Attitude of Gratitude
What should we be thankful for? I am thankful for many things, but I don’t think I should be. Let me explain. I am thankful for the small chance that I even exist at all, the small chance that I was born in a developed country with many opportunities for education and work choices, the small [...]
Summary: Does faith in God differ from dogma and morality?
This week’s question builds on a distinction made by the Texas Faith editors and Eric Metaxas, in which the concepts of faith, dogma, and morality are scrutinized. Are these three concepts interrelated, or can one focus on one to the exclusion of the others? DT Strain, Humanist Minister: Dogma technically means simply the doctrines of a [...]
Faith versus Dogma and Morality
In this week’s Texas Faith, managing editor William McKenzie manages to ask a particularly obtuse question: “Is there a distinction between faith in God and dogma and morality?” One needs only survey the vast and diverse landscape of believers who claim to have faith in the existence of some form of deity to see that [...]
Is there a distinction between faith in God and dogma and morality?
The fact that the terms “faith” and “dogma” and “morality” have different senses makes this a difficult question to answer in a way that would be compelling to most readers. For example, consider the term “faith.” As Richard Dawkins understands it, faith is believing against the evidence (or believing in the absence of any evidence) [...]
Being Thankful
Skepticon, the regional midwestern conference on skepticism, recently held its fourth iteration in Springfield, Missouri, home of the General Council of the Assemblies of God, the largest Pentecostal Christian denomination. Alix Jules and his family, as well as several other Texans, attended Skepticon this year on behalf of the Fellowship of Freethought in Dallas, and [...]
God, Dogmatism, and Morality
“God, at least the God we used to worship, can now be recognized as a device of the human imagination. Morality, it follows, is equally a human invention. Common sense must replace the scriptures and the priesthood as the validator of our moral code. And why not? Part of the modern humanist ethic is the [...]
Does faith in God differ from dogma & morality?
This week, Texas Faith asks: In a conversation last week with Eric Metaxas, author of Bonhoeffer: Martyr, Prophet, Spy and now Socrates in the City: Conversations on Life, God, and Other Small Topics, he brought up the distinction between faith in God and dogma and morality. As an example, he pointed to how dogma can [...]
Summary: Should Herman Cain’s accusers step forward?
This week’s question addresses the accusations of sexual harassment that have been levied against Presidential candidate Herman Cain. Below, the Texas Reason panel responds to the question of whether or not the women who have accused Cain of sexually harassing them have an obligation to provide the public with details of the alleged encounters. Dale Husband, Humanists [...]
Should Herman Cain’s accusers step forward?
To be a woman and a victim of sexual harassment is something that I frankly cannot fathom. I can certainly empathize with the emotional and mental scars that victims deal with, and also their sense of righteous indignation when their perpetrator is allowed to continue with his or her life, relatively unscathed. When that (alleged) [...]
Should Herman Cain’s accusers step forward?
The question here, as asked by Texas Faith is: As you know, Herman Cain faces allegations that he sexually harassed female employees during his time at the National Restaurant Association. The Republican fervently denies the charges, although there are reports that settlements have been made in these cases. Cain’s story about those settlements continues to [...]