Reading Time: 10 minutes Yesterday I posted the first of what I plan to become a series of chapter reviews of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. I know I’m late to this game—others have already dissected this work many times over—but I’ve never written out my own thoughts for those who would want to know them. It’s long overdue. […]
Critical thinking
Understanding critical thinking—what it is, why it’s important—from a secular point of view.
Posted inCritical thinking
C.S. Lewis and the Law of Nature
Reading Time: 6 minutes For years now, I’ve been putting off writing a review of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, but the time has finally come for me to take the plunge. One of my daughters asked for my thoughts about the book recently, and given that unpacking my deconversion for my girls was the reason I started blogging […]
Posted inCritical thinking
How faith breaks your thinker
Reading Time: 16 minutes Someone wrote me recently to ask: What drives you to be so adamant in sharing your atheistic beliefs? What is the driving force behind you? To influence others to be nonbelievers?? I have so much to say about this it will take more than one post to get it all out, and this one won’t […]
Posted inCritical thinking, Culture, Religion
Why Faith Isn’t a Virtue
Reading Time: 6 minutes As a left-leaning atheist living in the most religious state in America, I stay keenly aware that those around me judge me on a value scale very different from my own. People around me see faith as a virtue, and many of them put it above all other values. They believe in the power of belief […]
Posted inCritical thinking
God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.
Reading Time: 2 minutes I think most nonreligious parents would really enjoy the first two chapters of The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell (“Childhood” and “Adolescence”). Among other things, this section recounts his transition from a Christian upbringing to agnostic atheism. But another passage much later in the book would have been worth reading the whole thing just to find: Ever since […]
Posted inCritical thinking, Politics
You Do It, Too: How Whataboutism Teaches Us Not to Trust You
Reading Time: 8 minutes People use a lot of bad arguments online, but few frustrate me more than the tu quoque fallacy, otherwise known as whataboutism. It is, of course, one of the most commonly used methods of changing the subject, dating back as far as grade school when we used to win arguments by shouting “I know you […]
Posted inCritical thinking, General, Secularism
We Could Learn from Critical-Thinking Initiative in Rural India
Reading Time: 4 minutes An elderly scientist in India is working hard to teach rural villagers how to think rationally.
Posted inCritical thinking, General
Bullet in Chest Won’t Send You to Heaven
Reading Time: 3 minutes What crazy notions would cause a young woman to willingly shoot her boyfriend, the father of their unborn child, at his request?
Posted inHistory
Christian Coercion: From Tolerated to Dominant
Reading Time: 10 minutes We’ve been talking lately about the early history of Christianity and how different it is from the history offered up by most Christian apologists and leaders. This definitely is not a history I learned growing up Catholic or as a fundamentalist lass! If anything, it’s even more fascinating to me than the fictionalized version–and shows me […]
Posted inCritical thinking, General, Religion, Secularism
C.S. Lewis and the Argument from Spilled Milk
Reading Time: 4 minutes I see a quote from C.S. Lewis circulated quite a bit, and I’d like to give my response to the argument it presents. Perhaps when I am done explaining what’s wrong with it, you will start to see why Lewis admitted later in life that: Nothing is more dangerous to one’s own faith than the work […]