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  1. Copernicus

    The Rise of the Nones

    The AP has just posted a project on the worldwide rise of The Nones Although the subject has been discussed in RF at length before, this article focuses on the phenomenon in different countries--its international impact on religion. So I thought it might be of interest to start a thread...
  2. Copernicus

    AI Doomers and the End of Humanity

    Professor Emily Bender at the University of Washington is a recognized AI researcher who has much to say about the fearmongering of Artificial Intelligences technologies in the press and on social media. This fearmongering has been popularized for a long time in science fiction and the movie...
  3. Copernicus

    Russian Military openly fighting Wagner Group

    Here is a report from the anti-Kremlin Moscow Times: Prigozhin Says Moscow Strikes Kill 'Huge' Number of Wagner Forces, Vows to 'Stop' Top Brass This looks like the end of the Wagner Group, but there will be some fighting going on even inside of Russia now while the military shuts them down...
  4. Copernicus

    Happy Juneteenth (Emancipation Day)!

    It's still a little controversial, but June 19th commemorates the 1865 announcement by General Gordon Granger to enslaved people in a former Confederate state that they were free citizens--three years after the Emancipation Proclamation and months after the end of the Civil War. For those who...
  5. Copernicus

    Rudy Giuliani Sued for Sexual Assault

    Here is the news story from The Hill: Rudy Giuliani sued for $10 million over sexual assault allegations And here is the official complaint: 650033_2023_Noelle_Dunphy_v_Rudolph_W_Giuliani_et_al_COMPLAINT_10.pdf This is a fairly explosive lawsuit, not just for the charges against Giuliani...
  6. Copernicus

    Is omniscience even possible?

    Is omnscience even possible? God is defined as an "omniscient" being, which means that he knows everything that can be known. In effect, he can never be surprised at any outcome, nor can he ever learn anything new. What is interesting about the concept of omniscience is that it treats...
  7. Copernicus

    Is Religion a Totalitarian System?

    We usually think of totalitarianism as a type of government that tries to regulate the totality of the individual lives of its citizens. If a totalitarian government decides that everyone should have purple toenails, then it tries to make everyone paint their toenails purple. That's the law...
  8. Copernicus

    The definition and meaning of "god"

    All of us believe in dogs, but only some of us believe in gods. Theists believe that at least one god exists, and atheists reject that belief. Both definitions depend on what we mean by the word god, but that is controversial. What I want to do here is talk about the definition and meaning of...
  9. Copernicus

    Karma and the Cosmic Accountant

    I am currently traveling in Thailand and visiting all the fascinating wats. I've always been curious about the distinction between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism, having gotten the impression that the latter was more god-free. Of course, that isn't true here. Thais worship Buddha as a god...
  10. Copernicus

    Mint that coin

    Since Republicans in Congress are determined to create another spurious debt crisis, and since it threatens the world economy as well as our own, President Obama ought to just invoke the 14th amendment, which would appear to prohibit Congress from questioning its own past lawful authorization of...
  11. Copernicus

    Humans are like robots. Choice is determined.

    The following came from another thread (on Lady B's Calvinism). Since it was slightly off-topic, I decided to start a new thread here. So, my position is that choice is a determined process and that animals, including humans, are the same as robots, in principle. The big difference is that...
  12. Copernicus

    A Universe from Nothing

    Because religions have traditionally tried to explain certain aspects physical reality, science is relevant to religion. Throughout recorded history, people have asked "Why is there nothing rather than something?" People of faith have answered the question by positing a creator god that...
  13. Copernicus

    Who won the Vice Presidential debate?

    In your opinion, which candidate gave the best performance in the Vice Presidential debate? Were you surprised by anything? Will it have an impact on the overall election?
  14. Copernicus

    On the origin and function of minds

    There should be no mystery why animals have brains. Animals move, and moving bodies with good guidance systems are much more likely to survive and leave offspring than those with poor guidance systems. We see the rudiments of a brain even in animals with simple nervous systems such as...
  15. Copernicus

    Buddhism and violence

    Of all the religions in the world, Buddhism has always struck me as the least likely to spawn civil violence. That does not mean that Buddhists are less likely to engage in movements of civil disobedience, but the religion itself does not seem to carry with it the same kind of extreme...
  16. Copernicus

    Why theism is so common: in loco parentis

    It is a fact that most people in the world believe in gods. Believers quite often take that as a positive sign in favor of belief in gods, whereas nonbelievers tend to come up with other explanations. Some claim that belief is an inherited trait. In his The God Delusion, Dawkins spent some...
  17. Copernicus

    Food for Thought: Analytic vs Intuitive thinking and Religion

    An interesting new study suggests that religious belief declines with analytic, as opposed to intuitive, thinking: Analytic Thinking Can Decrease Religious Belief, Study Shows. Enjoy. :)
  18. Copernicus

    Trying on God's Shoes

    One of the great attractions of religious belief is the sense of empowerment that it can give believers. It is not as good as it used to be at explaining the nature of things, primarily because science has torn down some of the scaffolding on which religion hung for so many centuries. However...
  19. Copernicus

    Dawkins: In Praise of Intelligent Design

    I just attended a lecture by Richard Dawkins in a local high school auditorium. It was entitled In Praise of "Intelligent" Design. It was sponsored by the Northwest Free-thought Alliance. Dawkins' speech, as usual, was articulate, entertaining, soft-spoken, and passionate. In person, he is...
  20. Copernicus

    What would Jesus have done?

    Between December 25, the Roman Catholic celebration of the birth of Christ, and the first week of January, it is traditional for the Church of the Nativity to be cleaned by the three groups that maintain it--the Roman Catholic Church, the Armenian Church, and the Greek Orthodox Church. This...
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