The grim reality of life under ISIS

Patrick Cockburn, an Irish journalist who has been a Middle East correspondent since 1979, has published part 2 of his harrowing stories about life under ISIS. In Part 1 which was published on 16th May (you can find it here), Mr Cockburn documents some of the truly harrowing stories from the women who have fled from … Read more

The Origins of the Universe

When pondering over the origins of the universe, the standard religious answer is “God did it, problem solved, now let’s move on to believing”. Oh wait. Evidence for this claim is … well so far, it is exactly zero. It also has a rather fatal flaw because you then need to explain the origins of this god. The … Read more

How do Atheists work out what is right and wrong if they reject the bible?

The objective moral claim is a very popular rebuttal that the deeply religious often put forward, and time after time it will, like a game a wack-a-mole, pop its head up. So today’s example is a letter written by a Mr Ron Thomas and published in The Gazette / Times-Courier, a paper that has a focus … Read more

Saudi Arabia puts in a bid to run the UN Human Rights Council

Which would be the ideal nation to run the UN Human Rights Council? I know, let’s find the one nation that infringes every single human right going, and put them in charge, what could possibly go wrong with that? It sounds bizarre, but that is exactly what is now on the table. UN Watch reports the … Read more

Evidence for Christian Beliefs

People believe what they believe for cultural and emotional reasons and never for evidential reasons. They might indeed claim “evidence” and assert “evidence”, but examine it and … well no, none. What tends to happen is that we rationalise and stick on reasons later to explain the adherence to a specific position, sort of akin … Read more