Camels With Hammers

The main foci of Camels With Hammers are contemporary ethical paradigms, normative theories, moral psychology, secularism, Nietzsche interpretation, general philosophical education for non-specialists, commentary on politics and other current affairs from philosophical perspectives. Additionally, the blog is concerned with being part of the project of creating a constructive atheism which can be a force philosophically, culturally, and, where appropriate, politically. The blog also occasionally reviews and promotes independent film and music. Occasionally more mainstream music and films are of interest—but usually that’s when Tom Petty, Batman, or Spider-Man are involved in said music or films.

— I encourage non-specialists in philosophy to use this blog as a place to try their hand at serious philosophical debate, to seek clarification of obscure philosophical terms or concepts that are stumbling block to their participation, and all around to use this blog as a place to learn philosophy. Please read more of how I view the educational potential of the blog in this post I wrote on the subject.

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Good to see an unashamedly philosophical blog. Any others out there please let me know.

Common Sense Atheism

What do I mean when I say atheism is “common sense?”

I do not mean that religious people are stupid. Believers can be doctors, lawyers, scientists, engineers, philosophers, entrepreneurs – some smart folks.

Usually when someone says, “It’s common sense!” he really means “This is the way I think about it; isn’t it obvious to everyone else?” That’s not what I mean by common sense. I’m going to argue for atheism using your common sense; the way you already think about most things in life.

See, believers have two ways of thinking. In most situations, they think with the same logic as most people do: this is our “common sense.” Tell a believer that the bank stole his money, or that an ancient book says you can heal disease by dancing around a fire, and he will ask for evidence. That is common sense.

But believers think in a different way about their religious beliefs. This is “special thinking.” A believer reads in his religion’s ancient book that a man walked on water and rose from the dead, and that is enough for him to believe.

The whole point of my book is this: If a believer applies his special thinking to any other area of life, it becomes clear how irrational that special thinking is. And if he applies common sense to his religion, it becomes clear how irrational that religion is.

Go to Common Sense Atheism.

Ad Absurdum

The blog of Bjorn and Jeannette, a freethinking couple in Saint Paul, MN.

Much of the blog is about the activities in Minnesota with links to the Minnesota Atheists, the largest and most active atheist organization in the state.



Go to Ad Absurdum.

A-Deistic

Let us be clear, we are atheists opposed not to mild-mannered deism or theism, but to the menace to logic, knowledge, and humanism that has been promoted by fundamentalists and the Religious Right.

Christian apologists repeatedly demonstrate that it is insurmountably difficult to develop a worldview free of philosophical tension when one begins and ends all thinking with an inculcated-a-priori assumption of the existence of supernatural agencies.

This blog, then, is an appeal for rational thinking.

Go to A-Deistic.

Daily Atheist

The intentions with this blog is to provide Atheists with useful content from various sources. We can all ramble about religion in a blog, but I think our ramblings become better with more facts. And also, I need to be inspired to ramble so I'd rather just present the news! (I do ramble a lot on forums though!)

Well, I decided to gather all the good and important stuff I come across here as safekeeping for myself and for everyone else. What's important and not important is not always so easy to say, although I tend to like science and the occasional good argument. I also have a fetish for statistics.

Some articles fall outside of what consider most pressing to post here, and since Google reader has a real nice "share" button and a page where my shared items go, I have decided to use it when I see stuff I like. You can of course subscribe to it.

Being Norwegian, I occasionally come across good articles in Norwegian, Danish and Swedish so I've set up a Scandinavian blog too at Dagens Ateist.

Go to Daily Atheist.

State of Protest

State of Protest is an online journal run by skeptics, atheists, and other alleged undesirables dedicated to the dissemination of pertinent rational activist information. We maintain the idea that information and critical thinking are key elements in making progress against the status quo of a religiously controlled and threatened society and world.

Go to State of Protest.