Yesterday, I posed the following question on Twitter: You wake up the morning of a scheduled flight from a vivid nightmare that the flight on which you’re booked crashes. You’ve never had a dream that vivid and it is terrifying, but you put it aside and drive to the airport. Once you arrive, you’re walking […]
rationality
Reasonable Belief, Reasonable Doubt, and the Resurrection of Jesus
Two days ago, I posted two Twitter surveys directed at two different groups and asking a similar question about an event which is purported to have occurred two thousand years ago. One would think it is possible for people reasonably to disagree about a topic this far removed in time and based on documentary evidence […]
Is Christianity falsifiable? Does it matter if it isn’t?
There is this all-too-common assumption among skeptics of religion that Christianity must somehow be “falsifiable” in order to be a legitimate interpretive framework for reality. The quick (and tempting) response is to say that Christianity is falsifiable: if there is no resurrected Jesus then there is no Christianity. However, many nominal Christians have continued in the […]
“There is insufficient evidence to warrant belief.” Eh?
This morning, I noticed an exchange between Angry Grasshopper and Ron H. on my blog regarding the nature of evidence for theism. I have excerpted the relevant bits below, but you can read the fuller exchange starting here. After that, I’ll offer my own comments. Angry Grasshopper: “I don’t reject ‘mere’ theism because it doesn’t […]
The Problem of Religious Skeptics Singling out Religious Beliefs for Criticism
I regularly encounter religious skeptics who single out religious beliefs as presenting some particular epistemological problem. The catalyst for this article is one of those opinions which I read just this morning on Twitter. The skeptic writes: “Why do folks ”struggle” with religious beliefs? We happily let our other beliefs evolve as we go thru […]
The Meaning and Rationality of Faith: A Christian and Atheist Conversation
Christians and atheists often engage in heated debate over the rationality of faith. Unfortunately, those conversations tend to generate more heat than light, not least because the parties to the discussion often end up talking past one another. If we want to make real progress on debating the rationality of faith, we should begin by […]
Does the success of Christianity provide a prima facie reason to believe it is true?
Christianity is the largest religion on earth with approximately 2.2 billion adherents. Do you think the undeniable success of Christianity provides a prima facie reason to believe it is true? — Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) October 4, 2018 In this article, I’d like to offer a response to the 40 percent of respondents to my survey […]
Encountering Mystery at the Summer Waterslide
This article is equal parts summer nostalgia and rumination on mystery. But let’s start with the summer nostalgia. Summer Nostalgia I grew up in the 1980s when land prices were sufficiently low that it made sense to devote a large tract of land to a summertime waterslide. (Sadly, those days are long gone and that […]
When is an apologetic dialogue no longer worth pursuing?
Yesterday, I came across this tweet by Christian apologist Max Andrews courtesy of a retweet by Chad at Truthbomb Apologetics: https://twitter.com/iAmMax_A/status/1017170408464900098 The goal, presumably, is to focus on conversations that are likely to be “productive”. In this article, I’d like to state briefly why I disagree with Andrews. Apologetics and Evangelism Before I get to […]
If James Clapper lied in the past, can we trust that he is telling the truth about Trump and Russia?
Yesterday I posted a tweet about James Clapper and Donald Trump. Here is the tweet with Dave GhostBear’s response: James Clapper committed perjury before Congress with regards to domestic spying. He is not a trustworthy source, and you should be wary of him also — David Schoen (@JediGhostBear) May 24, 2018 The Disagreement This response […]
Feel free to sit on the fence, but don’t get caught in the lava flow
Some years ago the Jewish philosopher David Shatz wrote an essay titled “The Overexamined Life is not Worth Living.” That title could apply equally to chapter 31 of my 2012 apologetics book The Swedish Atheist, the Scuba Diver and Other Apologetic Rabbit Trails. The book features an extended Socratic-styled dialogue between an atheist named Sheridan and […]
Have aliens visited earth? Is the idea worth taking seriously? A response to Sean Carroll
Today I came across this tweet courtesy of Counter Apologist: Okay there are far too many people here in the 21st century giving nontrivial credence to the idea that there are alien spacecraft flying around in our skies. — Sean Carroll (@seanmcarroll) December 23, 2017 I assume by “giving nontrivial credence to x” Carroll is meaning […]
Is it technically morally wrong to proselytize for something other than the true religion?
I encountered the question this morning in a tweet from Counter Apologist: Question for Theists: Is it technically morally wrong to proselytize for something other than the true religion? — Counter Apologist (@CounterApologis) August 25, 2017 Point One In response, the first point I made is that proselytization is simply the act of attempting to […]
Atheists who celebrate intellectual regression
Intellectual development involves, among other things, the increased ability to analyze the views of others with critical nuance and charity. At its most sophisticated level, that trend includes the skill of rigorous devil’s advocacy, i.e. the ability to defend the views of others with as much sophistication and putative conviction as genuine advocates for the […]
