February 2012
32 posts
Debunking Christianity
Professor Matt McCormick’s Definition of Faith
I’ve been discussing the reasonableness of faith lately ending here. Having read through the uncorrected advance reading copy of Dr. Matt McCormick’s book, Atheism and the Case Against Christ, he has a chapter on faith that agrees with me (or should I…
via: Debunking Christianity
Debunking Christianity
On Definitions of Faith and Arguments Against It
Skeptics define “faith” differently than believers. It’s hard to find a middle ground between us because we see faith differently. Here are a few skeptical definitions of faith: Mark Twain defined faith as “believing what you know ain’t true.” Sam…
WIBA Will Be Available in Four Weeks
I just received word that my extensively...
Debunking Christianity
A Reasonable Faith is an Oxymoron
This is what I think. I’ve previously argued for this in a different way when I quipped, Faith is an Irrational Leap Over the Probabilities. This is an ongoing discussion though. It would take more than what I’ve written to show this to be the case….
Jerry Coyne on the “Sophisticated Theology” of Plantinga
While Coyne is attempting to deal with...
Atheist Revolution
Jessica Ahlquist on CNN
I don’t care that she’s still in high school; Jessica Ahlquist is an inspiration. It is great to see her finally getting some attention from the mainstream media. First, it helps bring her story into the public consciousness where she can serve as an…
Two Different Responses to Quran Burning
It isn’t exactly surprising that there will be riots in...
Debunking Christianity
Quote of the Day, by articulett
It’s not that science has ever been wrong… it’s that religion has never been right. Science has an error correcting mechanism; faith does not. That’s why there is one science— and it’s the same for everybody no matter what they believe. I don’t think…
via: Debunking Christianity
Debunking Christianity
Faith is an Irrational Leap Over the Probabilities
You can quote me on this. Probability is all that matters. Faith is irrational. I want to drive this point into the ground once and for all. The problem is that practically nothing is certain. So the word “faith” is used to describe any conclusion of…
“Herding Cats?” by Secular Planet
It’s said that organizing...
Atheist Media
The Men Behind The War On Women
From Huffington Post: A group of men with no real background in law or medicine, but blessed with a strong personal interest in women’s bodies, have quietly influenced all of the major anti-abortion legislation over the past several years. The U.S….
BBC The Big Questions: Is Britain A Christian Country? (With Richard Dawkins)
Play all videos (3) Febraury 19,...
Debunking Christianity
In Defense of Rebecca Watson
This is one of my posts when I was at Freethought Blogs. I don’t usually speak out about what’s going on in any atheist community because I’m not really a part of them. To be a part of one demands becoming a member of an atheist organization and/or attending…
On Divisive Atheists and Some Freethought Bloggers
In February 2002, four years before...
Debunking Christianity
“Reports of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated”
I’m just relaxing a bit, taking a small break. I’m wondering if I have anything more to say that I haven’t said before. I can revisit my arguments, review another book, link to a new site, do another podcast interview or other such things. But what additional…
“The End of Christianity” Nominated Favorite...
Debunking Christianity
The Relationship of Religious Diversity to Moral Diversity
Religious diversity is one of the main reasons why there is moral diversity (next to gender, race, age, economic, and national differences). Religious diversity ultimately stands in the way of a healthy world society by pitting various religious groups…
The Golden Rule and Christian Apologetics
I have run across not a few...
Debunking Christianity
The Debunking Handbook Is Now Free
The Debunking Handbook, a guide to debunking misinformation, is now freely available to download. Although there is a great deal of psychological research on misinformation, there’s no summary of the literature that offers practical guidelines on the…
via: Debunking Christianity
Atheist Revolution
Culture War 2.0 or Same Old War?
“Contraceptives, religious freedom: Are we in a new culture war?” was the title of a recent article on CNN.com by Brianna Kellar and Eric Marrapodi. The argument appears to be that abortion and gay marriage have been set aside by the right and replaced…
The Christian Right’s War on Education
Many Christians value a strong system of secular...
Debunking Christianity
Is Richard Dawkins the Liar?: “Doctor” Jim West’s Dishonesty Revealed
Psychoanalysis is a common method for delegitimizing atheists. For example, Paul Vitz’s Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism (2000) tries to show that atheism correlates with absent fathers. Jim Spiegel, a professor at Taylor University,…
Richard Carrier vs Douglas Jacoby: Jesus, Son of God or...
Debunking Christianity
Is Richard Dawkins the Liar?: “Doctor” Jim West’s Dishonesty Revealed
Psychoanalysis is a common method for delegitimizing atheists. For example, Paul Vitz’s Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism (2000) tries to show that atheism correlates with absent fathers. Jim Spiegel, a professor at Taylor University,…
Some “Nice” Christians Are Praying Me
Care to pray...
Atheist Media
Italy Plans to Tax Vatican on Commercial Property
From BBC News: Italy’s Catholic Church faces an annual multi-million euro bill over government plans to strip it of its tax-exempt status. Prime Minister Mario Monti has announced the Vatican must pay taxes on non-religious property, from which it previously…
BBC Newsnight: Secularism vs. Religion in National Affairs
February 15, 2012...
Debunking Christianity
Reviews And Emails Like This Keep Me Going
By Fox (Charleston SC) - This review is from: Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity (Paperback)As a former fundamentalist Christian of 26 years, I shudder to think what my life may have turned out like, had I not randomly spotted…
Ed Brayton, the Founder of Freethought Blogs, Comments
Ed wrote:I’m really saddened by all...
Debunking Christianity
Why Must People Always Personally Attack Apostates?
It’s typical of human nature to say nasty things about someone who leaves a church, ministry, or social grouping of any kind. “He wasn’t one of us in the first place.” “He has some big problems.” People do this. When it happens we should expect it. Christians…
Six Thoughtful Links
Professor Matt...
Debunking Christianity
Private Subjective Experience is No Evidence At All: Against William Lane Craig’s Inner Witness of the Spirit
Since I’ve written a lot against Craig’s claim of the inner witness of the Spirit I’ve decided to gather together the most important posts about it here. Christians are claiming I am ignorant about what he claims. Nope, I’m not. That’s a typical...
Debunking Christianity
Answering Some of My Critics
Around the web I have several detractors. They accuse me of a few things which I’d like to take the time to answer. I’m accused of being an egotistical self-promoting control freak who censors comments at DC and bans people off his Blog who disagree…
Some Atheists are Schmucks ;-)
Some of them remind me of Christians when disagreement arises. Enjoy. Tom Quixote,...
Debunking Christianity
The Scale of the Universe
Link. Drag the square at the bottom from left to right and back. Where is God? ;-) Nikita Khrushchev later said after Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin flew into space in 1961 that “Gagarin flew into space, but didn’t see any god there.” Such a comment was…
The OTF for Mormonism
Mormons assume other religions have the burden of proof. They assume...
Atheist Revolution
Honoring Darwin
Today is Darwin Day, a celebration of the birth of Charles Darwin on Feb. 12, 1809. Whether we are talking about science or religion, Darwin’s significance cannot be overstated. Darwin Day is a perfect excuse to reflect on Darwin’s contributions and where…
The Catholic War on Women
As we near the 2012 presidential election, continued economic progress means that...
Debunking Christianity
Quote of the Day, With Examples
If the same kind of reasoning produces support for two different conclusions then the reasoning is delusional. By your host here, John W. Loftus ;-)—Example 1) Ontological argumentation for God’s existence equally supports the Oriental conception of…
BBC Program “Phantoms in the Brain” Hosted by V.S. Ramachandran
This is an episode...
Atheist Media
About a Jesus…
via Friendly Atheist (Thanks Josh)
The Reason Rally - March 24, 2012
ReasonRally.org
New Rule: Atheism is not a religion! - Bill Maher
February 3, 2012 on Real Time with Bill Maher The Real Time host brings Mitt Romney’s father-in-law back to the realm of the dead atheist.
via: Atheist Media Blog
Debunking Christianity
Is William Lane Craig Dishonest With the Facts? I’ve Drawn a Line in the Sand.
Most people know that I defend William Lane Craig against the charge that he is dishonest as an apologist. Among skeptics I am his biggest defender, perhaps the only one. But I have just asked him three questions about the inner witness of the Holy Spirit…
*Sigh* The Inner Witness of the Spirit...
Debunking Christianity
An Interview With Richard Carrier About His Book, “Proving History”
Richard Carrier has kindly agreed to answer some questions I posed after reading his soon to be released book Proving History: Bayes’s Theorem and the Quest for the Historical Jesus (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. 2012). This book introduces Bayes’s…
Quote of the Day, by articulett on the OTF ;-)
You can...
Debunking Christianity
Quote of the Day, by Kel
Self-authenticating private evidence is useless, because it is indistinguishable from the illusion of it.
An Explanation About the Books I Recommend
I should say something about the books listed in the sidebar that I recommend. There are lots of books debunking Christianity and/or in defense of reason and science not listed. So let me explain my choices since some authors...
Debunking Christianity
William Lane Craig: “Christian belief is not based on the historical evidence.”
This is the very last sentence Craig writes that can be read here, which is his conclusion after dealing with the problem of Lessing’s Ugly Broad Ditch. This is where I think Christians are impaled on the horns of a dilemma. Let me explain. First let’s…
via: Debunking Christianity
Atheist Revolution
Asking Why
I had a bit of a rebellious streak in my youth, and I am sure that there were times when I adopted a minority position simply to rebel against authority. This was probably also a contributing factor to how outspoken I was about my atheism during my college…
Delegitimizing Atheists in the Media
Staks over at Dangerous Talk recently brought up a great point about how people -...
Debunking Christianity
Delusional on a Grand Scale: Assessing The Inner Witness of the Spirit
William Lane Craig claims the inner witness of the Spirit “trumps all other evidence.” It is “an intrinsic defeater-defeater” for anyone who experiences to it. So even if I don’t have that witness, and even if I don’t like the idea of such a witness,…
Richard Carrier On The Eclipse of...
Atheist Media
Alain de Botton: Atheism 2.0 - TED
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via: Atheist Media Blog
Debunking Christianity
“Why We Must Treat the Bible No Differently Than Any Other Book” By Biblical Scholar James A. Metzger
…many theologians and biblical scholars continue to speak of the Christian God in only the most sterling manner: as, for instance, all-loving, just, infinitely wise, and inexhaustibly merciful. But this is not the God of the Bible – not even close….
“On Visions and...
Debunking Christianity
Not Even an Omniscient God Could Convince Me That I Willfully Reject Christianity Against the Overwhelming Evidence
I cannot conceive of an omniscient God being able to do this given all that I know about Christianity, the Bible, theology, philosophy, science, and the history of the church. For God to do this he would have to re-create this universe and basically rewrite…
There is No Hell!...