People Who Harbor Strong Convictions

To Treat Others Ethically Is To Act Out Of Concern For Their Happiness And Suffering.

As Many Critics Of Religion Have Pointed Out, The Notion Of A Creator Poses An Immediate Problem Of An Infinite Regress. If God Created The Universe, What Created God? To Say That God, By Definition, Is Uncreated Simply Begs The Question. Any Being Capable Of Creating A Complex World Promises To Be Very Complex Himself. As The Biologist Richard Dawkins Has Observed Repeatedly, The Only Natural Process We Know Of That Could Produce A Being Capable Of Designing Things Is Evolution.

We Have A Choice. We Have Two Options As Human Beings. We Have A Choice Between Conversation And War. That's It. Conversation And Violence. And Faith Is A Conversation Stopper.

Either Our Wills Are Determined By Prior Causes And We Are Not Responsible For Them, Or They Are The Product Of Chance And We Are Not Responsible For Them.

It Is Easy To See What Many People, Women Especially, Admire About Sarah Palin. Here Is A Mother Of Five Who Can See The Bright Side Of Having A Child With Down Syndrome And Still Find The Time And Energy To Govern The State Of Alaska.