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August 2020

August 26, 2020

Yasir Qadhi’s Elitist Ruse to Conceal the Obscure Origins of the Qur’an

In college a friend at the time once told me that she had been invited...

September 2018

September 02, 2018

Storytelling while Secular: Writing about Loss in an Indifferent Cosmos

Last week I offered up a rather dense introduction to the storytelling problem of "sacrifice"...

February 2018

February 20, 2018

Circumcision re-enters genital-mutilation debate

During the decades I lived in Saudi Arabia, I eventually stopped noticing the dense black...

October 2017

October 30, 2017

The Evolution of Free Speech: From Protecting Minorities to Oppressing Them

Free speech has evolved, and the right wing knows it. After being de-platformed by Berkeley...

January 2017

January 23, 2017

What Would Gandhi Do About Trump? High-Time For a Science Of Wisdom

Source: wikimedia commons/ Mahatma Ghandi close up potrait Written by Charles Cassidy MPhys, Director of...

November 2016

November 07, 2016

The Power of Religion and the Secular

Atheists have served as scapegoats in America since earliest colonial times. Guest post by Petra...

April 2016

April 28, 2016

Holy Moses?

Passover will pass over on Saturday...and I couldn’t care less. So what, you may say,...

April 14, 2016

Unnatural Selection

After the publication of On the Origin of Species, religious naturalists found themselves in a...

April 07, 2016

Glimpsing Truth through the Blinders of Religion

Charles Darwin knew how explosive his theories would be—that’s why he sat on them for...

March 2016

March 30, 2016

The Abuse of Use and Disuse

Several years ago, Keith bought a set of very old encyclopedias. I can certainly understand...

March 21, 2016

When Saints Go Missing, Do They Make a Sound?

The details of the 4th century life of St. Catherine of Alexandria are painstakingly woven into...

January 2016

January 05, 2016

The Catch-22 of Religious Privilege

The stark choice of the privilege-defenders: Oppose privilege, and you're an oppressor; ignore it, and...

November 2015

November 25, 2015

I Was a Jewish Hitler in the 5th Grade

Believers who lose their faith face many wrenching dilemmas. But consider the poor atheist who...

November 18, 2015

The Devil Lies in Ourselves

I don’t remember what led to this conversation, but I recall once telling my longtime...

November 17, 2015

“How Was Christ made? I’m going to tell you…”

"Do you know how Christ was made? I’m going to tell you: Christ was made...

November 17, 2015

Interrogation of Aude: “How is it possible that I cannot believe in our Lord!”

A 14th century French woman struggles with doubts in front of the Inquisitor.

November 16, 2015

A Doubter in the Inquisitor’s Chair

"The soul?" she said. "Personally, I don't see anything come out of men or women...

October 2015

October 19, 2015

In China, ‘Heaven’ Doesn’t Mean What You Think

Thanks to a lexical gap in English, translated Chinese philosophy sounds awfully religious -- even...

October 18, 2015

Why Atheism Is a Bad Time-Traveler

| By Dale McGowan | Finding evidence of religious unbelief in the ancient world isn’t...