On Women, Science and Democracy in the Bible.

The tenth commandment alone, all by itself, shows Christians to be indoctrinated to the point of blindness not to see that women were regarded just a bit below a man's property, yet higher than his slaves. If not, paying a dowry to a father for his daughter's hand in marriage, as if she was a commodity, all but proves this. [For more on Christianity and women see Annie Laurie Gaylor's chapter in Christianity is Not Great].

It's like claiming Christianity was responsible for science, even though the Bible depicts a 10,000+ year old flat earth, while stressing the virtue of faith over objective empirical evidence. [For more on the flat earth depicted in the Bible see Edward Babinski's chapter in The Christian Delusion, and for more on the origins of science see Richard Carrier's chapter in The Christian Delusion.

It's like claiming Christianity is responsible for the rise of democracy, even though the biblical god is pictured as a king who sets up kings and kingdoms on earth, and who condemns free speech from people who live different lives, even to the point of death if they fail to comply. [For more on the origins of democracy see Richard Carrier's chapter in Christianity is Not Great].

Can't believers deflect the atheist argument that they were raised to believe, by throwing it back on them?

Q. Can't believers deflect the atheist argument that they were raised to believe, by throwing it back on them? Logic would mean that atheists need to agree that they are atheists because of when and where they were born. You can't have it only one way.

A. Most atheists were raised as believers, so this doesn't equally apply. But no, we can't have it only one way. You're right. What the accidents of birth entail is that we cannot trust what we were taught by our Moms and Pops in our different religious cultures. That's actually quite shocking to most people, but it's easily recognized when pointed out. So this news requires that upon becoming adults every boy and girl should doubt the religion taught to them, just as if they were born as outsiders to it. They should require objective evidence for the faith they were raised to believe.

Now you can try to deflect this requirement if you want, but it's incumbent on everyone because of what we were raised to believe due to the accidents of birth. But if children are raised to know how to think, rather than what to think, and if they are taught to think for themselves and follow the objective evidence wherever it leads, then those children usually end up as non-believers, precisely because of the accidents of their births! Sorry about that, but thems the facts. It could turn out otherwise, but it doesn't. For lots of evidence showing the Christian faith wrong there's a pretty good book I recommend. It's called, Christianity in the Light of Science: Critically Examining the World's Largest Religion.

Is Atheism a Religion Which Has No Evidence For it?

Q & A from Loftus the magnificent. ;-) [Once again, why not?]

Q. My Christian faith will never succumb to the religion of atheism. Why can't you see there is just no evidence for it?

A. Your big mistake is in thinking the alternative to your sect-specific Christian faith is atheism, and that atheism is just as religious as your faith. This is most emphatically not the case. Atheists do not believe in supernatural beings or forces, so it's a denial of religion. If one can be religious yet deny the supernatural, the word "religious" loses any significant meaning. To say atheism is a religion is to assert by fiat, without evidence, that everyone is religious regardless of what they claim. We might as well return the favor and say everyone is an atheist, if that's the language game you wish to play.

More to the point, there are many alternatives to your faith, such as other Christianities, other non-Christian religious faiths, and the many other tribal religious faiths in different geographical locations.

That there are so many diverse religious faiths held by intelligent, and educated people, who cannot convince other religious people, leads some of us to back out of the whole religious scene by doubting them all. We are called atheists. We merely try to convince religious believers they should doubt religion as a whole like we've done, precisely because we've learned religion itself is a cultural by-product of an ancient primitive era that lingers on in our own era.

What About the Origins Of Suffering?

Q & A from Loftus the magnificent. ;-)

Q. Why don't you discuss the origins of suffering in the world that created situations like we saw with the Las Vegas massacre?

A. I do indeed do that. But as a caring parent would you ever seek to justify why your children were hurt because of someone else's actions? I very much doubt you would seek to do this, ever.

How Do I Know God Doesn't Intervene to Save Lives Every Day?

Q & A from Loftus the magnificent. ;-)

Q. Just because my god finds a reason not to intervene to save lives doesn't mean he doesn't do so. How do you know my god does not intervene to save lives every day? Yet when he chooses not to intervene, why do you blame him?

A. Has your god prevented any tragedies? One would reasonably suspect that if a perfectly caring all-powerful god exists, who wants reasonable belief unto salvation, s/he would prevent the most horrific tragedies from occurring. Since so many horrible tragedies occur every hour, including the horrible kill-or-be-killed law of predation in the natural world, you have no basis for saying your god prevented anything from happening. Yours is a faith statement meant to deflect the fact that you will say anything to continue believing.

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For more on the problem of suffering see my book How to Defend the Christian Faith: Advice from an Atheist. I devote one third of it to the problem of suffering, where I destroy any attempt Christian apologists use to deflect this problem. Don't just take my word for it, see the blurbs written about it by two important believing scholars:

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Atheists Are More Likely Than Theists To Consider the Evidence for Miracles

Q & A from Loftus the magnificent. ;-)

Q. You say theism doesn't raise the probability that Jesus was raised from the dead. Why not? At least with theism believers hold to a miracle working god even if they disagree over which god exists.

A. Every atheist I know of, or have heard from, says they are open to the evidence that a miracle took place. In fact, I think atheists are more willing to consider the evidence of a miracle than theists who reject a different theist's miracle claim. Let's take the resurrection as our example. I'm not that open to the evidence because I've spent a lifetime looking for it and finding none exists (that is, nothing that counts as objective evidence). But I'm more open to it than Muslims and Jews. The reason is because of what faith does to the minds of believers. Faith deludes them into believing their faith is certain. Being certain their faith is correct, they are less likely to consider any evidence that Jesus arose from the dead, whereas atheists are at least willing to consider it (some more than others, of course).