The picture below passes the duck test:
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
Male and female ducks, spotted in Peterborough, ON and captured by my camera.
Category Archives: Critical Thinking
Anas Platyrhynchos Platyrhynchos
Debating from ignorance
I have in the past criticized some atheists for arguing against religion on superficial grounds without knowing enough about the subject to do it effectively. Of course, this is the very same thing that religious people are so often guilty of, when they mouth off ignorantly about science.
Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic and Sydney’s archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, spent an hour with evolutionary biologist and celebrity atheist, Professor Richard Dawkins taking questions covering everything from evolution, resurrection and eternal damnation.
In this case, if the little bit here is representative of the debate as a whole, I give the win to Dawkins, hands down.
Cardinal Pell, you haven’t the slightest clue about evolution, please read a book.
Five Reasons Prayer is Bad
If you aren’t familiar with Matt Dillahunty and The Atheist Experience, I highly recommend looking them up. They do a weekly show on public access television in Austin, TX. They also have podcasts of their shows, videos on their website, and many other ways to interact with them.
On January 15th of this year, the hosts were Russell Glasser and Dan Baker. The show was entitled “The Failure of Prayer”. Around twelve and a half minutes in, Dan begins to speak about his “five reasons prayer is bad”, as well as a follow-up example for each. Here are the Coles Notes of what he said: Continue reading
Morality, revisited.
My friend recently posted a blog on morality. He decided he’d go with the argument that objective morality necessitates the existence of god. Objective morality exists, therefore god must exist.
Here is my answer to his blog posting. Let me know what you think. Am I way off base? Feel free to comment on his blog, too; he’d love the traffic, even if you disagree! Continue reading
A Personal Story…
It seems to be the quickest way to polarize a relationship, bring something like personal beliefs into the conversation. To be honest, I thought I was the kind of person that could be fine with others believing whatever they wanted. That is partly still true – but if I’m being honest with myself, it bothers me when I think about some of my friends subscribing to such ridiculous beliefs – even if they don’t see them as ridiculous. So, I’m forced to put it aside and forget it exists when we are together. I choose to do this because, religious differences aside, I truly value my friends and the time we spend together.
One such friend is someone I have been close to for a long time. We went to university together, met within the first week of school, and graduated 4 years later with the same degree. In third and fourth year we were roommates. Honestly, the guy is a brother to me. More than that, whenever I needed help with any subject, I could ask him. Before knowing me for four months, he spent a total of about 20 hours helping me study for a final exam that I had no chance of passing. He did this even though he also had this exam (as well as five others) to study for. What I’m saying is, he’s a great guy and he’s very smart. Continue reading
It’s Just So Infallible!
Here’s a list of inconsistencies I picked up while browsing online (for something completely different).
It blows my mind that some of these are from THE SAME BOOK! It makes me wonder if believers have actually read their bible! I mean, anyone with an ounce of objectivity should be able to see this book for what it really is: ancient fiction; most of which is no longer applicable in today’s world – not that it was moral 2000+ years ago either. How can they miss the mark by so much?
Oh well, enjoy!
Two Hate Crimes, One Week (Allegedly)
Wow… So two major hate crimes seem to have occurred in the span of one week; ultimately resulting in the death of 17 year old Treyvon Martin; and a Muslim mother of five, Shaima Alawadi, who (earlier today) has succumb to her injuries. She was beaten with a tire iron in her own home and left in a pool of her own blood. The perpetrator left a note beside her: Continue reading
“Snip the Snip”
Selected articles from Free Inquiry magazine are online. In the article, “Snip the Snip”, featured in the Faith and Reason section of the magazine, Edan Tasca argues against male circumcision using a persuasive analogy:
Picture the moment of gorgeous relief when labor is finally over and your doctor hands you your healthy baby boy. He has everything in the right place: ten, ten, two, and one. Then imagine that the doctor asks if you’d like to have one of your son’s pinky fingers removed.
Confused, you ask why anyone would consider such a thing. He explains that many parents find that it’s much more convenient to remove the pinky when the child is very young, so that the boy won’t remember the trauma and pain of the procedure. You ask for clarification: “Why would parents do it at all?”
When you read the whole article, you will realize that male circumcision is neither reasonable nor rational.
Braco – The Gaze of Miracles
Although the site primarily deals with theistic material concerning the major world religions, it is important not to forget to be skeptical about the quiet little “miracles” happening in the corner of the proverbial room. Continue reading
Hostility Comic from Reddit
Saw this on Reddit. Thought I’d share it here.