Skepticon 2

Last year I spoke at Missouri State University (in Springfield) alongside P.Z. Myers, for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, on science, religion, and morality (video of the whole event is available on YouTube). They weren't sure if they could make it an annual event, but lo and behold, they exceeded their wildest dreams. Now Skepticon 2 is on for Friday and Saturday, November 20 and 21

Appearing in Arizona (II)

On Sunday 8 November (2009) I'll be appearing in Scottsdale, Arizona (near Phoenix) for the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix, in a special banquet room at HomeTown Buffet (on 1312 N. Scottsdale Road). Breakfast begins at 9am, introductions around 9:45am, then my talk and Q&A (and book sale and signing) will run to 11:30am or so. The event is on the HSGP calendar, but you'll get more of a

Appearing in Sacramento (II)

Last year I promised to make several appearances around the country, and now these are all coming to fruition. I blogged the SFSU event last week. This week I'll be blogging several more.

Tuesday, October 20 (2009), I'll be appearing in Sacramento (California), at 191 Lathrop Way, Suite D, for the Sacramento Freethinkers, Atheists and Nonbelievers (FAN). For directions see the website of the

Appearing at SFSU

Students at San Francisco State University want me to give a talk and take questions on the subject of mathematics and god, from the perspective of physics and naturalism. It's been quite a long time in the making, but we've arranged an event for Tuesday, 29 September (2009), 4-6pm. The talk is sponsored by the SFSU Department of Philosophy and by the Philosophy of Religion Society. It's free and

OEN Interview

Ben Dench at the liberal-progressive OEN (OpEdNews) web news service conducted and published an extended interview of me on a variety of topics. It's now available online. We discuss the future of Christianity, the role of secularism in improving society, my beefs with professional philosophy, and my proposal that a lottery for congress would be superior to the current election process. And a few

The Growl Tomorrow

Just a quick notice: at 11pm EST (8pm PCT) tomorrow (Thursday, August 27, 2009), Missouri State's student run internet station, The Growl, will be having a conversation with me on a variety of topics, including the new chapters I prepared for an upcoming anthology by John Loftus (one of those agreements I made years ago that finally came due, I'll blog it when it hits the presses next year), and

Does Free Will Matter?

In his thoughtful reply to my recent review of his book Encountering Naturalism, Tom Clark narrowed the differences between us on how naturalism changes the way we should think. We agree on even more than I suspected. But important differences remain, and one is so important it warrants an entire blog of its own.In Sense and Goodness without God I make a point of the fact that what people say