"Is it possible to 'prove' God's Existence in a rational and logical fashion?" . "Are there things in the universe and our human experience that are best explained by the existence of a Personal Creator?" . These questions and many others will be answered in this new series, concerning classical arguments for God's existence. These arguments use simple but powerful reasoning to … [Read more...]
Born Atheists?
Is atheism or theism more natural for human beings? According to online author Tim Covell, “Everyone is born atheist. Religion is learned.” Over at the “rational response squad” you’re treated to the claim that “Many people don't know it but everyone is born an Atheist, it's not until a child has religious beliefs Pushed on them with out any evidence to support them that they … [Read more...]
Divine Invention
The idea of the divine or God is, if you think clearly about it, a very strange concept. To many contemporary scientifically minded people it is childish and even laughable to believe in God. They contend that the physical material world is all there is. So why invent ghost stories? For example, the prominent atheist polemicist Christopher Hitchens contends that as a child it … [Read more...]
Are New Atheists Nietzsche’s English Flat Heads?
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP) described “New Atheists” as early twenty-first century atheist authors promoting atheism. The “New Atheist” label for these critics [that include Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens] of religion and religious belief emerged out of journalistic commentary on the contents and impacts of their books. A … [Read more...]
Do Christians Commit the Fallacy of Composition?
When I debate atheists, from time to time I point out when they commit some of the standard logical fallacies. The genetic fallacy probably comes up as often as any other. This occurs when you incorrectly assume that by proving the origin of a belief, you have thereby disproven the validity of that belief. For example, atheists often claim that morality is merely the … [Read more...]
Is Christianity Just Wishful Thinking?
One of the most honest and heart-wrenching objections to Christianity that I've ever heard goes like this: "I would absolutely love to believe that Christianity is true. The idea that I am unconditionally loved, that I will live forever in paradise after death, that an all-powerful God will hear my prayers, that someone good is looking after me, and all the rest... I would love … [Read more...]
Does grounding moral truth in God’s nature violate Hume’s is-ought?
The short answer is, no, only if you try to justify that truth by referring back to God’s nature. Here is the long answer. It is possible to blend Hume’s is-ought distinction in Ethics with Plato’s justified-true-belief theory of knowledge. A catchy name for it is the Ought-Is-Belief theory of knowledge, moral or otherwise. … [Read more...]
Responses to Challenges from the New Atheists and 'Nones'
Over the last few months, I have been posting responses to some of the challenges coming from the (new) atheists and the "Nones" (those who profess no religious affiliation or faith). What I have done here is provided you with a listing of those responses from the Real Issue blog, so that you have a collection of them for your reference. By no means is this an exhaustive … [Read more...]
Arguing for Deism?
One curious objection I have seen and heard to arguments for the existence of God is that these arguments apply to deism, not Christianity. For example, Michael, an atheist blogger, writes, “Note that these are effectively arguments for deism, not Christianity!” about the Moral Argument (here). The objection seems to be that an argument for the existence of God (such as the … [Read more...]
Who Really Holds the Crutch? Christianity or Atheism?
It was the 19th century atheist Ludwig Feurbach (1804-1872) who stated that "Religion is a dream of the human mind...in these days, illusion is sacred, truth profane." (Religion and Humanistic Atheism, xxxix). And of course who can forget the famous quote of Karl Marx (1818-1883) in response to his criticism of G. W. F. Hegel's "Philosophy of Right", "Religion is the sigh of … [Read more...]