The Absence of Evidence

Quite a few times, recently, I have heard Christians cite the time-worn words “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”. It’s a catchy sound bite and a highly successful meme, but it is utterly false. Absence of evidence most certainly is evidence of absence. Before I explain why, I think it’s important to understand […]

Holy Smoke

I tried my first cigarette when I was 13, on the back of the school bus. By the time I was 15, I was smoking regularly. I stopped for a year or so when I was 17, but when I started my first full time job at 18, I began to smoke heavily. I continued […]

Count Your Blessings

In my article Everything Happens for a Reason, I made the point that when really bad things happen, there is nothing to be gained from trying to salvage one, measly thing that could have been slightly worse, and declaring a false victory. I stand by this point, but I think it’s worth clarifying that there […]

The Engine and the Bushfire

I found this video on You Tube, which was created by John F. Weldon. I think it makes a very good point, that while there are disputes within science just as there are disputes within and between religions, they manifest themselves in very different ways. Disputes within science are professional, not personal. They are conducted […]

Amazing Jesus

Time for a little religious satire.  This video of my fellow countryman Rowan Atkinson portrays a far more interesting and entertaining version of the water-into-wine miracle story.

Everything Happens for a Reason

If I had a penny for every time something bad has happened to me and someone has tried to comfort me with the words, “everything happens for a reason”, I’d be rich. There seems to be an unspoken understanding in society, a consensus that the expected response to this luke-warm platitude is to nod sincerely, […]

On the Knighting of Salman Rushdie

Last week the author Salman Rushdie was honoured with a Knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature. Rushdie has been a target of Islamic hate since his work The Satanic Verses was published in 1988. In 1989, the Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini proclaimed a fatwa against Rushdie. The international Islamic response […]

Something is Rotten in the Garden of Eden

Any claim which is built on multiple absolutes makes itself vulnerable to logical contradictions. This is seen as clearly in the Problem of Evil as anywhere else. The Christian god is presented as omnipotent, omniscient and omni-benevolent, and yet we live in a world which is plagued with evil and suffering. Ironically, this anomaly was […]

Dawkins vs. McGrath – The Lost Interview

Regular readers will know my thoughts on Alister McGrath from my previous articles. In an article in the Daily Mail, he had this to say about an alleged recording of Dawkins interviewing him for his documentary The Root of All Evil?, which was left out of the final cut. We were also filmed having a […]

The Scoreboard Fallacy

Lately, I’ve been posting more articles on various moral issues that concern me and a few random thoughts that I’ve been meaning to express for some time. In a comment on one of those articles, the Spanish Inquisitor praised me for having the “ability and desire to tackle the big issues”. It was a generous […]