Asad: Thinking About Religion, Secularism, and Politics

In October 2008, Harry Kreisler interviewed Talal Asad, “focusing on religion, modernity, and the complex relationships between Islam and the West” (57:02).

Ehrman: How the Bible Explains Suffering

In September 2008, Bart Ehrman delivered one of the 2008 Foerster Lectures on the Immortality of the Soul at the University of California Berkeley. The lecture series commenced in 1928, and has included lectures by Oliver Sacks, Thomas S. Kuhn, Aldous Huxley, and Paul Tillich.

“God’s Problem and Human Solutions: How the Bible Explains Suffering”

James McGrath on the Historical Study of the Burial of Jesus

“Historical study is a different sort of approach from the one that many religious believers adopt when they encounter different accounts in the Bible. For instance, when the Gospels tell the same story, but in different ways, what a historian does is not simply blend the details together, from these various accounts, but compare them, look for signs of development, of change. And often historians will conclude that one is more reliable than the others. And if we think about the instance of the burial of Jesus, one example of this, a place where the Gospels seem to differ, and provide different information that one cannot simply harmonize – a good example is found in the differences between Mark’s gospel (which most scholars think is the earliest) and John’s gospel (which is often dated as one of the latest, if not the latest of the gospels in the New Testament) … ”
– James McGrath, author of The Burial of Jesus: History and Faith (2008)

See James McGrath’s full explanation on the YouTube video (5:17). He also has a blog on his new book here.

What Would You Do if Somebody Came Up to you One Day at the Office and said he was Going to Kill his Son Because of Voices in his Head?

This?

Saudi Cleric Muhammad Al-Munajid Declares Micky Mouse Must Die!

Mortimer Hayden Smyth on Gay Marriage

Mortimer Hayden Smyth, Director of Deviant Homosexual Studies at the D.C.-based think-tank The Center For American Free Thought, speaks out on the hot button issue of Gay Marriage…

Hector Avalos Blogs

Debunking Christianity has announced that Hector Avalos will be a regular, yet infrequent, blogger.

Here’s a clip in which Hector Avalos explains why he went from Christian, child evangelist, and faith healer to atheist:

Are You An Atheist? Then What Will You Say to The God of The Bible on the Day of Judgment?

This video is from Christians For The Praise And Worshipping Of The God Of The Bible Or Else (aka Edward Current):

Paul’s letters to the Corinthians – Eddie Izzard’s Commentary

Fresh from his starring role as Reepacheep in the movie Prince Caspian, the versatile Eddie Izzard delivers an exegesis on Paul’s letters to the Corinthians.

(Contains British Comedian language.)

Burke Lecture 2008: The Challenge of Islamophobia

On May 5, 2008, Khaled Abou El Fadl examined how preconceptions of the ‘oriental’ Islamic have determined the way in which invading American soldiers have abused, tortured and raped Iraqi civilians. He delivers the 2008 Burke Lecture, provided here on YouTube by the video’s rightful owners, University of California Television (58:30):

Happy 4th of July! Remember, do what we say, or we’ll bring democracy to your country.