I am a graduate of medicine and theology with a Ph.D in medical ethics. I tutor in medical ethics at the University of Melbourne, am an (occasional) adjunct Lecturer in Ethics at Ridley Melbourne, and a voluntary researcher with Ethos. I am also a Fellow of ISCAST and a past chair of the Melbourne Chapter of Christians for Biblical Equality. I have special interests in professional ethics, sexual ethics and the ethics of virtue.
by Jesse Galef – Three weeks ago I moved from Washington, DC to Columbus, Ohio to become the new Communications Director for the Secular Student Alliance! It’s been a hectic couple of months as I had to find an apartment, move, and start work. The job is great, and I joined just in time to drive back to DC to participate in the historic White House briefing visit. Everything has been happening so fast; I feel like I’m just now… Read more
by Jesse Galef – In honor of the impending Valentine’s day and for a fun way to end your workweek, I thought I’d put up this clip of Tim Minchin’s song “If I Didn’t Have You.” He addresses love and fate in his typical form: Normally I would type up some lyrics, but I think you need to just hear it for yourself. I’ve written a post on love before, so I won’t talk about it much. As wonderful as… Read more
by Jesse Galef – If a story didn’t happen, can it still be useful? I first started thinking about this question in college after taking a Hebrew Bible course with professor Bart Ehrman. Evidence points to most of the Bible being historically inaccurate. As Ehrman presented argument after argument for why the stories in the Bible couldn’t be taken literally, he took pains to mention that even if the stories didn’t happen, they might be “metaphorically true.” Most of this post… Read more
by Jesse Galef – You guys love polls about religious attitudes, right? Of course you do, how silly of me to ask – everyone loves polling data! It’s so intoxicating to go digging through the numbers, finding information about the world… that’s not just me, right? …Guys? I was thrilled to read that Religion News Service reports the PEW Research Center has a new poll asking how Americans would feel if a family member married an atheist. Unfortunately, my perverse… Read more
by Jesse Galef – About a week ago I had the pleasure of attending a talk on the nature of secularism entitled “Belief and the Public” given by Michael De Dora Jr., executive director of the CFI-NYC chapter. He started by arguing for the importance of opening religious beliefs up to scrutiny. That part didn’t surprise me and I agreed wholeheartedly. I was, however, surprised when I realized that he was arguing against what I consider a secular government. I… Read more