atheism

The Humanist Symposium

January 28, 2008

To my regular readers: Not too long ago, I (and thousands of others) stumbled across an article titled Atheists and Anger, an articulate, well-thought-out piece which I highly recommend. It had the welcome side effect of introducing me to the wonderful writing of Greta Christina. (Whose themes range far beyond atheism and are not for [...]

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Raising a Non-Believer

October 3, 2007

A reader has just written to me: “One was on an essay about “Religion as a Cause of Strife in the World” – you can bet she went to town on that!” this is a comment you wrote on Ross’ India Diary and i have always wanted to ask you why you believe that Ross [...]

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The God Delusion

March 17, 2007

Richard Dawkins is laughing up his sleeve. I wasn’t in any hurry to buy this book. I had already read and admired every other book of Dawkins’, and had read enough in the press to have a good idea of what this book contained, and to know that I would agree with it, as I [...]

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Oh, Lord, It’s Hard to Be Atheist

October 18, 2006

I have just read Daniel Dennett’s book Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. It’s a great book. Unfortunately, I doubt that it will be read by the people who really need it, though the author tries very hard to preach to them, rather than to the choir of convinced unbelievers such as myself. [...]

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Symbols: Getting Hot and Bothered Over Stupid Things

September 16, 2006

Rome, October 2003 Israel, and Italy’s Jewish community, were angry when the Israeli flag was burned during April 25th Liberation Day festivities in Milan. The burners were Italian extreme leftists, who tend to be very pro-Palestine and anti-Israel. Coincidentally, about the same time I received from a reader a reference to Michelle Malkin (a conservative [...]

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The Crusading Atheist

February 23, 2006

“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” Stephen Henry Roberts (1901-71) Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene and many other excellent books, recently did a TV [...]

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The God Gene: Why Some of Us Just Don’t Get Religion?

November 21, 2004

In this new book, Dean Hamer discusses possible genetic components of “a personality trait known as self-transcendence, originally identified by Washington University psychiatrist Robert Cloninger. Cloninger found that spiritual people tend to share a set of characteristics, such as feeling connected to the world and a willingness to accept things that cannot be objectively demonstrated. … [...]

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Bible Stories

November 7, 2003

When Rossella was still in preschool and I was travelling to the US a lot for work, I brought her with me several times on extended trips, usually while Enrico was also travelling for mathematical research. So Ross experienced daycare in several different places in America, which was good for her English, and gave her [...]

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