Some Philosophy of Homo- and Transphobia, Supreme Court Style

The Civil Rights Act protects trans and gay people now. Because the Supreme Court has so ruled. I’ve long said some of the best philosophy written is in Supreme Court rulings. It’s always practical, real-world philosophy, that actually affects lives, so...

Murray’s Primer on Atheism

I’ll shortly announce the addition of my popular class on Christian and Islamic counter-apologetics to my monthly online course offerings. Which means it’s time to discuss the few issues I do have with my preferred course text for that: Malcolm Murray’s...

Lataster v. McGrath: Jesus Must Be Real…Because, Reasons

With my move back to California and so much else going on I haven’t had time to closely read several books I want to review here, including Raphael Lataster’s peer reviewed defense of historicity agnosticism regarding Jesus, Questioning the Historicity of...

Mason on Josephus on James

A German academic reference book appeared in 2017 titled Jesus Handbuch (more or less meaning “Jesus Handbook” or the Jesus Manual) edited by Jens Schröter and Christine Jacobi (you can access its table of contents and descriptive foreword at Mohr...

Litwa’s Confused Critique of Mythicism

M. David Litwa’s new book How the Gospels Became History: Jesus and Mediterranean Myths (Yale 2019) argues the authors of the Gospels “deliberately shaped myths about Jesus into historical discourse to maximize their believability for ancient...

That Luck Matters More Than Talent: A Strong Rationale for UBI

It can now be said with certainty that luck matters more than talent and effort. Not that talent and effort don’t matter, but that they are easily overwhelmed by bad luck, and easily replaced by good luck. Consequently, all ideologies that depend on any version...

Is Jesus Wholly or Only Partly a Myth? The Carrier-MacDonald Exchange

Last year Dennis MacDonald and I had a moderated conversation on the PineCreek channel regarding the plausibility of Jesus never really being a person in history. MacDonald is famous for proposing the Gospels construct myths about Jesus partly from Homeric and other...

Study the Justifications and Applications of Moral Values with Me!

Hone your philosophy, master how to debate the moral argument with theists, and learn how to improve and defend your own moral reasoning and worldview. Have challenges in this subject to pose to me? Curious to study a subject so important and controversial? This is...

Return of the Sex Police: A Renewed Abuse of Science to Outlaw Porn

A few years ago The Washington Post published a ridiculous propaganda piece by anti-porn activist (and feminist sociology professor) Gail Dines, “Is Porn Immoral? That Doesn’t Matter: It’s a Public Health Crisis,” tagline, “The science is now beyond...