Many discussions end with the statement "you can't prove a negative". This is, of course, silly. I've heard it even from people who are quite expert at physics. People who should know better

 

Proofs of impossibility abound in mathematics and logic. Reductio ad absurdum is typically the first kind of proof learned when studying such things, and this really is nothing more than assuming the opposite of what one wants to prove, and showing that this cannot be - proving a…

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In the world of faith healing, there is a need for an escape clause, something

which explains why it doesn't work. This, of course, is that it is always the fault

of the victim. If your cancer isn't cured, it isn't the healer's fault, it's just that you

didn't believe hard enough. If your arthritis is still there, well, you shouldn't have

jay-walked, should you!



This isn't a new idea of course. In biblical Palestine, the people of Israel had

a covenant with…

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Religion is gaining more critics, and more critics are becoming outspoken about it.

Phrases such as 'religion is evil', or 'religion is the cause of most of the wars

in history'. I am guilty of saying such things myself, from time to time.



But really, I want to cast a wider net. I do not believe that religion as such

is the problem, but rather that underlying cause of religion: faith.



Faith is the ability to accept something as true, without any evidence at… Continue