Chapter 6 of The End of Christianity brings us to Valerie Tarico’s essay “God’s Emotions: Why the Biblical God Is Hopelessly Human”. While the argument of the essay is not altogether clear, it would appear that Tarico hopes to extend Jaco Gericke’s assault on the biblical portrayal of God by arguing that the presence of “human” […]
theism
Leprechauns and God: The dialogue continues
We live in a day when “Transformers 3” cleans up at the cineplex while Malik’s “The Tree of Life” languishes at the decrepit Bijou Theatre. So I probably shouldn’t be surprised that many atheists have degereated to the point of defending their beliefs by saying “I don’t believe in leprechauns or unicorns either. Haw haw!” […]
Does a really old universe show that human beings are not important?
Mark Twain thought so. In one of his finest rhetorical moments (in a career sparkling with them) he wrote: “Man has been here 32,000 years. That it took a hundred million years to prepare the world for him is proof that that is what it was done for. I suppose it is. I dunno. If […]
God, atheism, and the de-centered universe
My post on Neil deGrasse Tyson laid the foundations for an “argument from cosmic indifference” that I will be considering closely in the week (or weeks) to come. It is a powerful argument (rhetorically if not logically) though it is rarely put into formal terms. I am going to evaluate it closely. But first I […]
Leprechauns and God
The village atheist rejection of God is hugely dependent on an argument from personal incredulity. Such was the essence of Curt Cameron’s interesting leprechaun response to my analysis of protest atheism. The logical structure of these “arguments” is rarely if ever articulated explicitly. But so far as I can see the argument proceeds like this: (1) The idea that p’s […]
Can an atheist hate God?
One of my readers, the irrepressible Beetle, thinks not. Beetle writes: “The fundy stereotype of the atheist has the latter hating God. But that is absurd of course, because one would not waste so much emotion on something which one did not believe in.” But is it really absurd? Not according to protest atheism. This […]
Can we freely dispense with free will?
Last week I made the claim that “Naturalism is inconsistent with free will.” The most surprising response came from The Atheist Missionary who replied: “Absolutely. I no more had the free choice to type this sentence than I did to take my next unconscious breath.” It would seem then that The Atheist Missionary is a […]
Debriefing my meeting with the Society of Edmonton Atheists
Beetle commented: “Hope to see a follow-up post about your talk!” The talk in question was my address to the Society of Edmonton Atheists. And so, as requested: There were about 25 people in attendance, a broad cross section of society from people in their early twenties to senior citizens in their golden years. Daniel […]
Do Atheists discriminate?
Of course. More exactly, some do and some don’t. Just like some Christians discriminate and some don’t. (I chronicle both types of discrimination in You’re not as Crazy as I Think.) The real question for the present moment is this: how do atheists commonly discriminate? In the last couple weeks I’ve been focusing on some key […]
Personifying the problem of evil
Things began on a sour note when Jerry Rivard accused me of holding a “morally reprehensible” view: “Randal, no offense, but I find this “we’re insignificant without God” perspective to be morally reprehensible….” I find the charge Jerry presents especially troubling. Consider: (1) If Jones holds a racist view then Jones is a racist. By […]
Atheists, the problem of evil, and lame Duane
Remember when you were a kid riding your BMX bike down at the old quarry? You were bold, if a bit foolhardy at times. But regardless, you were always willing to try jumping your Kuwahara over just about anything. And then there was that kid Duane. Remember how he taunted you? “Try to jump the old […]
Stephen Maitzen, theism, and moral duty
You may think I’m all giggles and gumdrops. But you’d be wrong. Catch me at the wrong time and you’d think you had run into Grumpy Dwarf times ten! And I am I’m in a very black mood at the moment. You see, I typed an entire post responding to Stephen Maitzen’s argument, a task […]
Grow up or shut up Rauser
In the heady world of the internet www.randalrauser.com is a relatively sheltered enclave. Ironically even more so than my old stomping ground at the Christian Post. Evidence? I occasionally still cross-post there, and I recently posted “Why no professional philosopher would use Dawkins’ argument” there. The article elicited the following response from somebody identified as […]
The most amazing thing imaginable
I asked Jerry to explain what he means by “the most amazing thing imaginable”. He replied: By “the most amazing thing imaginable” I mean God as the omnipotent omniscient deity that has been posited as the explanation for everything that exists. In other words, Jerry thinks it amazing that a necessary, maximally powerful and intelligent […]
