The Westboro Baptist Church...as opposed to, say, William Lane Craig--at the REASON Rally?!!

Um. Really?

I agree with traveler, who responded to this with, "I still think the invitation is a dumb idea. As a Humanist, I won’t back down from confrontation but neither do I invite it needlessly. I think it is telling that @klowanj thought that the invitation was 'a lot of fun to write.'"

And kudos to the Friendly Atheist! An insightful response to this as usual.

The National Atheist Party tries to put out this PR nightmare...too late.

Richard Dawkins: The Empty Chair

Pictured below is the Empty Chair that was reserved for Dawkins to follow the eighth commandment he quoted in The God Delusion:  "Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always respect the right of others to disagree with you."  Dawkins refused to show up to the Sheldonian Theatre October 25 to debate the world's leading Christian apologist, William Lane Craig.

"The Ultimate 747 Gambit is a very serious argument against the existence of God and one to which I have yet to hear a theologian give a convincing answer, despite numerous opportunities and invitations to do so," says Dawkins in the video below:

Richard Dawkins: Greatest no-show on earth?

Can Dawkins handle propositions?

A charming YouTube video combines Dawkins' two most recent public relations nightmares, Elevatorgate and Cowardgate, when it asks "Can Dawkins Handle Propositions?"



This video is made by the same creator:



San Francisco Atheists interested to see Dawkins debate Craig

Norris, Gettier, Euthyphro, Hume and Plato: Is knowledge justified, true belief?

go here

Philosophers' Carnival 118

Source

Philosophers' Carnival CXVIII

Welcome to the 118th edition of Philosopher’s Carnival, organized since August ‘04 by Richard Yetter Chappell. For those just discovering the Carnival, every few weeks or so many and various philosophy bloggers take turns submitting and hosting a collection of the latest relevant posts from around the blogosphere. An updated list of past host-blogs and the dates of their carnivals (searchable in the widget) can be found at the end of this one. And now to begin where it sometimes does...

Contracted good without God.

The contradicting values of different cultures are evidence that there is no moral truth, that all moralities are social contracts, and that each individual is compelled by genetics and culture to fashion a functional essence.

Moral Truth?

Good without God.

I believe the Golden Rule, found in every major culture in history, is the transcultural end of all social being and doing, requiring individual free will, as opposed to being left to natural selection.  I believe our transcultural social essence precedes our individual existence.  This is a more robust argument than the one presented in Sam Harris' The Moral Landscape.

Moral Truth?

I do not believe.

I lack belief in any god(s), defaulting to atheism, which is more justified and reason-based than blind-faith, irrational theism.  I side with PZ Meyers in his recent debate with Jerry Coyne--it is impossible that atheism could ever be falsified by evidence which would motivate a change in belief to theism.

Believe?

I believe.

Although Greta Christina prefers the word "conclusion" to the word "belief," I think Maryann Spikes (see comments in "conclusion" link) makes a good case for sticking to the word "belief," and I admittedly believe provisionally that God does not exist, and that atheism is a more justified and reason-based belief than theism.   I side with Jerry Coyne in his recent debate with PZ Meyers--I believe atheism is (and ought to be) falsifiable.

Believe?