Deep South Atheism

This is a very tricky subject in the overall debate between theists and non-theists.  Theists seem to think it's a silver bullet argument...the one area where they can absolutely take the high ground...atheists have no counter argument, right? Well, they're wrong.  As usual. Now, to be fair, it is, as I said, a bit tricky.  They claim to have the Creator of the Universe as their authority and the source of their morality.  What could atheists possibly have to counter that?  To answer that, let's completely forget morality for a moment and talk about something else.  Let's talk about your appendix.  And, before you ask, no, this isn't an argument about evolution and vestigial organs... Let's imagine that you wake up one day feeling like crap.  Just run down, achy, maybe a slight fever. What do you do?  Let's further imagine that you have great health insurance, so you call the nurse help line and speak with one of the nurses.  In ...

I'm sure I'm not alone in this...having a friendly debate with a Christian...arguments going back and forth...finally, when it seems that we are at an impasse, they say "well what if you're wrong? What if there is a god?" Of course, we know what this is...it's Pascal's Wager. It may not always be framed or worded the same, but the reasoning is always basically the same...set aside all arguments for or against god and consider the risks vs rewards.  In case anyone isn't familiar with it, it goes something like this: If there is a god and you believe in him, you get an infinitely good reward. If there is no god, but you believe anyway, at the very least you have lived a good life and haven't lost anything. If there is no god and you don't believe, you neither gain nor lose anything. If there is a god, but you don't believe, you suffer infinite pain and torment as a punishment. With all in mind, the choice is easy, right? ...

I was thinking about this blog over the last few days, since my school pace has slowed.  I realized that while I've discussed some general atheist/theist/religious stuff, I haven't written much regarding the actual theme of this blog. I am, in fact, an atheist living in the Deep South.  Right now, I am having a temporary change of scenery.  Still an atheist, of course, but I guess I'm now more "out West" than "Deep South".  Work/school has brought me to Texas.  Culturally similar, in many ways, to my Georgia home, but the reputation Texas has for being unique is also well earned. In the religious context, yes, there are still a lot of Christians running about.  I still see Jesus themed billboards while driving down the highway.  Its easy to find Christian radio any time of day, every day of the week.  I've not explored too many of the local churches to see which denominations dominate, but I supposed I shouldn't be surprised to see the Ca...

School has been taking a lot of my time lately, but the pace has slowed a bit. I will get some new content posted up this weekend. Just a preview, I've been working on a couple of posts about Pascal's Wager and some more discussion on morality.