Blog | Cellar Door Skeptics

Jun 26, 2015
3 min

Are Believers the Most Arrogant Atheists?

© Religion Erased Atheism. The disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods. There are plenty to choose from and with insufficient evidence, plenty to disprove. So how does one go about doing so? Well, wait until a religion presents credible evidence. One that actually stands out from the ordinary. It makes sense. Instead of doing the impossible and spending a lifetime analysing the seemingly endless line of false prophets, wait for one to impress you. That is

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Christopher Tanner

Jun 24, 2015
3 min

What Does “God” Mean to You?

©Fueling Your Consciousness I have smart friends. Like, really smart friends. And I tend to save things they say in response to my prompts on Facebook because they truly blow my mind. Here, my buddy sets the record straight about online religious debates. Enjoy. 🙂 “As an igtheist, I have to say that I think this back and forth is pointless and fruitless. Until there is a solid agreed upon definition of god that can be empirically measured, there is no point in claiming to be

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Christopher Tanner

May 5, 2015
3 min

Believers, You Are What You Wear

© Religion Erased ‘But my veil is very little!’ The lady exclaimed, passionately arguing her case for the religious freedoms of women in Iran. The interpretation from the opposing standpoint differs from her view that religious clothing isn’t a burden. The ladies remark would have no doubt translated to ‘but my chains are very light!’ in the mind of Christopher Hitchens, the very man at the other end, when confronting the delusion of suggested religious ‘freedoms’ during the

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Christopher Tanner

Apr 21, 2015
4 min

Archaic Plagiarism: Gilgamesh and Modern Apologia’s Failure

When I tell apologists that many of the stories and concepts in the Bible can be found in pre-Christian/pre-Judaic cultures, the usual mode of defense is something along the lines of: “But my religion has the correct story.” I can rebut such an argument with the following thought experiment: Imagine you walk into Library A and find a book called Story A. Story A was published in 1800 in upper New York. It contains a specific story about a man named Jimmy who is 6 feet tall,

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Christopher Tanner

Mar 9, 2015
9 min

On the Necessity of Apostasy

On one of the “atheists vs. Christians” Facebook pages that I occasionally haunt, one of the contributors recently raised an earnest question that deserves a sincere, considered response. I’ll begin by quoting him: “You are asking this generation of Believers to put aside their beliefs in their Savior, after 2,000+ years of dedication Believers gave their lives to pass the legacy to each generation, per the Christ’s request?” Garbled though it may be, this is one of the bette

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Christopher Tanner

Feb 27, 2015
4 min

“New” Atheism?

In my daily searching of atheist news and tidbits, I see the phrase “new” atheists pretty often. I find it interesting. The article below is a critique of this group of non-believers. However, I offer this opinion. I think that this is more of a critique of the modern Internet culture where extreme views (one way or the other), get all of the attention. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. The most vocal and divisive voices are heard. Live and let live, I say. Do I find the con

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Christopher Tanner

Feb 23, 2015
6 min

Lessons Learned Atop Mount Carmel

Think of what follows as a kind of love letter to any Christian fundamentalists who might have stumbled onto the trove of impious wisdom that is AtheistAnalysis. *In my best stained-glass Sunday-School-teacher voice*: Boys and girls, let’s open our Blessed Old Leather-Bound Bibles (NRSV) to I Kings chapter 18 and read together this inspiring story from the Word of God, beginning with verse 17: ***** When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?”

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Atheists Can Be Moral: Definitions Make All the Difference.

Christopher Tanner

Feb 18, 2015
2 min

Atheists Can Be Moral: Definitions Make All the Difference.

It is often claimed by theists that atheists are incapable of being moral, because atheists lack a “moral authority.” I was recently confronted with the notion that it is possible for me to practice “good ethics”, but not possible for me to be moral, because I don’t have an acting moral authority, outside myself. I don’t want to beat around the bush too much, so here are some definitions: 1 mor·al Pronunciation: mr-l, mär- Function: adjective 1 a : of or relating to the judgm

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Christopher Tanner

Feb 12, 2015
5 min

Craig Hicks: Consumed By Rage

The tragic and detestable murder in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on Tuesday, February 10th, 2015, of 3 young Muslim students at the hands of Craig Hicks has presented a critical opportunity for us to examine the rhetoric used in the ongoing debate between theism and atheism. This happening as it did, in the wake of the controversy caused by President Barack Obama acknowledging that atrocities have been committed in the name of Christianity forces to the fore the need for cla

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Solving the Holy Land: Designing a New Anti-Virus.

Chris Hanna

Feb 5, 2015
3 min

Solving the Holy Land: Designing a New Anti-Virus.

One of the most telling aspects of the living organism is the immune system, a series of checks and balances evolved to search, recognize, and subdue or destroy. The changes undergone in the processes of gaining biodiversity and complexity can be metamorphosed into the political state of the world today. We have seen human society reformed countless times from the isolated and xenophobic tribal states of humanities origins, to the conqueror empires of Alexander and Genghis

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Christopher Tanner

Feb 2, 2015
8 min

Congress Shall Make No Law…

A little over a year ago I ran into the following news item from the land that gave us David Hume and the Scottish Enlightenment: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/parents-outrage-extremist-religious-sect-2254926. I posted it on my Facebook page, thereby precipitating a winding, entertaining, and sometimes heated discussion with a Christian fundamentalist Facebook friend from England. His position is not uncommon, and certainly more prevalent in my country than

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Christopher Tanner

Jan 12, 2015
7 min

Just Foamin’ at the Mouth

Earlier this morning, occupied as I was by two projects of interest simultaneously (making my breakfast and writing this essay), I managed to burn my first attempt at the former on account of turning my attention full-bore to the latter. The result furnished me with an object lesson (as if I needed it) in the way things work in the natural world. If one were to inquire into the reasons why my first pancake went into the trash, thoroughly blackened on one side and filling my h

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Christopher Tanner

Dec 29, 2014
5 min

Skiing the Slippery Slopes of Belief: The Chair Lift of Science

About a decade ago, in the course of one of the most entertaining conversations it’s ever been my privilege to enjoy, my brother asked me “What exactly do you believe?” This question came as a rejoinder to my telling him that I don’t believe in God. I understood the very moment he asked it, that it was framed the wrong way. He was posing it as an alternative: “If you don’t believe in God, then just what do you believe in?” I also understood that I had my explanatory work cut

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Review of Greta Christina’s New Book: Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do

Christopher Tanner

Dec 11, 2014
3 min

Review of Greta Christina’s New Book: Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do

“Let’s stop treating death as though it belongs to religion….” I dig Greta Christina and her writing has been a staple of my atheistic-readings-diet almost since the time of my deconversion, so naturally I was keen as beans to get my hands on her new mini e-book ‘Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing Do with God.’ I won’t lie, I was in two minds about this new book, Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do With God. In spite of my familiarity with G

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Dispensationalism: The Answer that doesn’t Answer All your Nagging Questions

Christopher Tanner

Dec 10, 2014
8 min

Dispensationalism: The Answer that doesn’t Answer All your Nagging Questions

It occurs to me that I might be able to shed a bit of light on some of the dark and impenetrable mysteries that occasionally issue from the febrile minds of Christian fundamentalists. The reason I’m in a position to do so is that I was once just like them: a Bible-totin,’ Scripture-quotin’ True Believer™. I had the grotesque misfortune of being spawned by impoverished, uneducated teenage parents whose families had always “belonged to” the Missionary Baptist Church. That churc

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Godless Offering 12: The War On Christmas

Christopher Tanner

Dec 9, 2014
1 min

Godless Offering 12: The War On Christmas

Part 1 – Billboards and Their Meaning Danielle Muscato the PR Director for American Atheists talks about what the billboard says and what it means to American Atheists. This is an important video to share with you friends as it is straight from the mouth of the organization that put up the billboard. Please Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel Here! Interested in becoming a sponsor? Become a Patreon for as little as $2 #Secularism #Activism #ChristopherTanner #atheistanalysis #bi

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Is there a Secular Reason to Be Against Gay Marriage?

Christopher Tanner

Dec 2, 2014
8 min

Is there a Secular Reason to Be Against Gay Marriage?

Whether there are any legitimate arguments against gay marriage that do not ultimately come back to “it’s icky and God said so” is a question I see many atheists contemplating. Today, I am going to attempt to answer this question by looking at common criticisms I have seen people use against it. Of course if we really try hard enough, we could find reasons to be against gay marriage, the logical conclusions of such reasons would lead to a rather authoritarian society, which g

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Big Weekly Blasphemy 9: Happy Merry Best Wishes Holiday

Christopher Tanner

Dec 1, 2014
1 min

Big Weekly Blasphemy 9: Happy Merry Best Wishes Holiday

Please Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel Here! Interested in becoming a sponsor? Become a Patreon for as little as $2 #atheistanalysis #War #christmas #Christianity #Islam #manipulation #kwanzaa #FOXNEWS #conservatism #atheism #Deafilosophy #waronchristmas #shopping #ramadan #media #africanamericanculture #Judaism #liberalism #hanukkah #atheistanalysis #ATHEIST

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On Dealing with the Mystery of Death and the Inevitability of Extinction

Christopher Tanner

Nov 12, 2014
8 min

On Dealing with the Mystery of Death and the Inevitability of Extinction

(Written on my goddamn sixty-fifth birthday) I’m going to begin this uncharacteristically brief essay with a bit of personal disclosure: I am a philosophy-program dropout. If William Lane Craig is reading this (and he isn’t), I’m sure he’s sneering at me. That’s fair: I certainly sneer at him often enough. The degrees I managed to accrue (four at last count) while wending my way through various academic programs over the course of more than three decades are all in music. But

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Reading the Myths Aright, Part III: On the Wrathful Dispersion of People and Tongues

Christopher Tanner

Nov 8, 2014
10 min

Reading the Myths Aright, Part III: On the Wrathful Dispersion of People and Tongues

In this essay I will continue to mine a vein that I have exposed over the past couple of installments in this blog: that of “species memory,” which might also be thought of as “cultural memory.” I believe there are echoes of watershed events in the human saga preserved in ancient texts such as the Bible, often reworked so extensively that it takes some “reading between the lines” to tease them out. It seems to me that in the Genesis myths alone we hear several such echoes. I

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