Reading Time: 4 minutes At some point during our merry journey through secularism, we all encounter some benighted religious people who make arguments that only seem to work if you already accept their conclusions. Whenever Christians send messages about creationism to my atheism blog, they tend to be religious, faith-based arguments. I try to use scientific, evidence-based arguments in […]
Barry Purcell
Barry Purcell lives in Ireland and writes about religion, philosophy, psychology, politics and language for a variety of paper and online publications. He has been involved in campaigns to counteract the deleterious effects of religion in several countries for many years. His blog, Atheist Cartoons, has built up a large following since its inception in 2012.
Posted inPsychology
What boxes do you belong in?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Human brains are forever trying to make patterns. We want to create models and run simulations to deflect the unimaginable horrors of chaos. We want to put everything into a manageable series of boxes. However, the social world composed of human minds trying to communicate with each other is total chaos. How many boxes do […]
Posted inHistory
Remembering the Catholic Church’s role in the immolation of Vietnam
Reading Time: 6 minutes Nearly sixty years after a Vietnamese Buddhist monk set himself on fire in Saigon, we have largely forgotten the reason—not the US invasion, but an oppressive Roman Catholic regime that precipitated what came to be called the Buddhist crisis.
It’s time for the Catholic Church to acknowledge its active hand in that disaster and the war that followed.
Posted inOp-Ed
Taxing times for Atheist Alliance International
Reading Time: 4 minutes The AAI Files, Part Four As Deep Throat impatiently hissed in a breakthrough moment of All The President’s Men: “Follow the money.” In December, Atheist Alliance International (AAI) published a Disclosure Document which openly admitted the board authorized payments to various directors of the organization or their family members. Bizarrely, the board has decided that […]
Posted inFree Expression
Islamic dress codes and women’s rights
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Koran instructs Muslim women to be modest in their dress partly to publicly identify with Islam and partly to avoid sexual assault. Since 630 CE, we have come to understand that the sexual assault of women is not caused by how sexy they look but by male control issues. Human rights groups and feminists universally advise that […]
Posted inDeep Dive
Who owns morality?
Reading Time: 4 minutes At some point during our merry journey through secularism, we all encounter some benighted religious people who incredulously ask: “If you don’t believe in a god, where does your morality come from?” Religious people believe that the source of their morality is their god and that their religious belief is the exercise of that morality. […]
Posted inReligion
Something about Muslims
Reading Time: 3 minutes I often write about Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church. Some Christian friends of mine have suggested that I should direct my critical attention onto Muslims. They join the chorus of similar anonymous grumbles I get on my blog. I criticise Islam (and Hinduism and Judaism and others) regularly, but they only notice when their […]
Posted inNonreligious News
More AAI secrets and lies
Reading Time: 3 minutes The AAI Files, Part Three OnlySky · More AAI Secrets And Lies | Barry Purcell The main function of a rodeo clown is to protect a fallen rider from attack by distracting the bull and providing an alternative target. Some days, you’re the rider. Some days, you’re the rodeo clown. And some days, you’re the […]
Posted inCulture
The road to hell: How a Christian missionary lost his life for nothing
Reading Time: 2 minutes In 2018, a missionary named John Allen Chau was killed by residents of North Sentinel Island, owned by India and home to the Sentinelese, one of the Andaman tribal people. After the decimation of the Amazon rainforest, they may be the only remaining Stone-Age-adjacent tribe on the planet. Chau was a Christian who felt it was […]
Posted inNonreligious News
Atheists In Kenya in trouble
Reading Time: 2 minutes Atheists in Kenya (AIK) was in court again last Tuesday. Former MP Stephen Ndichu brought a case in September to have the only official atheist organisation in Kenya deregistered. Ndichu is a Christian fundamentalist and a friend of President Ruto. Established six years ago by Harrison Mumia, AIK has been involved in many secular campaigns […]