on the link below for his video presenting the main evidence for countering this claim:

Are Religious People More Moral than Atheists? Here are the Facts

An Example Of The Character Of Most Atheists

"Robert Richert was an all-American boy who ended up in the jungles of Vietnam during the war. But there’s more to his memoir Apple Pie Atheist than just a young man trying to survive a tumultuous time. Richert chats with Jim and describes the nightmare that was Vietnam while also reflecting on religion, morality, and courage. Yes, there are atheists in foxholes, and thoughtful ones at that."

Click on the link below for a podcast presenting an example of why there ARE atheists in foxholes:

There Are Definitely Atheists in Fox Holes

"You" Are Not What The Religious Say You Are

Click on the link below for a 15-minute video that shatters the concept of a supernatural soul as the base of our consciousness:

Another Failed Refutation of Atheism

The experiments and treatments splitting the brain's corpus callosum
falsify the supernatural human soul.

Deism And Pantheism Are Not "Get Out Of Jail Free" Cards

"Let’s shatter some illusions. For years, I've been the executioner of traditional gods, using the guillotine of logic and the noose of empiricism to make quick work of these divine phantasms. But today, we're breaking into the high-security vaults of "rational theism"—Deism and Pantheism—often heralded as unassailable by even the most erudite skeptics. Not even Einstein or Spinoza are safe from the crucifying lens of critical thinking. What we're about to expose could topple the very pillars of your intellectual sanctuary." 

Click on the link below for an article that destroys these two ideas that many use to avoid labeling themselves atheists:

The Death of Reasonable Gods: Einstein and Spinoza's Failure
How Pantheism and Deism Fail, The Gods of Last Resort

No, Religion Does NOT Make Society Better

Numerous studies have debunked the notion that a society must have religion to be good. Click on the link below for a particularly good science-based video presentation by Social Scientist Phil Zuckerman explaining the results of Secularization in free democratic countries:

What Happens When Societies Stop Worshipping God?

How To Get The Non-Religious Politically Active

 "The Nones are on the rise! When asked about their religious affiliation, year after year, more and more Americans are choosing “none of the above.” The number of religiously unaffiliated Americans, which includes atheists and agnostics, has been rocketing up over the past couple of decades, and today these Nones make up about one-third of the American population. But they’re not matching their religious counterparts in terms of political organization or cultivating tightly bonded communities, so what’s going on?

"In this episode of Point of Inquiry, Free Inquiry editor Paul Fidalgo talks to political scientist Dr. Juhem Navarro-Rivera, Political Research director and Managing Partner at Socioanalitica Research and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Humanist Studies. His article “The Boundaries of Secularism: Who’s in? Who’s Out?” is featured in the October/November 2023 issue of Free Inquiry, and he has some important observations about the rise of the nones and what’s preventing the nonreligious from becoming a social and political force to be reckoned with."

Click on the link below to better understand why, in spite of the reality of there being at least as many "Nones" as Trumpers, the Nones have virtually NO political clout:

The Challenge of Rallying the Nones

The Null Hypothesis: The Foundation & Success Of Science

In simple terms, the scientific "null hypothesis" and the legal "presumption of innocence" principles are the bedrock of an enlightened society. Click on the link below for a video clearly presenting how atheists defend the null hypothesis in their opinion on religion:

Atheism, the Null Hypothesis

Use Your Words Properly

A Theist BELIEVES that there's a god (full stop)

An Atheist BELIEVES that there’s no god (full stop);

A Gnostic KNOWS OF, AND ACCEPTS, a claim presented (full stop)
An Agnostic HAS NO KNOWLEDGE OF, AND REJECTS, a claim presented (full stop).

The word “Agnostic” has to be specific to a claim. One can’t just say that they are agnostic PERIOD. Thus, I am an atheist and an agnostic TO THE SPECIFIC CLAIM THAT THERE IS A GOD. I am agnostic about many claims, and a gnostic about many claims.

Stop It: Dictators Do NOT Commit Atrocities Because Of Atheism

"Religious apologists, particularly those of the Christian variety, are big fans of what I have dubbed, the atheist atrocities fallacy. Christians commonly employ this fallacy to shield their egos from the harsh reality of the brutality of their own religion, by utilizing a most absurd form of the tu quoque (“you too”) fallacy, mingled with numerous other logical fallacies and historical inaccuracies. Despite the fact that the atheist atrocities fallacy has already been thoroughly exposed by Hitchens and other great thinkers, it continues to circulate amongst the desperate believers of a religion in its death throes. Should an atheist present a believer with the crimes committed by the Holy See of the Inquisition(s), the Crusaders, and other faith-wielding misanthropes, they will often hear the reply; 'Well, what about Stalin, Pol Pot, and Hitler? They were atheists, and they killed millions!'"

Click on the link below for the counter to this apologetic lie:

The Atheist Atrocities Fallacy

Childhood Indoctrination: The Evil

I have posted many times on the harm of indoctrinating children into any religion (link). In essence, calling subjective experience/intuition evidence of a god to a young impressional mind blunts the reasoning ability of the child and makes the victim malleable to harmful ideology (link). 

Please take a half-hour of your time and click on the link below for a video exposing the thinking and actions of Christian apologists regarding how and why they poison young minds into unsupported and harmful dogma.

Brainwashing of children exposed

Are Atheists More Intelligent Than Christians?

There have been several decades of research claiming to support the hypothesis that atheists are more intelligent than Christians. However, there is a growing consensus that this research is not measuring intelligence, which is controversial in itself, but greater dependence on intuition rather than logic and reason in thinking and decision-making by the religious (link)(link). In addition, there is criticism of the methods used and the interpretation of the results in these, and other, studies of intelligence (link).

Given the above, some are concluding that appropriate cognitive training may help in changing the way the religious think (link). Seems like support for the teaching of critical thinking skills to me. Albert Einstein agreed: 

"The measure of intelligence is the ability to change."

Most Atheist Countries 2022

LINK

Please note that the more atheistic countries tend to be ranked the highest in well-being (link)

The Subtleties Of Secular Morality

Morality based on religious authority and dogma can be good or bad. The problem is, how can one tell which is the case? This is the Divine Command understanding of morality and history has clearly shown that it has created much more harm than good. The opposite of this "Top-Down" understanding of morality is the "Bottom-Up" morality that is known as Secular Morality. Observation of human activity throughout history clearly shows that morality actually comes from within normal humans through biology/evolution and social influences. The problem with secular morality is that it is subjective and everyone has at least a little different perspective on the subject. So, societies that have governmental organizations based on secular law and not religious laws are contentious because of such. So, what to do about it? How about first agreeing on what morality is and then turning to science for the various effects of actions for informing moral decisions?

Click on the link below for a 15-min video that presents many of the subtleties of secular morality:

Humanism fails as a moral code? 

Word Labels, Atheism, And Evidence

In any discussion, it is important to define terms. This is certainly clear when the topics include atheism and evidence. Click on the link below for a good example of how to be clear in such situations:

My "Evidence" Is Just As Good As Yours

Naturalism Vs Theism

Religious apologists like to manipulate the definition of words to obfuscate the truth: they have no objective evidence upon which to make their case. Click on the link below for an in-depth podcast analysis of the definitions of "naturalism" and "theism":

What is Naturalism?

Meaning And Purpose

"I finally understand why religious people find so much meaning and purpose in religion and why they keep coming back for more even if there's nothing there."

Christians uniformly talk about the satisfying spiritual experience of delving deeply into their Bible for truth. Atheists usually are curious about reality and experience the same emotions when they focus deeply on the search for skill and/or knowledge. Click on the link below for one of the better explanations of this human phenomenon:

I Got Holy Ghosted!

An Objective Look At The Effects Of Religion

There is a lot of media reporting regarding the benefits of religion. When one looks deeper into the research on the subject, one finds poor quality. The positive effects of religion are probably placebo and the benefit of social support, which is not necessarily only found in a religious group. Below is a recent analysis of studies on the subject:

Being "Godless" might be good for your health, a new study finds

Another way to look at the effects of religion is to look at the correlation between the more religious US states and countries of the world and happiness and well-being (link). The quality of life is better in the least religious and most socialistic states and countries.

No, Religious Societies Are NOT Better

There is a trove of data rejecting the claim that religious societies are better. Click on the links below for the truth:

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"Do societies fall apart when they become more secular? Clearly not."

Secular Societies Fare Better Than Religious Societies

"Are secular countries worse off than religious ones? Is atheism the downfall of nations? Are countries cursed by god when they stray from the faith? Or do non-religious outperform religious countries on measures of wealth, well-being and success? Today, we'll dive into the data to see if atheism is, in fact, the downfall of nations or if the blessing of God/curse of secularism is a myth."

Is Atheism the Downfall of Nations? Here's What the Data Says

"Are Christian countries better off than secular countries? Does God bless Christian nations and curse atheist countries? Or are the secular countries better off when we measure wealth, prosperity, happiness, and well-being?"

The Christian Blessing Debunked

What Kind Of Society Do YOU Want To Live In?

Religious folks who are active in apologetics and/or politics usually are motivated to promote a more religious society. The following 3 videos should dispel the falsehood that people and societies need to be religious to be good:

"Are secular countries worse off than religious ones? Is atheism the downfall of nations? Are countries cursed by god when they stray from the faith? Or do non-religious outperform religious countries on measures of wealth, well-being, and success? Today, we'll dive into the data to see if atheism is, in fact, the downfall of nations or if the blessing of God/curse of secularism is a myth."

Is Atheism the Downfall of Nations?

"Are Christian countries better off than secular countries? Does God bless Christian nations and curse atheist countries? Or are the secular countries better off when we measure wealth, prosperity, happiness, and well-being?"

The Christian Blessing Debunked 

"Does following Islam lead to prosperity and blessing and does apostasy lead to divine curse and nation-wide ruin? Today we'll explore the data and see if Muslim countries are more successful, happy, and prosperous than secular countries to see if Allah blesses nations that follow him or if secular countries are better off."

The Blessing of Islam Debunked

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"Time to slap down the criticisms of my research. Here's an in-depth overview of my methodology and all caveats related to my recent videos which showed that on a macro-level, secular countries rank far better on measures of wealth, prosperity, and well-being than religious countries do."

Defending my Research - Secular Countries ARE Better Off on Average

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This also applies to US states (link).