Sunday School APR 15, 2012
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On the heels of our recent chat with New Testament scholar and Jesus historicist Dr. Bart Ehrman we now feature the counterpoint in our interview with Dr. Richard Carrier!
Dr. Carrier is a historian and philosopher specializing in the intellectual history of ancient Greece and Rome as well as in metaphysical naturalism. He has written or contributed to several important works including, as author, Not The Impossible Faith, Sense and Goodness Without God, and Why I am Not a Christian; plus, as contributor, The Empty Tomb, The Christian Delusion and The End of Christianity. The first volume of his two-volume work on the historical Jesus is recently out. Proving History: Bayes's Theorem and the Quest for the 
Historical Jesus is a multi-faceted work. Use it to think rigorously and make decisions under uncertainty. Use it to gain a better understanding of the methodology in use by historical Jesus scholars (and the problems with that methodology, contra Ehrman). And/or use it to gain a better understanding of how historians may best and are advised to justify historical descriptions of the past. There's no question this is a powerful new book. And if you've read Dr. Carrier's scathing treatment of some of Dr. Bart Ehrman's recent claims about a historical Jesus and about mythicism, and the back and forth that followed between Dr. Carrier and professor of NT language and literature Dr. James McGrath, you know we're in for a great chat with Dr. Carrier! So make sure to tune in! You'll find out why Dr. Carrier suspects Jesus didn't exist.
There's often discussion of whether or not we're already feeling the effects of climate change. Well. Things like the Arab Spring uprisings aren't among the effects that are usually discussed. But it certainly seems like they should be.
Jerry Coyne points out some interesting features of a new poll on religion, politics, and the well-being of Americans.
CNN covered the Jesus historicist vs mythicist debate this week but not in a very informative way unfortunately.
Neil deGrasse Tyson says some frankly silly things about atheism and agnosticism (auto playing video) that are best understood in the context of his desire to communicate science unencumbered by people's perspectives on those labels.
Earl Doherty is blogging his way critically through Bart Ehrman's claims in Ehrman's recent book Did Jesus Exist: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth
Recently Teresa MacBain came out as an atheist, a particularly difficult decision for her seeing as how she was active clergy at the time. We now have her congregation's reaction to her coming out. Not surprising. Just disgusting.
Jerry Coyne penned some thoughts on whether philosophy is science? Is philosophy a way of knowing things of the caliber of science?
Might the gay-haters be gay, or at least struggle with same sex attraction to some degree? A new study connects anti-gay attitudes to homosexuality and authoritarian parenting.
Gawker had a mole working inside FOX News spilling the insider beans........ and lost him 36 hours later.
I seriously wonder if there is a single person in the Tennessee state legislature who is not completely brain dead. Certainly it's not the state's governor who signed into law the recently passed "monkey bill" allowing the teaching of intelligent design in public school science classes.
Lulz... All of the Republican candidates that were "endorsed by God" have now lost.
A long-standing mystery of how dying stars spew out planet-forming material is now solved.
You've been hit by dark matter while reading this post.
Religion besieged by secularism? Try the other way around! This phony "war on religion" nonsense is just that... nonsense!
Cherry-picked data and climate change denier dishonesty.
Recently the WISE satellite imaged the entire night sky. The result is spectacular. Almost 19,000 x 10,000, this thing is 170 megapixels and includes over half a billion objects!
A bit of breath taking denialist nonsense this week. A group of climate change denialists, former staff at NASA and not climate scientists in any sense, wrote this week to ask that NASA not report the simple fact that the planet is warming and the evidence that humans are the cause. Ken Perrott pointed to a comment on the Skeptical Science piece on the denialists' letter making the point that none of those former NASA staff would have trusted a rocket built by climate scientists to get them to the Moon. LOL. We can safely ignore attacks on climate change from people who don't even have the requisite expertise to be able to offer knowledgeable opinions.
Conservative ideology and "low-effort" thinking linked in a new study.
Michael Ruse thinks–weirdly– that the refusal of so many people to accept evolution is the fault of the "New Atheists". Jerry Coyne responds.
Nevermind that she was a good teacher and coach, a teacher at a Christian school couldn't get married fast enough after becoming pregnant... So, obviously, she was fired.
Baboons can tell real English words from fake ones.
Darwin's eldest surviving daughter Henrietta has traditionally been assumed to have been a devoutly religious editor of her father's writings, editing out his agnosticism from them. A close look at her diary says otherwise. Indeed, she had her own issues with faith and may have been headed toward "a humanistic division."
"Less time separates us from Tyrannosaurus rex than separated T. rex from Stegosaurus." On dinosaur time. Eye opening! Incredible to think about.
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Comment by Jason on April 15, 2012 at 7:24am -
Yep. Neil. You’re an atheist. Just because you are not an activist or voice for the atheist community doesn’t mean your non-belief in god(s) makes you an agnostic. My daughter… born 2 weeks ago…. Doesn’t voice her non-belief as well. That doesn’t exclude her from being an atheist. In just because you don’t like labels… doesn’t exclude you either. Come on man….!
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Comment by Robert Karp on April 15, 2012 at 7:45am -
I get Niel's hesitation to get labeled as an anything. I think so much controversy is now associated with the word he is purposefully distancing himself from joining any one group. Nevertheless he has spoken with Dawkins, he has attacked intelligent design and he does inspire many people in our movement. So I'm fine with his personal wish not to be labeled. He's still an important figure in our communities.
I am not concerned nor surprised by the reaction by the ex-congregation of Teresa MacBain and frankly am surprised SHE is was so shocked. I mean what was she expecting "Oh you're an atheist, wow that's amazing, congratulations! That must be wonderful, please stay with us an enlighten us all". No, their reaction was valid. They felt let down and many felt betrayed. She needs to give this some time. If she did not want to risk leaving her church she should not have come out. It was a very possibly reaction of her action and she should have expected it.
Wonderful all always Nelson! Thank you for the hard work!!!
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Comment by Reg The Fronkey Farmer on April 15, 2012 at 7:58am -
It does appear that his god and not his money has greatly favoured Mitt Romney. I wonder if Joseph Smith is watching events with the aid of a magic crystal as he dances around the planet Kolob in anticipation of a Mormon finally making it all the way. I think we should be told. Anyone starting to feel a little anxious yet??
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Comment by John Siqueiros on April 15, 2012 at 11:44am -
Tyson is basically an apatheist - he doesn't care about whether Gods exist or their nature. Thus, his commentary on atheism and agnosticism is admittedly ignorant ("silly?"), because he admits that he doesn't think about those concepts very much. He doesn't think about them because they don't interest him nearly to the extent many other issues (e.g., science) do.
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Comment by Sagacious Hawk on April 15, 2012 at 12:09pm -
You've just given me way too much interesting material to read through when I have important things to be doing. This does not bode well for me, but thank you nonetheless.
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Comment by Nelson on April 15, 2012 at 12:19pm -
@ Ian: It's perverse to describe such falsehoods as facts in any context. But it's particularly perverse to do so in a post containing a link to a piece specifically refuting this nonsense about cooling– Cherry-picking and denier dishonesty. You sing the common refrain "cooling predicted in the 70's!" as if it too hasn't been dealt with repeatedly and shown to be a red herring. And you have a misunderstanding of the nature of the terms "climate change" and "anthropogenic global warming" when saying you're glad I used one and not the other. Global warming is included in the set Climate Change as one of the effects of climate change due to the human activities according to the evidence. The reason why global warming doesn't express the full picture is that the scientific evidence predicts that some areas will experience a wetter climate, some a drier climate, some a warmer climate, and some a cooler climate even while the average global temperature rises. Therefore, climate change is the better term.
Anyway, I am literally embarrassed sometimes to have to be named a skeptic of religion when it means being counted among some people who, while rejecting religion, literally accept all manner of kooky nonsense.
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Comment by John Siqueiros on April 15, 2012 at 12:20pm
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Regarding the Arab Spring and global warming or climate change - I wouldn't push the climate change button the way Friedman does. We can observe that throughout human history, civilizations have thrived and then died off (or migrated far) due to natural climate changes. The history of various indigenous tribes in the Americas speak to this. The main differences now are that we humans have a possibly arrogant attitude about our ability to overcome climate changes, and that due to our large population, property ownership, and national boundaries, we can't be nearly as nomadic as we used to be.
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Comment by Nelson on April 15, 2012 at 12:26pm
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@John, RE: Tyson. That someone isn't interested in a subject doesn't mean that their position on the subject isn't still appropriately represented by the word used to describe that position. On any reasonable understanding of what it means to be an atheist, Tyson is surely one. And yet he rejects the label. That's silly.
If I had no interest in religion at all and someone asked me "Are you an atheist?" it's no answer to the question to say "I have no interest in the subject." The questioner should press the question and ask "That's as may be, but I'm asking if you're an atheist all the same." Tyson's failure of a response is to dodge the question by saying he doesn't find the subject interesting. And he's dodging it even while he IS an atheist.
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Comment by John Siqueiros on April 15, 2012 at 12:28pm
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P.S. I hadn't pulled up the Ian v. Nelson discussion above regarding Climate Change vs. Global Warming when I posted the above. My main point is that even if you aren't persuaded that humans are causing climate changes, we should still note that there will be climate changes now and in the future that will affect global politics.
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Comment by Nelson on April 15, 2012 at 12:30pm
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@Sagacious Hawk: That's me. Keeping people from getting shit done since 2010. :)
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