Monthly Archives: April 2008

Does God So Love the Multiverse?

Religion, Science

Professor Don Page, of the University of Alberta, is quite the interesting character. He’s a theoretical quantum cosmologist, or in other words he studies the relationships between quantum mechanics (things really small that are indefinitely defined) and cosmology (the study of the universe). He’s also an evangelical Christian. In recent years he’s taken to giving a lecture entitled “Does God So Love the Multiverse?” in which he attempts to reconcile multiverse theories of the universe with Christian theism. He has also recently published it as a 26-page paper.

Update: You can also download an MP3 and Powerpoint of this presentation when he gave it for the Urban Bridge Chruch’s Thinking God series.

For my quick summary: Page presents here a brief summary of some multiverse ideas, shows their attraction and claims that these are compatible with Christianity. He presents no new arguments for theism, and merely tries to reconcile irrational belief with modern ideas.

Going more in depth (section by section):

Continue reading →

Canada promotes debt of its young

Politics, School

I find it a bit odd that I’m currently being inundated by ads for Canada Student Loans.  I don’t think our government should be encouraging debt on its younger portions of society, although higher education is definitely a positive.  I can see a bank marketing its loan programmes, but the government?

My final beef with the ads is that many of the images of students show how happy they are – I guess the thought of over 300,000 young adults being in debt is something to smile about.

The money spent on these ads could have easily been spent on an extra couple scholarships or put into post-secondary institutions so tuition could be a tad bit lower.

What should I read?

Atheism, Personal, Religion

This post is a request to Christians, theists, or anyone who has a suggestion for a good book (not including the bible) for me to read that would highlight the best arguments for god/religion/theism/response to Dawkins et. al. that are out there.  I’ll take any suggestions and then try to get through a couple through the summer with an open mind.

Superstition runs rampant

Links, Religion, Science

Taking a quick break from my studies I saw on CTS, while flipping channels, a news segment on the Archdiocese of Ottawa appointing two new exorcists!  Apparently Ottawa had been without exorcists for the past five years, so I’m not sure how people survived (apparently they get a couple calls per year).  Apparently exorcisms are back “in”:

In the past two decades, Italy alone has increased the ranks of its exorcists from 20 to 350. Just before Christmas, Rome’s chief exorcist, Gabriel Amorth, indicated the Pope wanted an exorcist in every diocese in the world.

Something to note is that despite media “glorification” of exorcisms, often times exorcisms are performed on misdiagnosed victims of mental illness, and even worse the exorcism can lead to death:

Exorcisms in film and fiction can be entertaining, while exorcisms in real life can be fatal. The tragic irony is that in many cases the evil is committed not by the Devil, but by those who believe in him.

Shooting fish in a barrel

Atheism, Links, Religion

Alright, so I feel like writing a post and I needed some brain fodder to get me going. Naturally I look up a mental opposite who is well known, and perhaps respected (among his peers, not mine) and decide to find a writing of Dinesh D’Souza’s.

The latest post on his blog is about Obama and race, not too intriguing for me, but his second latest reeks of failed ignorant arguments. The article is entitled “The Power of Pascal’s Wager.” Here we go (note, this “argument” for belief comes up a lot, so pay attention if you haven’t come across it before).

Continue reading →

Terahertz?

Personal, Science, Site

I’ve now received some criticism for not talking about “terahertz” on this blog.  I did discuss a bit about terahertz radiation when I first started, but have since moved beyond the physics-science only realm.

So why don’t I stick to writing physics and science?

  1. It’s my freakin’ blog.  I’m allowed to call it whatever I want.  I chose the name “terahertz” because I find the subject interesting, but following the lead of others, I choose not to write solely on one topic.  Atheism interests me, so I write about that, the same goes for local politics, my life in general, and random other things (the tag cloud on the right should show where my biases are).  If you don’t want to read about that stuff, go else where (that’s the beauty of blogging).  As of now I have 16,312 hits (6420 without my oddly popular post), and regardless, if it was still <100 I’d still write the exact same things.
  2. I’m not doing a lot of physics or fundamental science right now.  I am still in Engineering Physics and learning about physics, however not being in a lab leaves me with lab reports, club events and assignments, all of which take my mind off of physics.
  3. There’s only so much I can write about terahertz radiation.  There’s the odd news story now and then, and papers released in every couple of journals, but regardless, it’s still not that big.  It gets boring to focus solely on one topic in anything, and so I write beyond that.

That’s my bit, if you do have a blog that speaks primarily about terahertz I’ll link to it and try not to distract people from the subject.

Quick answers

Atheism, Links, Religion

I don’t feel like doing work right now and want to post something.  So I’ll use Hemant’s post from almost a year ago to inspire me.  These are my short and sweet answers, push me further and I’ll expand on any of them (note, I cheated and gave some “yes/no” answers).

How would you respond to the following questions?

  • Why do you not believe in God?

No evidence.

  • Where do your morals come from?

My upbringing and society.

  • What is the meaning of life?

42 (now it’s cliché) – so for enjoyment.

  • Is atheism a religion?

Only if coherentism is (i.e. no).

  • If you don’t pray, what do you do during troubling times?

Fix it.

  • Should atheists be trying to convince others to stop believing in God?

Yes, to a point.

  • Weren’t some of the worst atrocities in the 20th century committed by atheists?

But not in the name of atheism.

  • How could billions of people be wrong when it comes to belief in God?

Easy.

  • Why does the universe exist?

Why not?

  • How did life originate?

Slowly.

  • Is all religion harmful?

No, more of a disability.

  • What’s so bad about religious moderates?

They allow for extremists.

  • Is there anything redeeming about religion?

Getting to drink wine on a Sunday morning.

  • What if you’re wrong about God (and He does exist)?

Whoops.

  • Shouldn’t all religious beliefs be respected?

We don’t tolerate racism.

  • Are atheists smarter than theists?

No.

  • How do you deal with the historical Jesus if you don’t believe in his divinity?

What historical Jesus?

  • Would the world be better off without any religion?

Probably not, but one can imagine.

  • What happens when we die?

Nothing special.