Logic and Reason

Somehow, Christians seem to think it makes sense, arguing that I cannot be sure if logic and reason are valid. Yes, that may be true, but we all have to assume they are, because the alternative is assuming that we live in a world that doesn’t make any sense at all – and that includes religion, because without logic and reason, assuming that reading a book tells you the content is NOT valid. Every second, everything could turn green. Or nylon. Or whatever. We have to assume that logic and reason are really valid, because a) it seems that way and b) the alternative is insanity. Perhaps there are better philosophical explanations, but for me, that’s totally enough.

So, one simple rule: As soon as you start questioning logic and reason itself, I will consider you insane and stop talking to you. There’s no help for you and I will not follow you down into your mad place. Only if we both agree that logic and reason are valid, we can discuss. Otherwise, it’s completely pointless.

Quote mining… agnostics?

Well, quote mining is a well known technique for Creationists, but obviously, we haven’t seen the strangest things yet… There are also agnostics out there that don’t accept evolution (well, not surprising, there are billions of us out there, so probably even the strangest combinations exists somewhere), but obviously some of them are not really better than Creationists…

The Case for Evolution

Let’s be honest here. If you read this, you are probably an ignorant amateur when evolution is concerned. I know, that I am. Biology was never my favored subject in school and I didn’t invest years to study it, which makes me ignorant about the field. And, if you ask me, this is one of the main problem with the whole atheist <-> creationists debates about evolution: Two amateurs try to convince each other. Which leads us to some important points, if you ask me.

Assorted Fruits of Wrath

Just a little something from my favorite dirty comic, Oglaf.com:

Assorted Fruits of Wrath

Re: Jesus Christ is Our Infallible Proof

Sometimes Christians write postings and close the comments, which I find a pretty cowardly attitude. If they were so sure, no comment could harm their argument. In some of this cases, I simply use the nice possibility of a ping-back to make a reply, like in this case…

Absolute Morality is relative

Let’s talk about absolute morality, again. Let’s assume that it exists. Let’s assume that there ARE things that are absolutely good, let’s say… killing people who work on saturdays…  and things that are absolutely evil… like being gay…. and absolutely doesn’t matter (neutral), like…. erm… keeping slaves… Completely random examples, of course, I am not looking at any specific religion here… (suuureee)… So, the big question is… How do you know?

Christianity – The religion that doesn’t exist

Honestly, sometimes I have this weird feeling of fighting a hydra when discussing with Christians… You can chop of one head with a well placed argument, but two new ones will grow and each will shout „That’s NOT what Christians believe! Instead, real Christians believe… <enter some other strange stuff>.“

Atheists are more intelligent than believers…

…says this study. And yes, I totally agree…

MongoDB for Java Developers

Another MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) I am taking at the moment is „MongoDB for Java Developers„, which is presented by 10gen, the people who make the MongoDB and provide services for it (the typical Open Source business model). What is the MongoDB? It’s a NoSql Database, a non-relational database, wich stores data as (almost) JSON documents. As even bigger companies like Ebay and MTV use it and I already had some experience with relational databases, I was interested at taking a look at another database concept…

How do you know god is nice?

As I have written about a few days ago, we cannot really define „good“ in the context of an omnipotent god. But can we at least make sure that he’s benevolent torwards us (if we assume he exists)?