Reading Time: 4 minutes As humans, we are “mediocre” at identifying when someone is lying. Professional lie detectors, like police officers, do not perform better. However, they believe they do, possibly due to the Dunning-Kruger Effect. The worst lies, however, are the ones we tell ourselves. Here are some of them. “I’m a good and loyal friend.” You’re about […]
happiness
Posted inReligion
So long and farewell to angry atheism
Reading Time: 3 minutes Angry atheism is as old as atheism. It’s as old as theism itself. Let’s imagine that thirty thousand years ago, one of our bent-over prehistoric ancestors, with grunts and flailing gestures, motioned to the sky as if gods were in residence there. And surely some surly prehistoric irreligious dissident raised an immediate hue and cry. […]
Posted inNews
Will California’s four-day workweek proposal revolutionize work?
Reading Time: 2 minutes California is considering legislation that would radically change the lives of employees in the Golden State. A bill introduced in the state legislature would drop the standard workweek from 40 hours to 32, effectively reducing the week from five days to four. The proposal would only apply to companies with more than 500 employees, and […]
Posted inMeaning & Purpose
Religion as the sole path to happiness? Not on your one and only life
Reading Time: 3 minutes A renewed line of pro-religion persuasion is leveraging people’s desire for happiness and religion’s purported ability to provide it. I suspect that with seculars it’s proving as effective as the many get-religion rhetorical gambits that have gone before it. Which is to say not effective. At all. A recent piece at the Big Think portal […]
Posted inLatest research
The happiest nations on Earth are strongly secular
Reading Time: 3 minutes What happens when millions of people in a given society stop going to church and lose their faith in God? Does that society descend into despondency and despair? Not according to the latest World Happiness Report, released this past week. Based on an analysis of a host of sociological, economic, and psychological factors, the […]
Posted inReligion
When Optimism Becomes Toxic Positivity
Reading Time: 9 minutes Lately, we’ve been talking about where positive thinking goes bad. Multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs) sparked that entire train of thought for me. They share so many similarities with toxic Christians that I can’t help but be fascinated by them. One aspect both groups share is toxic positivity. Today, I’ll show you what that is–and why it’s so bad for us.
Posted inUncategorized
Christian Lies: ‘We’d Still Be Christian Even If We Didn’t Believe Anymore!’
Reading Time: 10 minutes Today’s particular bit of dishonesty pinged my radar a very long time ago. And even then, it disturbed me quite a bit. Let me show you what so disturbed me, how I knew it wasn’t true, and why Christians tell themselves this oh-so-very-comforting lie.
Posted inPolitics
New Study: The Relationship between Religion and Redistribution
Reading Time: 4 minutes There is undoubtedly a complex relationship between religion and the idea of redistribution, compounded by the effect of conservative political values, as according to a new study. The study, published in PLOS One, indicates that conservative political views have the power to overcome some of the effects of religion, particularly in countries that have more robust welfare systems. The abstract […]
Posted inGeneral
World’s Happiest Countries Revealed: And Religion?
Reading Time: 3 minutes CNN have recently produced a list of the world’s happiest and least happy countries. There are no prizes to those who guess the correlation between lack of religion and happiness. This is a recurring pattern that we have seen over the years. Of course, we can talk more pointedly about causality and correlation here, for there […]
Posted inReligion
The Sales Pitch of Family Happiness
Reading Time: 8 minutes Today, we begin with how Christian salespeople utilize the Cult of Family as a sales pitch. Come join me for a look at how the sausage of this sales pitch gets made–and used.