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Apparently, Randal Rauser doesn’t know how to speak English–how else to explain two of the most recent posts on his blog, arguing first that many people who call themselves atheists should stop because they don’t know what “atheism” is, and then that Mormons are actually atheists. Um… wow. I’m tempted to wonder whehter he’s deliberately obtuse, or whether he’s really that stupid.
Diversity, also “[adjective] bloggers”
February 21, 2012 at 7:06 pm 
Chris Hallquist I’m not properly settled in to my new country by any means, but I found a relatively cheap internet cafe and Natalie has a post titled “Thoughts From A Diversity Hire” which I want to comment on, so briefly:
Brief blog break and a couple requests
February 17, 2012 at 11:06 am Chris Hallquist I’m about to run off for one last weekend with friends in another city before flying off to Korea. Therefore I’ll be taking a brief blog break from now until whenever I get sufficiently un-jet lagged/settled enough to actually have spare time. Probably sometime next week. Until then, a couple things.
Insofar as the Catholic Church is harmless, it’s because nobody takes it seriously
February 16, 2012 at 11:36 am Chris Hallquist Last week, Freethought Blogs picked up a new member, Libby Anne. She grew up in the Quiverfull movement, and her first couple of posts gave me a new perspective on the Catholics and contraception shitstorm. First, from her introductory post:
Open letter to John W. Loftus
February 16, 2012 at 10:26 am Chris Hallquist Hi John,
You’ve done some great stuff for the atheist movement. When I first reviewed your book (years and years ago, when I was still on blogspot and you were still self-publishing), I said I thought the Outsider Test for Faith deserved a permanent place in the history of critiques of religion. I still think that. In fact, I’m so enthusiastic about the Outsider Test that I’m planning to write a chapter on it in my next book (which will I will finish… ack!, I don’t know when, but that’s not important right now).
Most religious conservatives aren’t theocrats
February 15, 2012 at 2:37 pm Chris Hallquist Bill Vallicella thinks the Obama administration’s decision to require employer provided health insurance to include contraception is an example of how “The Left is totalitarian by its very nature.” That is, of course, completely insane. But when I read it, it made me pause and consider how liberals must sound to conservatives when they accuse conservatives of being “theocratic.”
The fine-tuning argument and the simulation argument
February 15, 2012 at 11:58 am Chris Hallquist Probably the worst feature of the “fine-tuning argument” (mentioned last week) is that it’s always presented as an argument for the existence of God, which it plainly isn’t. It’s just an argument for some kind of designer or other. And “some kind of designer or other” might not be anything at all like God as traditionally conceived. One thing that drives home just how far a generic designer might be from a traditional god is the simulation argument.
Is Peter van Inwagen a conspiracy wingnut?
February 15, 2012 at 11:03 am Chris Hallquist Well no, he isn’t. I ask only as a counterpoint to a Randal Rauser post from a few months ago titled “Is Daniel Dennet a conspiracy wingnut?” Rauser accused Dennett of being a “conspiracy theorist” for saying:
The game theory of political posturing
February 14, 2012 at 12:35 pm Chris Hallquist Over the weekend, Ed had a post titled “Obama Still Going Both Ways on Equality.” After I got done going, “heh, heh, going both ways,” this part stuck out:
Israel: state sponsor of terrorism
February 14, 2012 at 11:26 am Chris Hallquist I promise to resist any urges to link to every good post Glenn Greenwald writes, because pretty much everything he writes is good, but I think he buried the lede on this post. Here’s what really stands out:
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