Atheism - How Many gods Do YOU Not Believe In?

Check out this video below:

Edwin Curley: "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob"

Here is an excellent presentation on the barbaric nature of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by Dr. Edwin Curley. This is a must see video! Peter Van Inwagen responds to him. To see the other parts just click on these subsequent links:
Curley 1 | Curley 2 | Curley 3 | Curley 4
Van Inwagen 1 | Van Inwagen 2 | Curley | Q&A 1 | Q&A 2

My Time in New Orleans at the SBL

I want to thank everyone who donated to help my wife and I go to New Orleans. We received about $630. Others sent me some nice books from my wish list at Amazon. Let me briefly tell you about our trip.

Dan Barker vs. Dinesh D'Souza Debate

Since I'll be debating Dinesh D'Souza on Februrary 10th at the University of Illinois, I'm interested in watching his previous debates. See what you think.

Behind the Veil of Ignorance

Let's look at Christianity from a different prespective. Let's ask ourselves what we could expect if that kind of God existed. Let's say we are placed behind a theological Rawlsian "veil of ignorance." Behind that veil we are to consider what world we should expect to find if God created that world. Behind that veil we must think about the kinds of things we could expect to find, based upon a full description of the God that is supposed to exist. What would you expect to find prior to experiencing such a world?

Now it's true we couldn't dream up the exact kind of world God should create with all of its details, for God is supposedly omniscient beyond our dreams. But we could have some ideas, broadly speaking, especally if humans are also supposed to be created in his "image." What kinds of things would we expect to find when the veil is removed?

Is God a CEO?

I have devoted a lot of space to the obvious lack of effective communication from God to human beings about his supposed will, if he exists. Isn't God the CEO? If any company had the exact same lack of communication in it, from the top down, then the blame for the company doing wrong would be laid squarely at the top. You cannot deny this. How many Christians who visit here work for large companies where there is a lack of communication from the top about what to do? Who's fault is it if the company has no clear set of directives? The CEO's. This is obvious. So why don't you apply that same logic to the revelation God supposedly gave his people? God chose a poor medium to reveal himself, and as such was not clear about slavery, or the Inquisition, to name just two of hundreds of other theological, moral and scientific disputes the church had no clear direction about, which in turn caused so much pain, misery, tortures, and wars.

How Could God Reveal Himself to Us?

Elsewhere I have defended the notion that history is a poor medium for God to reveal himself to humanity, here, here, here, and here.

Many Christians argue that God has already verified his revelation in Jesus through miracles in the historical past, and as such it needs no further verification. But I argue against this whole notion in the above links. History is a poor medium to verify much of anything, especially miracles.

Someone recently asked me, "what else is there but human history for God to have revealed himself in?" I'll suggest a few ways here. I'd like to see some other suggestions of ways God could reveal himself to us, if he existed.

The Believers Reasoning Scheme

A fallacy is an argument (aka pattern of reasoning, reasoning scheme, argument scheme) that appears valid but upon analysis is shown to be invalid or misapplied. The phrase "Anything is possible" is an example of one of those reasoning schemes that seems valid but is not. Anything is not possible. This article will discuss why an appeal to possibility should be considered for refutation on its face. It will then go on to discuss the effects this fallacy has in a dialogue. Finally it will discuss the process of sound reasoning, and introduce the phenomenon I call the Believers Reasoning Scheme.

Godlessness Rare Behind Bars

I saw two articles on the relative proportion of atheists in prisons versus religious groups, and I thought it worth sharing.

Conditional Immortality or Annihilationism

Since I was able to question my Christian faith for the first time once I believed in Conditional Immortality or Annihilationism as the best Biblical description of hell, see here, I thought I'd offer a few brief notes on that view, from a Biblical perspective. I know there is a debate about this going on among Christian circles, but here are some of the things that those who dispute it must deal with:

A Corrupt and Scandalous Faith

By Joe E. Holman

Smith

The year was 1928. The place was Arkansas. Charles Lee Smith, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism was arrested “on charges of blasphemy.” His crime? Passing out atheist tracts in a local town. After spending one night in jail, Smith was released with one charge dismissed while the other was never set for trial. Just like the famous blasphemy trial of C.B. Reynolds decades earlier, Mr. Smith was just one more victim of the American legal system, hijacked by Christianity.

The Beauty of God's Design?

Nature is red in tooth and claw. This is best explained by natural selection. If a good God exists then why didn't he create all animals as vegetarians?

First posted on 9/2/07

WWJD?

Christians claim that God is the basis of morality which we should exemplify. Jesus taught that we should be perfect as God is perfect. The early Christians argued that we should be holy as God is holy. It is straightforward that we should look to God, and what He does, and mimic it as exactly as possible.

However, Jesus further taught that we must love our enemies and forgive them. Jesus wouldn’t command a moral that God doesn’t ascribe to, would he? Give humans a higher calling, a greater duty than God Himself?

If we are to love and forgive our enemies, why can’t God love and forgive His enemies?

The Soul--A Rational Belief?

Because this blog attracts readers of varying philosophical experience, I have chosen to summarize some of the philosophical concepts involved in the discussion of the mind rather than assume the reader's knowledge of them. More versed readers will forgive the often hasty generalizations of complex ideas (especially the many ideas regarding the philosophy of the mind).

Most Christians (and many other theists) believe in a dualistic human nature--i.e. that humans are both physical and spiritual beings. In this view, there is a brain and a spiritual consciousness. It is thought that the spiritual consciousness determines a person's identity, personality, and behavior. Many theists believe this spiritual consciousness can live on after the brain and physical body of a human is destroyed. They are committed to the idea that the brain and a spiritual consciousness are independent, yet somehow linked.

In this post, I will argue against the plausibility of a spiritual human consciousness separate from the human brain. I will argue that the brain alone is responsible for a person's identity, personality, and behavior. After constructing a few informal philosophical arguments that rely on what I will refer to as "brain-dependence"(hereafter, BD) and conclude that the existence of a spiritual consciousness separate from the brain is implausible, I will describe and give examples for BD.

Question: Does Religiosity Correlate Strongly to Charity?

Kaffinator gave us two questions in the comments section, which I am dealing with separately. One deals with health and religion, while the other deals with charity and religion.

Question 2:

Mr. Atheist, if you had your wish and all of the Christians in the United States suddenly joined you, the result would be that many charities would starve for funds. Other charities, schools, local governments, and other volunteer-based organizations would suffer as well...

So here is my question. What kind of warped morality would wish this upon a nation?

Again, we ought to examine Kaffinator's premise for veracity before accepting his conclusion.

I Will Be Debating Dinesh D'Souza

I have been given a formal invitation to debate Dinesh D'Souza on Feburary 10th at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. It's now official. The topic of the debate is this: Does the God of Christianity Exist? Dinesh will take the affirmative and I the negative. As you'd guess, I'm excited.

A Description of the Problem of Evil

Victor Reppert offered a great description of the problem of evil Here:

The problem is as old as Socrates’ Euthyphro. If...."good” must mean approximately the same thing when we apply it to God as what it means when we apply it to human beings, then the fact of suffering provides a clear empirical refutation of the existence of a being who is both omnipotent and perfectly good. If on the other hand, we are prepared to give up the idea that “Good” in reference to God means anything like what it means when we refer to humans as good, then the problem of evil can be sidestepped, but any hope of a rational defense of Christianity goes by the boards. - Victor Reppert.

I've already commented on the Euthyphro dilemna Here.

First posted 2/1/06

Why Are There So Many Disputes Between Bible Believers?

I want to highlight the problem of the huge differences between Evangelical Christians who believe the Bible is God's Word [The question concerning who or what is an Evangelical is vague, even though they have convened lectureships to help decide who or what is one]. I mean, come on, here are Christian people who claim to believe the Bible is divine guidance for all of life, ethics, and salvation. They claim atheists do not have such a standard and that theirs is firm as a rock. With such a standard you’d actually think that Christians all over the world would see things fairly uniformly, whether it’s the Russian Orthodox Church, or the Black Southern Churches; whether it’s the Lutheran Church of Germany, or Roman Catholics of Italy; whether it’s the Episcopal Church in England, or the Amish in Northern Indiana. There are Methodists, Disciples of Christ/Church of Christ Churches, Reformed Churches, Presbyterians, Mennonites, Assemblies of God, and a host of smaller groups including many groups that some others would call cults, like the Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Moonies.

The Flood Story of Genesis 6-9

A universal Flood couldn't have happened for so many reasons that I don't know where to start. Let's start with the story itself.

Miracles, a Double Burden of Proof, and Control Beliefs.

When it comes to believing in miracles, Christians have a double burden of proof. On the one hand, they must show that a particular “event” was not very likely. Hume goes so far as to say that a miracle is a “violation of a natural law.” But the point is that the more unlikely an event is by the standards of natural law, the more its occurrence can be understood as a miracle. Who, for instance, would claim that a blooming flower is a miracle, or a thunderstorm, or even the birth of a baby?

Why Don't Christian Sites Link to Skeptical Sites?

I've asked this question before, and I'll ask it again. Only very rarely do I ever find Christian apologetics websites linking to skeptical ones. There are very very few that do, and among those that do, DC is usually found linked there with a small number of others. Compare what Christians do with what we do here at DC. At DC we not only link to several of the best Christian apologetical sites, I even link to some popular Christian apologetical books from time to time, like the new Apologetics Study Bible. Why is there this disparity? I think we can link to and provide people with the best that Christianity has to offer and still beat their best arguments. If they truly thought as we did they should have no problem doing likewise. Maybe they're just worried something like this could happen.

First posted on 10/06/07

Still Another Great Site, Early Christian Religion

Dr. Robert Oerter, Associate Professor of physics at George Mason University and author of The Theory of Almost Everything: The Standard Model, the Unsung Triumph of Modern Physics, has a website called Early Christian Religion. He tells me "It's not really a debunking Christianity site; more of 'let's learn what actual Biblical scholars are saying about early Christianity and the Bible.'"

Another Great Site, The Bible Skeptic

Click here and enjoy.

Brian Worley's Ex-Minister Site Looks Great!

Brian has a post written by me called "Calvinism Explains Everything...and Nothing!" And says in it "John's website: Debunking Christianity is awesome!" There's lots of other good stuff there. Check it out for yourselves.

Born Divine: The Births of Jesus & Other Sons of God, by R. Miller

Probably the most comprehensive treatment of the Christian virgin birth claim is this recent book by Robert J. Miller, a Fellow of the Jesus Seminar. Check it out and then give up such a claim as the liberals have already done.