Yesterday Jeff Lowder posted the following tweet: I replied: But Jeff disagreed: So if you hear a new heavy album and the guitars sound like they’re being played by second year guitar students, that provides a good reason to think the album wasn’t recorded by Metallica. Sure, all things being equal, that makes sense. (Having […]
naturalism
How the British Humanist Association Promotes Propaganda
This is my second critique of the British Humanist Association video “How do we know what is true?” In my first article on the topic I pointed out how the video tacitly endorses scientism and thereby undermines the value claims upon which humanism is predicated. It is now time to turn to the deeper and […]
A Limited Appetite for Wonder
There is no doubt that Richard Dawkins has an appetite for wonder. The title of his memoir tells us so. If that’s too cheeky, then let me hasten to add that I have no doubt he does have an appetite for wonder. While I haven’t read Dawkins’ memoir, I have read several of his other […]
How to tell if somebody is demon possessed: points 3-5
It’s time for me to wrap up this strange little series in which I discuss the criteria Father Thomas outlines for diagnosing an instance of demon possession. In this final article I’m going to summarize and evaluate points 3, 4, and 5. 3. New Language We begin with the third point which involves the demoniac suddenly speaking […]
Jeff Lowder on Is the Atheist My Neighbor?
When I was writing Is the Atheist My Neighbor? I wanted to have a chapter devoted to dialogue with an atheist. After all, the best way to gain perspective and nuance regarding the views of another belief community is to invite a representative of that community into conversation. However, not just any member of the […]
Knocking Down the Strawman Theist
In my last article I made some positive comments about Julian Baggini’s book Atheism: A Very Short Introduction. The book is pithy, clear, and presents a very useful explication of how atheism relates to naturalism. Unfortunately, it is also brutal when it comes to engaging theistic philosophy of religion. This becomes readily apparent in chapter […]
Further reflections on Baggini’s Atheism: A Very Short Introduction
Just over a year ago I began reading Julian Baggini’s little book Atheism: A Very Short Introduction. It’s a great little book, far more engaging and reliable than a library of new atheist books. That doesn’t mean I agree with it, however. Indeed, I didn’t get far before I wrote a response “Is atheism a […]
Religion without God : A Review (Part 1)
Ronald Dworkin. Religion without God. Oxford University Press, 2012. “The theme of this book is that religion is deeper than God. Religion is a deep, distinct, and comprehensive worldview: it holds that inherent, objective value permeates everything, that the universe and its creatures are awe-inspiring, that human life has purpose and the universe order.” (1) […]
Scientism and Sneer Quotes
In my article “Science is no substitute for religion: A Reader’s Journey Through God or Godless (Part 7)” I critiqued John Loftus’s attempt to claim science for atheism. For example, Loftus writes: “Science answers questions and solves problems. Religion has never answered one single question or solved one single problem.” (50) Part of my response […]
A Primer to my Reader’s Journey Through God or Godless
In retrospect, this primer should have come before I started my series on God or Godless. But better late than never, right? So why write the primer now? I realized I needed it after writing the third installment in the series which is based on the first chapter and was itself titled: “If there is […]
Justifying Naturalism?
In my recent dialogue with Justin Schieber we had an interesting exchange on Justin’s commitment to a position he refers to as “naturalism”. To get the most out of this article, you should begin by taking ten minutes (or so) to get the background exchange. You can start watching from here. In this exchange, Schieber […]
Intelligent Design and Astrology
Yesterday in the discussion for my article “The Anthropocentrism Switcheroo“, I made the following comment: “Everybody’s interested in how some words are defined. Like most scientists, Tyson is very interested to defend a particular definition of “science” … and to ensure that dissonant definitions like that assumed by ID are excluded.” This prompted Andy Schueler […]
The Anthropocentrism Switcheroo?
One of Justin Schieber’s arguments in our recent debate was based on the size and hostility of the universe. Justin argues that the size and hostility of the universe to (human) life favors naturalism over theism because we would expect the universe to be large and hostile to life if naturalism were true but we […]
68. Justin Schieber on knowledge, God and morality
This is the second installment of my interview with Justin Schieber in which we debrief our March 7th debate on God’s existence and our March 8th dialogue on belief and doubt. (If you haven’t listened to part 1 yet, you can do so here.) In part 2 of the conversation we conclude the topic of proper […]
