So if I've witnessed/experienced a miracle do I have to take the OTF?...I'm not interested in arguing that I have experienced a miracle. I am interested in whether you believe a person should take the OTF if they have experienced a miracle. Does such a person get a "free pass" so to speak?...For the sake of my question assume no natural explanation can be found and no materialistic explanation seems plausible even in principle.I have said that it would take a personal miracle for me to believe. I didn't say what kind of miracle nor did I comment on the other things that would have to accompany that miracle. Let me do so now.
January 05, 2011
What if I Personally Witnessed a Miracle?
January 04, 2011
On the So-Called Failure of the Outsider Test for Faith
Revised Poll: What Issues Initially Led You to Deconvert (Multiple Choice)
January 03, 2011
Where David Marshall Goes Wrong, Part 4, the Final Part
Where David Marshall Goes Wrong, Part 3
Where David Marshall Goes Wrong, Part 2
January 02, 2011
Where David Marshall Goes Wrong, Part 1
David Marshall
Quote of the Day, By brdeadite99
Christianity is so stupid that mere words do not posses the power to fully express it. Every single year, historians, ex-Christians, scientists, skeptics, scholars, Jewish scholars & historians drive more and more coffin nails into the coffin lid of Christianity; and Christians are too asinine, vacuous, and brainwashed to admit or even face this fact. If they could just mind their business and keep their shit to themselves, they wouldn't be so noxious and intolerable. As it stands now, we'll have to break the back(and neck) of the Fundamentalist movement in order to ensure our nation's future. Link
January 01, 2011
*Sigh* On Answering An Objection to the Outsider Test for Faith
When Christians ask if I have taken the outsider test for my own “belief system,” I simply say “yes I have, that’s why I’m a non-believer.”
My Top 25 Substantive Posts in 2010
William Lane Craig Accused of Heresy, Oh My!
This will not be the undoing of Craig. He's an Arminian. Link. I just wish Christians could come to an agreement about their inerrant Bible. ;-) Who is a Christian anyway? In a prior generation he would have been burned at the stake.
December 31, 2010
Quote For a New Year, Hey, This Time It's By Me!
Science focuses on that which is detectable and its method is doubt. It is the skeptical adult approach rather than the gullible childish approach to an issue that if a god existed he would be pleased with. If God is not detectable and if he cannot be apprehended by such an adult attitude then I can't help him.
The 2011 Debunking Christianity Challenge
December 30, 2010
My New Computer Tower
I want to thank everyone who donated to help me get a new computer. I bought a tower that cost me $425. It’s a Dell Inspiron 560 with a dual core processor and a dvd/cd writer. It has a whopping 320 gig hard drive! I’m getting it to where I need it, but this is a joy. Thanks so much!
And yes, that's my pool table. $10-$50 a game anyone? I need some more money. ;-)
What Nontheists Can Learn from the Success of the Homosexual Rights Movement
Quote of the Day by articulett
Ugh... there's just so much wrong with the Jesus story. You have to be indoctrinated, skilled in apologetics, and unwilling to ask yourself a lot of questions even to try and get it to make sense. Link.
December 29, 2010
A Visual Study Guide to COGNITIVE BIASES
What's Controversial About This?
Victor Reppert is "Irate" Claiming This is "Nonsense. Hogwash. BS."
Vic, you get your "priors" from your upbringing. With different priors you would be defending something else. LinkAdmit it Vic. You get your "priors" from your upbringing. This is undeniable. We were all raised as believers. Whatever our parents told us we believed. That's your starting place. Sure, we question them as we go, but we don't upchuck them all.
I'm the one telling you the truth. No, you do not believe what your parents told you anymore. But they did give you your initial priors. Did they teach you to sing "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so," or not!
My claim is that without your Christian upbringing you would not have the priors that make you believe all of the things you do. I want you to think chronologically about your priors. Ignore your upbringing. What would be an adequate defense of your faith starting from your most basic prior? List them in some kind of order. My claim is that there is no way you can assess the historical evidence for the Bible and come away with a "faith prior" because you need faith prior to coming to your historical conclusions.
Now don't get irate with me on this. Think through my questions and answer them.
December 28, 2010
The Trouble With Atheists
1) We don’t provide a united front. We are a diversified bunch of people. Some of us support different atheist organizations, subscribe to different atheist magazines, while others don’t support or subscribe to any at all.
2) We have no leaders. While there are certainly some standouts in the atheist community there are always disagreements on who we regard as our intellectual heroes.
3) We cannot agree on anything else but religion. We can’t even agree on what to call ourselves. We disagree on such things as the basis for morality (or lack thereof), on politics, and on whether or not Jesus existed (and if so, what we are to think of him).
4) We have no agreed upon causes. Some focus on the separation of church and state, others on politics, others on science, and still others on specific kinds of religion and/or paranormal claims.
5) We cannot agree about tactics. There are the friendly atheists, spiritual atheists, evangelical atheists, and others who merely want to educate, not necessarily persuade, believers.
We are human beings of every age, shape, gender, skin color, health, wealth, education and social social status. We simply do not believe. We think for ourselves based on solid evidence and good reasons. We cannot be herded like believing sheep. Nor can we be fleeced.
But this is our strength. We are everywhere. We are the wave of the future. There is no turning back the hands of time. We cannot be ignored any more.
December 27, 2010
News Flash: Victor Reppert Continues to Kick Against the OTF Goads
December 26, 2010
The Day America Told the Truth: Doing Polls on Religion Correctly
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Author of Infidel, at the 2010 Freedom From Religion Convention
Link. Find "Day One" then click on the word "watch."