Writings and other projects of a former Christian who traded the glare of certainty for the glimmer of an honest search for truth.

Desire to think well. noble-minded.org (personal website of Edward A. Morris) Think to desire well.

Dedicated to the idea that the unexamined thought is not worth thinking.

“It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.” - René Descartes

“We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking.” - Mark Twain

Essays and Arguments

• Main Arguments Against Christianity:
  • A Theological Odyssey  (the story of my deconversion from Christianity)   [PDF version]
    Note: An abridged version of this essay is in the book Apostate: Stories of Deconversion (Apocryphile Press, 2025).
  • Why I Rejected the Christian Faith  (a critique of the argument for the resurrection of Jesus)
• Other Writings on Christian Belief:
  • The Strange and Cruel Gospel of Christian Fundamentalism  (a plea to fundamentalists for a more thoughtful interpretation of the “gospel” of Jesus)
  • Fear and Trembling Revisited  (a parable of lost faith)
• Essays on Philosophically Theistic (but Not Specifically Christian) Ideas and Arguments:
  • The Problem of Personal Identity for the Hope of an Afterlife  (a critique of the rational coherence of wishing for life after death)
  • The Argument from Contingency  (an agnostic analysis of the rational case for God)
  • Goldbach’s Conjecture and the Uselessness of the Modal Ontological Argument  (on the confusion between modal and epistemic possibility)
  • The Anthropic Oddity of Our Youth  (an admittedly perplexing relative of the fine-tuning argument)
• Thoughts on Thinking and Belief:
  • Gödel, Pascal, and the Rationality of Unprovable Beliefs  (on the possibility for rational epistemological foundations)
  • The Peril of Positive Feedback in Our Beliefs  (a consideration of why we are so naturally gullible)
• Random Other Topics:
  • Determinism and Free Will  (a systematic categorization of concepts and theories)
  • Evolution and the Second Law of Thermodynamics  (how we know they are not in conflict despite the deniers)
  • Does the Bible Use an Erroneous Value for Pi?  (just some mathematical fun, not to be taken seriously)

Poetry and Light Verse

• Poems About Deconversion From Christianity:
  • Don’t Cry for Me, Christiana
  • The Haunted Colossus
  • One Flew West
  • A Painful Parting
  • It Ain’t Necessarily So
• Poems About Nature and Life:
  • The Mountains Are Calling
  • The Entropy of Dreams
  • Destiny’s Railroad
  • Smile
• Playful Story Poems and Parodies:
  • One Night in a Haunted Manner
  • Fear of the Wild
  • Casey on Second
  • The Dove
• Playful Poems About Thinking and Belief:
  • Ode to the Failure of Modern Philosophy to Defeat Skepticism
  • Fossilitis Ignoratious

• More Poems About Deconversion From Christianity:
  • Garden Party for Atheists
  • The Grown-up Man I Feared
  • They Cheer for Jesus
  • Related Concepts
  • Placebo Gazebo
  • Holly Bibble
  • The Hairy Tick
  • The Serpent of Pseudo-Paradise
• More Poems About Nature and Life:
  • Journey of a Thousand Miles
  • Which Is the Bliss of Solitude
  • The Gardens of Babylon
  • The Other Question?
  • The Shape of My Art
  • A Sonnet to Sadness
  • Galileo’s Legacy
  • Pink Polka Dots
  • Dormant Seeds
  • A Somber Vow
  • True to Life
• More Story Poems and Parodies:
  • That’s Psychosis
  • Dawn of a New Age
  • Our Spicy First Date
  • Ice Cream
  • Starting with Paradox in a Poet’s Nightmare
• More Poems About Thinking and Belief:
  • Pretendity Profundity
  • A Dismal Diagnosis
  • Warm Fuzzy Logic
  • The Swill to Believe
  • Breaking the Spell
  • Pascal’s Wager
  • The DK Effect
  • Pesky Loose Ends
  • Evolution Still in Progress
  • The Solace of the Insufferable
  • At the Risk of Condescension...
• Somewhat Nerdy Poems About Random Topics in Logic, Philosophy, and Science:
  • The Triumph of Schrödinger’s Cat
  • The Pythagorean Trump
  • Einstein’s Bent Lines
  • MWI-hi-hi
  • Plato’s Cave
  • Scurry Curry
  • Turing Tested
  • Strangled by a Gödel
  • Magritte’s Treachery
  • Ockham’s Safety Razor
  • Kant Always Be Truthful
  • Cogito Ergo Something
  • A Zombie’s Confusion?
  • The Mystery of Time
  • The God-complex Particle
  • The Absurdity of Free Will
  • Complex Number Psychology
  • Epistemology in a Pickled Pepper Shell
• Poems and Parodies with a Sarcastic Political Edge:
  • Maniac President’s Song
  • Rejoinder to a Blowhard
  • Carter’s Metric
  • Sycophanatics
  • Party Spirit
  • The American Way
  • The Most Polarizing Filter of All
  • If Archie Bunker Were Still Alive
  • A Presidential Explanation  (mild crudeness warning)
• Totally Silly Short Rhymes and Limericks About Random Other Topics:
  • An American in Paris
  • The Birdwatcher’s Lament
  • The Problem with Kidnappers
  • The Half-Truth About Facebook
  • The Time Traveler’s Dilemma
  • Why Tomorrow Never Comes
  • The Buffeting of the Buffet
  • Playful Playground Perp
  • Hickory Sch’mickory
  • A Fishy Comparison
  • Reindeer Borealis
  • Achoo-oo-eww
  • Cucumber Pie
  • Jockerwabby
  • Sour Grapeness
  • Spelling Trouble
  • Rhymes with Use
  • A Kiss for Poets
  • Poetry That Isn’t
  • Purple Platitudes
  • Tribute to Doggerel
  • To Say It Succinctly
  • Lifelong Existence
  • Blake’s Mistake
  • Poet on a Date
  • Limmer Ickish
  • Alpha Version
  • Polar Poker
  • Hindsight
  • Pundit
  • Bad Poet
  • Poetic Justice
  • Animal Instinct
  • Driving Me Mad  (mild crudeness warning)
  • Puff the Poker Princess  (mild crudeness warning)
  • A Sure Lock on the Case  (mild crudeness warning)
  • Cut Down to Size  (mild crudeness warning)
  • Of Curse...  (mild crudeness warning)

Personal Information and Miscellaneous

• About Me  (Ed Morris, the author of this website)
  • Favorite Quotations  (well-known thoughts that I like and find particularly fitting for the theme of this web site)
  • Wisdom Sayings  (similarly “wise” thoughts by me—yes, I know it sounds a little pretentious)

• Show older writings not compatible with my current beliefs...
  • Essays Written from a Christian Point of View
  • Poetry Written from a Christian Point of View
• Show political commentary/rants...
  • 2020:
    • Why Mere Color-Blindness Isn’t Enough
  • 2019:
    • Trump’s Bribery and the Moral and/or Intellectual Bankruptcy of His Defenders
    • Trump’s Bribery and the Moral and/or Intellectual Bankruptcy of His Defenders, Part 2
  • 2012:
    • Taxation in the Spirit of the U. S. Constitution
• Show photography...
  • Photography - through 2008
  • Photography - 2009
  • Photography - 2010
  • Photography - 2011
  • Photography - 2012
  • Photography - 2013
  • Photography - 2014
  • Photography - 2015
  • Photography - 2016
  • Photography - 2017
  • Photography - 2018
  • Photography - 2019, Colorado Scenic
  • Photography - 2019, Colorado Bird and Wildlife
  • Photography - 2019, Other (Outside of Colorado)
  • Photography - 2020, Colorado Scenic
  • Photography - 2020, Colorado Bird and Wildlife
  • Photography - 2021, Colorado Scenic
  • Photography - 2021, Colorado Bird and Wildlife
  • Photography - 2021, Other (Outside of Colorado)
  • Photography - 2022, Colorado Scenic
  • Photography - 2022, Colorado Bird and Wildlife
  • Photography - 2022, Other (Outside of Colorado)
  • Photography - 2023, Colorado Scenic
  • Photography - 2023, Colorado Bird and Wildlife
  • Photography - 2023, Other (Outside of Colorado)
  • Photography - 2024, Colorado Scenic
  • Photography - 2024, Colorado Bird and Wildlife
  • Photography - 2024, Other (Outside of Colorado)

Strategy Games—Free to Play Online

(Invented and programmed by me. Also available at my software-only website, www.edmorris.org.)

• Four on the Floor  (A “shifty” variation on the classic Connect Four game.)
• Loopy  (Just say “No!” to Tic-tac-toe. This game is lots more challenging and lots more . . . loopy.)

This page copyright © 2001-2024 Edward A. Morris.  Created May 3, 2001.  Last updated February 22, 2025.