There’s a discussion at Talking Philosophy of how to define atheism. It’s basically about the difference between saying atheism is not believing that there is a god and saying that it is belief there there is no god. Me, I would define it the first way first and then add the second as a more affirmative or energetic version – but what I wouldn’t do is leave out the first. I think the first is 1) an important part of atheism and 2) a version of atheism that is more useful to a lot of people than the more affirmative version is. It has to be possible to be definitely non-theist without having to be affirmative about it.

It does … Read the rest

Dogmatism is on a roll.

Westminster Theological Seminary suspended Peter Enns, professor of Old Testament after he ‘wrote a book urging wobbly believers to embrace [humans’] role in shaping the Bible’ and is going to hold a hearing to decide if he should be fired.

Some of his supporters are condemning the hearing, due to begin Aug. 25, as a “heresy trial.” They say the trustees want to harden the school’s national reputation as a fortress of ultra-orthodox Calvinism, and purge perceived “liberals” from the faculty…The real issue, administrators say, is whether Enns violated the oath he took when he joined the faculty 14 years ago. The oath requires all faculty members to pledge they will not “inculcate, teach or

Eric pointed out in commenting on Hard to think of anything more vile that ‘desecrating the Host’ was an old accusation against ‘the Jews.’ Sure enough.

Throughout history, a number of groups have been accused of desecrating hosts; because of the religious importance of the consecrated wafer, the accusation is one of metaphysical evil and hostility towards God. Accusations against Jews were a common pretext for massacres and expulsions throughout the Middle Ages in Europe. Similar accusations were made in witchcraft trials; the witch-hunter’s guide Malleus Maleficarum mentions the desecration of hosts by witches a number of times.

Well that’s good to know. Bill Donohue is rooting around in some very foul old garbage. Tell all your friends.… Read the rest

Clearly I haven’t been paying enough attention to Bill Donohue, another impressive candidate in the Bullying and Intimidation by Believers of People Who Fail to Respect and Defer to Their Particular Beliefs sweepstakes.

To protest student fees for religious services at the University of Central Florida (UCF), a student walked out of a campus Mass on June 29 with the Eucharist.

When he says ‘with the Eucharist’ he of course means with a communion wafer, that is to say, with one cracker of many many crackers. The student didn’t walk out with ‘the Eucharist’ such that nobody else could have any, he just walked out with one of a large number of mass-produced crackers. (Suddenly I’m reminded of the … Read the rest