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This is a pretty old article, but I came across it and I thought it was extremely interesting. I don't have any thought-provoking questions or comments, but I thought I'd share this just the same. Edit: Article here: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090713/duggan

From a secular point of view, is there any reason to be monogomous in relationships? For the sake of the discussion, let's assume that modern methods are 100% effective at preventing the spread of disease and unwanted pregnancies. And I also mean an open relationship, not cheating. Meaning...

What if someone who was making up a religion for a video game, book, etc. and managed to stumble upon the truth about the supernatural? :lol: Can you really think of any irony greater than that? I mean, it would be amazing if we all got to the afterlife to meet Elune or turned into the Force...

...and specifically, morality. Simple question with a very complex answer. A great friend of mine bases most things on a sort of gut feeling. Meanwhile, I approach it with logic to the best of my ability. Yet we seem to reach very similar answers on most issues. What do you guys think about...

So I was giving some thought to the "what ifs?" of religion... Basically, what if there was a creator and afterlife? Not any specific religion's version, but just assuming that these things did exist, how could they be formulated to work with the world we have? And I came up with an analogy...

philhellenes is great guy that makes some really good videos. His most recent was particularly interesting:

I want to see someone spend a winter in the Salt Lake Valley and walk away still thinking that we shouldn't vastly reduce air pollution. Allow me to paint a picture. You're driving down from a great day of skiiing up on the slopes, enjoying the crystal-clear mountain air. And as you look down...

Since it seems like I keep reaching impasses in some ethical discussions due to the nature of my thoughts on ethics, I figured it it would be both useful and interesting to simply make a thread for me to explain the form of utilitarianism I go by, its foundations, and a few nuances and then...

Now I'm sure that a sizable group on this forum is going to have the automatic response that racial/religious profiling is always wrong, but try to set that aside for a second, as I've recently been thinking about something that brings up interesting issues with this idea. This is a fictional...

As far as I've heard, the only reliable piece of data we have on it is that each subsequent male a woman gives birth to is more likely to be homosexual, and they've linked it to the mom's body "feminizing" the fetus due to it being more foreign than a female baby. Does anyone know of any other...

How do you guys feel about these sorts of phrases? Things like "Thank god!" "Good God!" etc. I find myself thinking them at times, but I generally refrain from saying them out loud since it just makes me feel rediculous. I've occasionally thought about following South Park's example and...

If you knew for certain that one religion was true, which would you guess was true?

ProfMTH posted a very interesting video recently: What are your thoughts on this? My answers to his questions offered in the video (that pretty well sum up my position, too): 1. Pornography isn't a problem as long as it's not illegal (beastiality, child porn, etc.). 2. The only...

First of all, I'm equating ethics, etc. with morality. Essentially, what is the reason they exist, and why should they exist? I think we all understand that morality has evolutionary underpinnings, but I'm wondering if it can/should/ought to go beyond that. I think that it's ultimately just...

Why do people accept that human stupidity is simply a fact that cannot be changed? I mean, to be completely scientific, we should be trying to figure out why there is so much stupidity in the world. And potentially solve the problem. If it's just because of evolution, then there's not a whole...

I think most atheists would agree that the world would be a better place if organized religion were to disapear, but in the mean time, what kinds of public policy should be implemented to keep religion out of peoples' lives when they don't want it? I don't think there should be no restrictions...

Hey, I'm Nogre. I was raised in a semi-religious family, but my brother and I were allowed enough freedom that by the time I really started looking into the issue, I had already left anything resembling organized religion, and had become a deist. I ran into some science videos on Youtube, and...

We had a discussion about moderates and fundamentals, and it seemed that most agreed that moderates were harder to convert, as they were often apathetic. So, I was wondering what ideas people had about getting people to care about their religions, without putting them on the defensive with...