Quote 17 May 2009 The custom of making abstract dogmatic assertions is not, certainly, derived from the teaching of Jesus, but has been a widespread weakness among religious teachers in subsequent centuries. I do not think that the word for the Christian virtue of faith should be prostituted to mean the credulous acceptance of all such piously intended assertions. Much self-deception in the young believer is needed to convince himself that he knows that of which in reality he knows himself to be ignorant. That surely is hypocrisy, against which we have been most conspicuously warned. [Ronald Aylmer Fisher, BBC broadcast on “Science and Christianity” 1955, from Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society of London, 9: 91-120, (1963), p96] History Religion
History Worst. Argument. Ever? 1 Dec 2008 The chair of a course on religion, philosophy and ethics at the University of Gloucestershire (being English, they’ll pronounce that “glostersheer”), David Webster, is calling for people to give the worst argument in Britain. Go leave yours. Caveat: They already have the full complement of creationist nuttery, and anyway most… Read More
Humor Reflections on theology 3 Nov 2009 Readers may not know that I did a couple of years of theology at an Anglican theological college, Ridley College, in Melbourne before I embarked upon my philosophical and historical studies. I was quite good at it, and only my lack of actual, you know, faith interrupted what was a… Read More
Epistemology Prescriptions for atheists 25 Nov 201122 Jun 2018 Jeez. You go away for a few days, to the beach and countryside, and come back to find that progress has been made in philosophy; in particular regarding the right view to hold about religion and the religious. The story so far: I wrote a series of posts about agnosticism,… Read More