Brent Rasmussen

Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.

Jim Downey

UTI Associate blogger Jim Downey is a former newspaper columnist and also writes at the Daily Kos under the handle Shadan7. "I'm the fat old man of the crowd (well, make that middle-aged and overweight). My life's arc has been colorful in some odd and delightful ways, and though by most conventional standards I'm not 'successful', I've mostly enjoyed the ride. I now keep busy writing, playing with my dog, and as a book & document conservator in private practice."

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Rick Ulrey

UTI Associate blogger Rick Ulrey comes to UTI by way of the Marine Corps: "I'm 31 and I earn my living fixing computers. I served 6 years in the Marine Corps and consider myself a liberal libertarian with conservative leanings. I am a firm believer that the world would be a better place if people took responsibility for themselves and their actions. As you can see from the picture I love food. That's me eating a banana fritter in Australia with a nice cup of coffee. I love to cook and my other hobbies include hiking, camping, reading and on and offline gaming."

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Steven Darksyde

UTI co-blogger and friend DarkSyde has this to say about himself: "I'm in my 40s, I work out a lot, I'm a personal trainer as a hobby, I've worked mainly as an investment advisor, stocks and bonds. I've done quite a bit of sky diving. I live a few miles from the Space Center in Florida. I have a strong background in math and physics and I'm an active advocate for Evolution in the Evolution vs. Creationism issue."

The Outer Blogness

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Doubt and meaning

Submitted by frankmoorman on May 26, 2007 - 7:41pm.

For a good survey of the movements of doubt and atheism that arose within all religions, as well as how each new religious movement combines pieces of those that went before, I highly recommend Doubt: A History by Jennifer Michael Hecht. It's very well written, with wit and humor, and full of information, carefully researched.

This sentence in the chapter on Gnosticism and early movements within the first centuries of Christianity grabbed me. Even though Gnosticism did preserve belief in god, "it left room for men and women to do their own thinking, to work out their own relationship to their inner self and the strangely hostile world in which it finds itself."

Thinking for myself, working out my own relationship to my inner self and to the world around me: I have never found a more succinct characterization of what I like to spend my brain power doing.

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