thoughtful ideas on life's big questions
“Confirmation bias …. is a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses. People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way …. [or] interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position.” (Wikipedia) Atheists often accuse christians of confirmation bias, […]
Bushfires have recently raged through parts of NSW, with some of the more severe burning on the fringes of Sydney, destroying more than 200 homes and taking 2 lives. Without good planning and preparedness, and some desperately hard work by firefighters, it could have been much worse. I live in the middle of suburbia, far […]
A lot of things are written about Jesus, by believers, sceptics and everyone in between. But what do the experts (historians at leading universities) say? Ken, a reader of this blog, asked a question about this recently in comments on another topic, so I thought a separate post might help clarify.
In a recent discussion, a reader commented on a claim by Alvin Boyd Kuhn that “Christianity took a wrong turn during the 3rd century and looked to one man being divine” We can all choose to believe whatever we wish, but is there any historical evidence for this claim?
Last post I looked at how UK psychologist, Susan Blackmore, has changed her previous view that religion is like a virus of the mind, in contrast to some other high profile atheists, but in accordance with the evidence. She also had some interesting (to me, at any rate) thoughts about God.
Susan Blackmore is a British psychologist, well known because of her journalism. She is an atheist, practices Zen Buddhism, and has had particular interests in parapsychology, memes and the science of the mind. In recent years she has exasperated some of her fellow atheists by changing her views on the idea that religion is a […]
In recent years social psychologists have been studying religion extensively, finding what personality types are more likely to be religious and what effects religious beliefs have on a range of behaviours, including health, happiness, altruism and motivations. A recent study compared christians and atheists – using responses on Twitter.
Last post, I discussed Nate’s idea that God used miracles to prove he existed in Jesus’ day, and so he should still do so today if he existed. And I gave reasons to believe that wasn’t a correct understanding of God, nor of Jesus’ life. So, does God give us any good reasons to believe, […]
Nate generated some discussion on miracles on his Finding Truth blog. Some of his blog, and the subsequent discussion, suggested that miracles in the Bible and the ministry of Jesus were meant to provide proof of Jesus’ divinity. And therefore if God wants us to believe in him today, he should keep on providing convincing […]
How do people get to be christians? Do many convert by their own choice, or do most just get born into christian families or christian countries Critics of christianity sometimes point to the “fact” that most people in the world follow the religion of the country they were born into. Therefore, they argue, most people’s […]