Some of the reaction to the Steubenville Ohio rape case has highlighted the plight of the perpetrators – two teenage high school football players who penetrated a drunk teenage girl with their fingers and circulated photographs of the crime online – while downplaying or ignoring the plight of the victim of the crime. Initial television […]
I did an interview and photoshoot today with Chris Johnson for his upcoming book A Better Life. Chris has posted this clip on YouTube of me talking about my late wife Anne Holliday, who I loved and who I miss every day. Chris is a New York-based photographer, and he has been traveling through the […]
Thank you to everyone who has, either publicly or privately, welcomed the dialogue taking place here and elsewhere on how to move beyond the rifts in the atheist and skeptic communities. Dialogue is an important part of improving any situation where people disagree, particularly when dealing with groups composed of individuals with different motivations, and […]
Opening speeches from my debate with Irish Times journalist John Waters last Wedensday in NUI Galway on the topic: Does society need religious faith?
I decided a week ago to take time out from the recent discussions about the rifts in the atheist and skeptic communities, in order to get some perspective on what I had learned from the discussions up to then. I would also like to thank the people who have contacted me privately to make helpful […]
In support of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain’s International Day to Defend Apostates and Blasphemers, I am republishing my contribution to the OSCE human rights meeting in Warsaw Poland in October 2012 on protecting the human rights of atheists and ending blasphemy laws internationally. The relevant section, which starts at 0:43, reads: Our second […]
Extracts from my lunchtime debate last Thursday with Mufassil Islam, PhD Law Candidate, organised by Trinity College Dublin Theological Society.
Tuesday 12 March, Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin End of Life Care, Culture and Religion Evening debate, starting 7 pm Albert Lecture Theatre, RCSI Dublin Organized by RCSI Debating Society Prof. David Smith, lecturer in Ethics in RCSI Michael Nugent, Chairperson Atheist Ireland Plus a speaker from a Muslim perspective Wednesday 13 March, NUI Galway […]
I’ve published some reflections on the recent dialogue here. I am now too close to the dialogue to be able to objectively evaluate it, so I am going to republish here a post that I wrote seven months ago, in July 2012, titled ‘Why atheist and skeptic groups should be inclusive, caring and supportive.’ This […]
Whenever I say anything, I do so with the unspoken caveat that I may be mistaken. I want to take responsibility for some mistakes I have made in the recent dialogue. Firstly, I should not have kept the same focus on evaluating examples of behavior once my dialogue with Justin had taken on a life […]