Category: Atheism and Theism
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What Does It Mean to Say that Nothing is Sacred?
Yesterday I quoted Christopher Hitchens as saying that nothing is sacred. I now ask what it means to say that nothing is sacred. I think it means something like the following. Nothing, nothing at all, is holy, venerable, worthy of worship; nothing is an appropriate object of reverence. (One cannot appropriately revere one's spouse, 'worship…
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A New Probabilistic Argument for God
A reader sent me an argument expressed in an idiosyncratic and unnecessarily technical terminology. But his idea is a very interesting one. I'll present and then evaluate my version of the reader's argument. 1. There are several actual and many possible positions on the nature and existence of God. Call them God-positions. One who occupies…
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God as an Ontological Category Mistake
John Anderson's rejection of God is radical indeed. A. J. Baker writes: Anderson, of course, upholds atheism, though that is a rather narrow and negative way of describing his position given its sweep in rejecting all rationalist conceptions of essences and ontological contrasts in favour of the view that whatever exists is a natural occurrence…
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Must an Atheist Eschew Religious Practice?
David Benatar of anti-natalist fame argues in the negative. (HT: London Karl)
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Can a Theist Maintain that Some Lack a Religious Disposition?
Suppose you believe that man has been created in the image and likeness of God. Can you, consistently with that belief, hold that only some possess a religious disposition? I often say things like the following: The religious person perceives our present life, or our natural life, as radically deficient, deficient from the root (radix)…
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What Did You Do With Your Life, God?
Thanksgiving evening, the post-prandial conversation was very good. Christian Marty K. raised the question of what one would say were one to meet God after death and God asked, "What did you do with your life?" Atheist Peter L. shot back, "What did you do with your life, God?" In my judgment, and it is…
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Do You Think Your Views Will Ever Change?
The question was put to atheist A. C. Grayling. His response: No, my views will not change; I am confident in the rationalist tradition which has evaluated the metaphysical and ethical claims of non-naturalistic theories, and definitively shown them to be vacuous in all respects other than the psychological effect they have on those credulous…
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Burden of Proof, Appeal to Ignorance, Safety Considerations, and God
Presumption and Burden of Proof Firearms instructors sometimes say that every gun is loaded. That is plainly false as it stands, but a wise saying nonetheless if interpreted to mean: every gun is to be presumed loaded until proven unloaded. Presumptions are procedural rules. To presume every gun to be loaded is to adopt a…
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Paul Draper on God and the Burden of Proof
A concise paper by a pro in the philosophy of religion. For now I simply note its existence and availability. Some discussion later perhaps. See also Massimo Pigliucci, The Delicate Issue of Burden of Proof.
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Parsimony, Burden of Proof, and God
From an e-mail by Spencer Case: . . . by my lights, parsimony might be a consideration that puts the burden of proof on the theist. Theories that multiply entities unnecessarily are less likely to be true and the theist's theory postulates an entity. Now, it may be that the theist will say that we…
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Sam Harris on the Very Idea of Divine Revelation as ‘Poison’
Sam Harris is a liberal I respect and admire. He has not succumbed to the PeeCee delusion and he actively combats it. Although Harris is a contemporary, he is not a 'contemporary liberal' as I use that phrase: he is a classical or old-time or paleo or respectable liberal. But on religion and some philosophical…
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When Atheists Eat Their Own: The Sexism Charge
Allegedly, the New Atheism has a "shocking woman problem": Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins are "misogynists." Thus Amanda Marcotte in Salon. (See also Kathe Pollitt in The Nation). This appears to be the latest PC purge. It is true that the New Atheism is male-dominated. But why? According to Marcotte, The reason has, in recent…
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Generic and Specific Problems of Evil: The Nature and Tractability of the Problem Depends on the Type of Theism Espoused
A reader requests some help in a debate he is having with some atheists re: the problem of evil. My advice: don't debate atheists. Read their arguments and consider them carefully. Then think the problem through for yourself in as intellectually honest and existentially serious a manner as you can. Then decide whether to accept…
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Dawkins Versus Swinburne
Richard Dawkins reviews Richard Swinburne, Is There a God? (Oxford, 1996) here. What follows are the meatiest excerpts from Dawkins' review together with my critical comments. I have bolded the passages to which I object. (show) Swinburne is ambitious. He will not shrink into those few remaining backwaters which scientific explanation has so far failed…
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Not Enough Evidence?
"Not enough evidence, God, not enough evidence!" (Bertrand Russell) It may well be that our predicament is such as to disallow conclusive or even sufficient evidence of the truth about it. If Plato's Cave Allegory is apt, if it lays bare the truth of the human predicament, then it must be that the evidence that…