In my interview “God and the Problem of Suffering: An Interview with Paul Buller” Paul provides a brief summary of his theodicy according to which God allows at least some evil as a means by which moral agents can acquire moral virtue. The article prompted a long comment from The Atheist Missionary (TAM) which concluded […]
discourse
Contempt for dissenting opinion
In “Advice on politely educating ridiculous religious people” I took issue with Walter Sinnott-Armstrong’s claim that “religious beliefs are ridiculous.” In the discussion thread Rob Gressis asked: “How do you feel about people who believe in astrology or crystals?” I replied by noting that I wouldn’t call their belief ridiculous since such a statement would […]
In fact, you don’t know everything: A lesson from John Loftus
The other day in his article “Daniel Dennett on Four Steps to Arguing Intelligently,” John Loftus made the following claim: “Most of the time I deal with the arguments of believers respectfully until it appears they are unwilling to think. Sometimes I can spot them quickly, on the first comment here. They will mindlessly quote-mine […]
