My Opening Statement With Dinesh D'Souza, by John Loftus

My 15 minute opening statement: "Does the Christian God Exist?"

I’m going to offer several arguments based on facts we should all agree on that show the Christian God does not exist. My claim is that these facts will force Dinesh into arguing over and over for what I’ll call the Dumb and Dumber Defense, based on the movie with that title starring Jim Carrey. In every single case Dinesh’s response will be pretty much the same. Rather than admit his faith is improbable, he will be forced to claim that what he’s defending is still possible despite these facts. But remember, it’s possible that Jim Carrey could’ve gotten the girl of his dreams in the movie too. The girl said he had a “one in a million” chance at doing so.

Dr. Avalos on Pat Robertson's Haiti Comments

Written for Ames Iowa's The Tribune:

"The Christian Delusion" Book Is Almost Ready

I have received the pdf file for my edited book, The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails, to be published in April. I'm taking one last look through the file before it goes to the print shop on the 12th of this month. Let me tell you it's a dandy. No skeptic will want to be without it, that's what I think. All of the authors present a superior case against Christianity in all of its forms. You can read about it on the official website. And if you would, please pre-order it by clicking here. If we can get a lot of pre-orders for it then it'll get noticed by even more and more people, which could snowball and make it big. That's what we're all hoping for anyway.

Why Dinesh and I Are Debating, "Does the Christian God Exist?"

My readers already know that this Tuesday Dinesh D'Souza and I will be debating. The official announcement with details can be found here. I am a bit silent on this Blog because of my preparations, but on Tuesday at 8 PM EST I have my opening statement scheduled to be published here at DC. So even though many of you cannot be there you can read it just after I speak it. Just so you know, here's why we're debating this particular topic:

A Nice Comment About My Chapter On God and Animals for "The Christian Delusion"

via email:

I have just finished your chapter on "God and animals", and I must say that if this is the type of chapter that did not make it to the book (Christian Delusion) then the book is going to be [a] monster!!

Christian Professor Alvin Plantinga is Retiring

Yep, this is true. A fitting epilogue of this worthy Christian adversary was written by The Teapot Atheist.

My Debate With Dinesh D'Souza

I'm doing some preparation for my upcoming debate next Tuesday at the University of Illinois. What's interesting is that I've got to find a way to answer his arguments succinctly and in just a few sentences. While I have my own answers, how would you respond succinctly with an economy of words to the following types of claims?

Best Philosophy of Religion Books of the Decade

My friend Luke at Common Sense Atheism loves lists so here is another one, this time on the best Philosophy of Religion books of the decade. Want to suggest any others?

An Important Epistemological Question by James McGrath

If we adopt a skeptical approach, we are less likely to believe things that are false, but will also probably not believe many things that are true but for which evidence is lacking. If we take a credulous approach, by believing everything we may be certain that we have believed everything that is true, but we will inevitably believe many things that are false as well.

Which approach do you consider preferable? Is there any real way to find a middle ground between them? And for those whose religious standpoint leads them to believe that God prefers one or the other of these approaches (or looks favorably on humans who adopt one or the other), why do you think that might be the case?

Link

Tony Hickman Makes Headlines by Joe Holman

A young Tony Hickman (8) of Andrew Falls, Michigan attended what could well have been his last day of school Monday at St. Rose Elementary. The second-grader, mute as the cameras rolled while being removed from school property by his parents, had no opinion except to say: “It was a drawing. I did not do nothing wrong.”

Link.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The Great God Debate at the University of Illinois: Dinesh D'Souza vs. John W. Loftus

Below is the Press Release for this debate. Hope to see some of my readers there.

Isn't God's Creative Handiwork Good?

One word. Parasites.

Christians Do Not Believe After All

Christians claim that people who do horrendous evils simply refuse to change despite God's repeated attempts to help them see the error of their ways. If I were God I could change anyone’s mind if I chose to. I could harden a person's heart like the Pharaoh’s. I could speak audibly to them, appear to them, or do a wondrous deed for them. That’s anyone, as in ANYONE. That Christians refuse to acknowledge this tells me something about them. They do not believe after all. They only believe what is convenient to believe. ;-)

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Peter Kirk on the Haitian Disaster: Defending the Indefensible

I'm amused most of the time at what it takes to defend the Christian faith. I am even more amused when a defender of the faith lacks the required thinking skills to do so, like Kirk. Remember, he's the one who assures us that it wasn't God's fault for the Haitian disaster. Nothing personal here, but with critical thinking skills like this no wonder he believes. Let's take a look:

Why People Walk Away From Their Faith

I had previously wrote about Ruth Tucker's talk to the Freethought Association of West Michigan, in which she gave 5 myths about those who walk away from their faith. See here. Ken Pulliam recently mentioned this talk and highlighted the fact that Tucker went on to list the real reasons people give for leaving their faith:

Shayne Looper: John Loftus Did Not Reject True Christianity

I believe that Mr. Loftus was right to reject his beliefs. The former pastor did well to turn away from his god — because his god was not the real one. His view of God, as even my cursory reading made clear, was inconsistent with, and contradictory to, the view of God presented by Jesus in the Bible.

The god John Loftus renounced merited rejection. The God made known by Jesus merits devotion. The degree to which a person’s view of God conforms to reality will determine the degree of loyalty that person has to the faith. It is hard to remain true to an illusion. Link

Hey Shayne, you just made my case for me!

Peter Kirk Responds To Assure Us God is Not to Blame for Haiti's Disaster

I previously wrote: "We atheists do not revel in tragedy. We hate the fact that people suffer in this world as all people do. It's just that in times like these it's good to be an atheist. Earthquakes happen. That's all there is to it. What we revel in are attempts by Christians to justify God's actions. They are pathetic, all of them. And guess what? God isn't to blame for the Haitian disaster! Nope. God is completely good and loving towards us all. His ways are perfect. Atheists like myself and Christopher Hitchens, and Richard Dawkins, and Valerie Tarico have had a heyday with Christian responses so far." Link. Peter Kirk showed up in the comments with some answers.

Paul Helm on "God and Spacelessness"

Here is a summary of Paul Helm’s “God and Spacelessness,” Philosophy 55 (1980):

Guess What? God Isn't to Blame for the Haitian Disaster!

We atheists do not revel in tragedy. We hate the fact that people suffer in this world as all people do. It's just that in times like these it's good to be an atheist. Earthquakes happen. That's all there is to it. What we revel in are attempts by Christians to justify God's actions. They are pathetic, all of them. And guess what? God isn't to blame for the Haitian Disaster! Nope. God is completely good and loving towards us all. His ways are perfect. Atheists like myself and Christopher Hitchens, and Richard Dawkins and Valerie Tarico have had a heyday with Christian responses so far. Now there is another one.

Stupid is As Stupid Does: Defending the Faith Makes a Person Stupid

When it comes to defending the faith even PhD's show they are ignorant. I'm not joking either and it should be obvious to see. I previously endorsed Richard Dawkins' column on Pat Robertson's comments about the Haitian disaster. Then comes Glenn Peoples who said of me:

Christian Police Your Own Ranks: Bill Wiese Saw Hell

This guy is wacko. But here's a problem as I see it. Christians believe because they claim to have experienced God, and yet most Christians in today's world do not accept a fire and brimstone hell. Many others argue for an annihilation view of hell. So, why do most Christians discount Bill Wiese's experience and yet trust their own experiences? Bill is so sure of what he experienced, you see. But it's ALL IN THE HEAD, all of it!

An Atheist Lives With a Christian Family for 30 Days.

Check this video out below:

Babies in Hell?

On SETI, the Brain/Mind Problem and the Best Explanation of the Evidence

I'm carrying on an email exchange with an old friend who studied under Norman Geisler and did further Ph.D. work in philosophy. He had asked me about the SETI project and what it would take for me to accept that there might be extra-terrestrial life in the universe as a parallel to accepting the evidence that there might be a supernatural intelligent being, God. Here are my rambling thoughts on this:

My Critique of Open Theism

I was asked to offer a critique of Open Theism. At one time I embraced it so I'm very familiar with it. But it seems to be an in house argument. Other Christians who are not open theists effectively criticize it. I try not to tell Christians what they should believe. If I spend time critiquing it then I have not debunked Christianity because other Christians would enjoy my critique. I try to offer a more fundamental critique of Christianity and everyone in it, especially conservatives. Conservatives as a whole are my target, not one branch of them.