On Sunday night, I called into the Atheist Experience, an atheist TV show based out of Austin, Texas. It is a weekly call in program, airing every Sunday at 4:30 till 5:30pm Central and can be viewed on ustream. The recording of my discussion with Matt Dillahunty from Sunday night (I am the first and longest caller) can still be found online (mp3; video). It is unfortunate … [Read more...]
Quality of Life in the Multiverse
The universe appears to be fine-tuned for life. For example, seemingly infinitesimal adjustments to the dark-energy density or gravitational constant would render most conceivable forms of life impossible. Adjusting the dark energy, for example, would result in either no planets or a collapsed universe.[1] Clearly, cosmic fine-tuning is necessary (although not sufficient) … [Read more...]
Understanding the arguments in God’s not Dead: Part II of III
In part one we looked at the arguments advanced by Professor Radisson, now we come to the arguments Josh put forward as he took the floor. The first argument Josh talked about is called the Cosmological Argument for the existence of God. This comes in many different versions, all of which have interesting aspects. Yet all of them have in common the idea of a first cause, … [Read more...]
Nietzsche and Two Unpleasant Implications of Darwinism
“There was a type of enjoyment in overpowering and interpreting the world in the manner of Plato,” contended Friedrich Nietzsche, “different from the enjoyment offered by today’s physicists, or by the Darwinians and anti-teleologists who work in physiology, with their principle of the ‘smallest possible force’ and greatest possible stupidity”(Nietzsche 2002, 15-16) Nietzsche’s … [Read more...]
David Hume’s Genuine Theism
“All the new discoveries in astronomy,” explained David Hume quo Philo, “which prove the immense grandeur and magnificence of the works of Nature, are so many additional arguments for a Deity, according to the true system of Theism.” (DNR 165) Superstition, following Hume, ravishes from us the “presents of God and Nature”. Liberation from the slavery of the grossest … [Read more...]
Teleological (Design) Arguments
[This post is a work in progress as part of the CAA Catechism.] [Add the title only in the title field, not in the body of the post.] Summary in 400 words or less: Scripture for YouVersion: Short audio/video: Three questions (1 fill-in-the-blank, 1 multiple choice, and one discussion question): References for further reading: Collaboration notes: Collaborators: [Add your name … [Read more...]
Evaluation of Darwin's Doubt by Stephen C. Meyer, Part 4
This is the fourth and final installment in my book review series on Darwin's Doubt. Part III: After Darwin, What? In chapters 15 and 16, Meyer explores the various "post-Darwinian" models that have been proposed to account for the massive amount of biological information required to give rise to new body structures and ultimately, new body plans. … [Read more...]
Nietzsche’s Rejection of Darwinian Evolution
“The error of the Darwinist school has become a problem for me: ” wrote Friedrich Nietzsche, “how can one be so blind as to fail to see clearly here? … That the species represent progress is the most unreasonable assertion in the world:” (Nietzsche 2003, 258) In a period of ten years, Nietzsche drifted from admiring Darwin and his company as “great names of England” to … [Read more...]
Arguments from Language
[This post is a work in progress as part of the CAA Catechism.] [Add the title only in the title field, not in the body of the post.] Summary in 400 words or less: Scripture for YouVersion: Short audio/video: Three questions (1 fill-in-the-blank, 1 multiple choice, and one discussion question): References for further reading: Collaboration notes: The Argument from Language. The … [Read more...]
Arguments from Intelligent Design in Biology
[This post is a work in progress as part of the CAA Catechism.] [Add the title only in the title field, not in the body of the post.] Summary in 400 words or less: Information Argument Processes and programs require information to operate. Information requires intelligence. Biological life consists of processes and programs. Therefore, the biological life requires programming … [Read more...]