Answering Two Objections To My Book

In a rambling review of my new book, How to Defend the Christian Faith: Advice from an Atheist,titled, "Who's brain should I trust?", two objections were leveled at it. The first objects to statements about free will, where I wrote, "Science is also teaching us that sin and the need for salvation are quite likely based on the illusion of free will...In fact, neuroscience is destroying the notions of free will..." "At the very least neuroscience is making it extremely difficult for believers to still claim that we freely choose to sin, that we can freely choose to be saved, and that there is a wrathful God who will judge us on the last day."

Objection: "What a very confusing statement for someone to make who, I assume, chose to write a book trying to convince Christian apologists to change their minds."

My "biggest blunder" he said, is my advice not to trust your brains. "Your brain does not work well at getting to the truth." "The nearer and dearer to your heart then the less you can trust your brain without the hard evidence."

Objection: "I notice that he trusts his brain, which is why he wrote the book...and yet he somehow thinks he has gotten to the truth. How do I determine what the hard evidence is without using my brain which I cannot trust?"

Below are my answers. Can you do better?

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More From Loftus On Science and Morality

Whether science can determine moral truths is being hotly debated in recent years. Most people say science cannot do so. But a growing number of philosophers and scientists are saying otherwise. Philosopher Erik Wielenberg called for an “ethical revolution.” While it’s true he says, that “scientific progress has hardly brought moral progress” it’s also true “that science has not so far been used explicitly for that purpose.” But since science has the ability to help us “live longer and healthier lives than at any point in human history” it consequentially “makes sense to put science…to work in the service…of finding a reliable method of making people virtuous.” (Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe (Cambridge, 2005, pp. 129, 155).Others have supported this type of position, such as the late Paul Kurtz and contributors to his anthology, Science and Ethics: Can Science Help Us Make Wise Moral Judgments? (Prometheus Books, 2007).The authors in it “maintain that science can help us make wise choices and that an increase in scientific knowledge can help modify our ethical values and bring new ethical principles into social awareness.” Others are saying similar things, such as Sam Harris in The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values (Free Press, 2010),Michael Shermer in The Moral Arc: How Science Makes Us Better People (Henry Holt and Co., 2015),and the impressive list of people who have recommended these books with blurbs, including scientists Neil deGrasse Tyson, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Pinker, Lawrence M. Krauss, and Bill Nye.

Loftus on Scientism

Christian apologists will futilely try to scare their progeny with the boogeyman of scientism, declaring their faith victorious because they claim her critics think science can test everything, which is a self-refuting claim. But it’s only a self-refuting claim if we say we’re certain science can test everything. For if we leave room for reasonable doubt then it’s not self-defeating to say science can probably test everything, or even that science can test almost everything. For otherwise, how can we test whether or not science can test everything? What kind of experiment could test that? It wouldn’t be an empirical one, as far as we can speculate. Such a conclusion must come from probabilistic reasoning. So I admit there is at least one claim that cannot be tested by empirical science. I don’t know how many others there are, nor does anyone else, but there are probably a few more. What does it feel like to be a bat? What are the contents of someone's subconscious mind? What does an empirical investigation of an event in the historical past tell us? Science probably can't perform tests to answer those questions, at least, I find it hard to think it can. But maybe in the future scientists will be able to do so, by creating a virtual reality bat-like simulator, or finding a way to know the contents of subconscious minds, or by time-travel back into the past. Some say empirical science cannot test conceptual questions like whether or not square circles can exist, for they are known merely by reflecting on the terms involved. But this just means some questions can be answered independently of science. It doesn’t mean science cannot answer them. Scientists can always try making such an object!

Thoughts? Can you say this better? What can be legitimately disputed about what I wrote?

The Reviews Keep Rolling In. Spread the Word!

It's hard to resist posting these recommendations. I put a great deal of work into my books so it's quite gratifying whenever someone recommends one to others, no matter who does it. If you like my books tell others. Go to forums and tell them. Post links to them in emails and on blog posts. Tell your Facebook friends. Buy one for your Grandma or Uncle this season. Gift one at work gift exchanges. Write a song about them, or a poem. Make a YouTube video about one of them. In one way I feel as if I did my work, and did it well. Now it's your turn. Spread the word!

Dr. Hector Avalos: How Archaeology Killed Biblical History

[First published April 2008]



Part two is below:

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Bernie Sanders Wins Time Magazine's Person of the Year Poll by a Landslide

He won a popular vote on this with two times the number of votes over the second place person. Think they'll make him the person of the year? Not a chance. Time-Warner is just the type of media news conglomerate Sanders speaks against. LINK

Atheist of the Year Vyckie Garrison is Gifting My Book

This is pretty cool!

"How to Defend the Christian Faith" is An Epic Fail, Says D. Cowie

*Sigh* Take a look. I find Amazon reviews like this to be fascinating, even if they're a bit frustrating. They reveal how someone can read a book and yet brazenly not apply it to oneself. There's a lot of nitpicking to escape the over-all impact of the book. There's a knee jerk reaction to all things atheism. One wonders if he would reject the same advice if a Christian said it instead. If a Christian said we must be honest life-long seekers of the truth, would he reject that? He cannot allow an atheist to say this. Fascinating. Frustrating.

Here's a Rough Draft of My Introduction to a New Anthology

My next anthology can already be found on Amazon, titled Christianity in the Light of Science: Critically Examining the World's Largest Religion. It's scheduled to be released at the end of July. I just finished a rough draft of my Introduction and thought I'll publish it for faithful readers at DC, and to whet your appetites. Perhaps you may want to comment and/or spread the word. As with everything in the book there is a word count and we're already over it, so I kept my intro to a minimum. [Later I may share the paragraphs I had to delete.]

Introduction

This new anthology is the fourth one in a series of books I’ve edited. My first three are named after New York Times bestselling books by the so-called new atheists. This present anthology honors the late Victor Stenger, and his book, God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist (Prometheus Books, 2007). My publisher thought this anthology didn’t need to be named after Stenger’s book. However, I still consider it to be part of that same series.

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An Interview with Susan Jacoby and Her Choices for the Five Best Atheist Books

When I say I cannot get just any atheist author to write for my anthologies, Susan Jacoby is one of them. When I approached her at a conference she smiled and said to me, "Honey, I make my living from writing. You can't afford me." Then she walked away. Ouch! Regardless, this interview is very good and her book choices are interesting (no, she didn't choose mine). LINK. If I were choosing the five best books on atheism I think I would choose the following ones (no, not mine):

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Dr. Stephen Law's Upcoming Chapter On Scientism

Today on Facebook Dr. Law pasted on his wall "a breezy, short version" of his "Scientism!" chapter for an upcoming important anthology on science. He tells us "Theologian John Milbank will be responding in a sort of back and forth...." Here it is:

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Refugees "R" US?

My newest column explains why the Bible does not always espouse ideas and policies friendly to refugees. Needless to say, we should not appeal to the Bible to formulate any modern policies about immigration or anything else.

Do the GOP Candidates Believe in the Apocalypse?

Last month, Sharyl Attkisson asked the former Republican frontrunner Ben Carson whether the “end of days” is approaching. Carson, a Seventh-day Adventist who believes the Egyptian pyramids were built by the Biblical Joseph to store grain, responded that “You could guess that we are getting closer to that.” He added, “You do have people who have a belief system that sees this apocalyptic phenomena [sic] occurring and that they are a part of it, who would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons if they gained possession of them.”

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Bernie Sanders On Gun Control In the Light of Recent Mass Shootings

Look how Sanders works. He takes positions of the majority of the people regardless of big spending or special interests. I love it. He's not saying these proposals will solve gun violence. He's saying this is what we can agree about. And his proposals are reasonable. Before anyone responds deal with his proposals. No knee jerk reactions this time. What are wrong with his proposals? Stay focused.

A Second Audiobook of Mine Is Now Available

Yep, my book "The Outsider test for Faith" that was published by Prometheus Books, is now available as an audio book. Just click here to get it.There is a sample located just under the book cover. Matthew O'Neil narrated it and he did a better job than I would have done. This could be a great gift for the growing number of people who drive a distance to work and back, or who are bedridden, or prefer listening to it while sipping on some wine in the afternoon or in the evening just before going to sleep. It could also be used in discussion groups.

Has Bart Ehrman Gotten Saved? The Christian Science Monitor Beleives So!

The above review was taken from the back cover of the paperback edition.
(Oddly, in spite of all the mythologizing of Jesus Ehrman has done, he readily admits that his wife still attends church while he sits at home.  Interview with Terri Gross on NPR's Fresh Air) 

My Book is the #1 New Release in Christian Apologetics!

Imagine going to buy a Christian apologetics book to find this puppy! ;-)

Ground Rules for Debating a Historical Jesus

1.  Each post will be dedicated to one specific topic.  This topic will stay up until the evidence is presented and dealt with.  Thus, the post comment section will remain open and can be continued as new arguments arise. So as not to conflate two topics, only the subject listed in the post’s title will be discussed.  There will be no set time limit of engagement even if a new topic is started.  This debate should move slowly to allow research to be conducted if needed.  The topics for the post will be opened with the main thesis followed by its focus.  For example:   Facts Used to Support a Historical Jesus:  Josephus 

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Hemant Mehta's List of the Top Atheist Books in 2015

Mehta lists my new book as one of the top atheist books in 2015, for which I'm thankful.

Unfortunately Dr. Hector Avolos's new book isn't listed.If I were doing such a list it would be.

"Darwin, God and the Meaning of Life: How Evolutionary Theory Undermines Everything You Thought You Knew"

I need to highlight the book by Steve Stewart-Williams, Darwin, God and the Meaning of Life.The book description is as follows:

If you accept evolutionary theory, can you also believe in God? Are human beings superior to other animals, or is this just a human prejudice? Does Darwin have implications for heated issues like euthanasia and animal rights? Does evolution tell us the purpose of life, or does it imply that life has no ultimate purpose? Does evolution tell us what is morally right and wrong, or does it imply that ultimately nothing is right or wrong? In this fascinating and intriguing book, Steve Stewart-Williams addresses these and other fundamental philosophical questions raised by evolutionary theory and the exciting new field of evolutionary psychology. Drawing on biology, psychology and philosophy, he argues that Darwinian science supports a view of a godless universe devoid of ultimate purpose or moral structure, but that we can still live a good life and a happy life within the confines of this view.

If you accept evolution you need to honestly address the questions of his book, just as I previously recommended Robert M. Price and Edwin A. Suominen's excellent book, Evolving out of Eden: Christian Responses to Evolution.

A First of its Kind in the Muslim World, a Study Qur’an Produced by Muslims

CNN reports a first of its kind in the Muslim world, a Study Qur’an, just like Study Bibles. This Qur'an includes a new translation along with commentary on the verses written by Shiite and Sunni scholars, who represent two warring sects in the Middle East. It's published in the U.S. and intended to offer more correct interpretations of their Holy Book, just like some Study Bibles do for the Christian Holy Book, seeking to de-fang extremist Islam. These Islamic scholars seek to restore a classical Islam just as Christians are seeking to restore a classical theism.

Ten years in the making, "The Study Quran" is more than a rebuttal to terrorists, said Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an Iranian-born intellectual and the book's editor-in-chief. His aim was to produce an accurate, unbiased translation understandable to English-speaking Muslims, scholars and general readers.

The editors paid particular attention to passages that seem to condone bloodshed, explaining in extensive commentaries the context in which certain verses were revealed and written. "The commentaries don't try to delete or hide the verses that refer to violence. We have to be faithful to the text, " said Nasr, a longtime professor at George Washington University. "But they can explain that war and violence were always understood as a painful part of the human condition."

The scholar hopes his approach can convince readers that no part of the Quran sanctions the brutal acts of ISIS. "The best way to counter extremism in modern Islam," he said, "is a revival of classical Islam."

Jerry Coyne explains in more detail. Count me among the hopeful ones. It must start somewhere so why not here? CNN tells us the book has been endorsed "by an A-list of Muslim-American academics. One, Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, called it 'perhaps the most important work done on the Islamic faith in the English language to date.'" And it was partially funded by King Abdullah II of Jordan, "may he escape Allah's Assassins."

Guy Harrison's Recent Book, "Good Thinking: What You Need to Know to be Smarter, Safer, Wealthier, and Wiser"

Guy Harrison and I am on a quest to spit out book after book. His most recent one it Good Thinking: What You Need to Know to be Smarter, Safer, Wealthier, and WiserHere is a review of it by the SanFranscico Book Review. Look like another good one!

Why Does Satan Have a Better Moral Code Than God Himself?

Doesn't seem right does it? Yet he does as told by Dr. Valerie Tarico in her post titled, Seven Satanic Precepts Beat Ten Commandments As Moral Guide.

Reader Reviews: The Best Things Said So Far On Amazon

Yes, sometimes I do have too much time on my hands! Here's proof: I decided to copy and paste here all the best things said on Amazon about my new book, How to Defend the Christian Faith: Advice from an Atheist. So far there have been eight reader reviews worthy of notice, plus the blurbs. I think potential buyers should attribute a higher authority to blurbs and reviews by scholars, but we should consider the reader reviews as well.

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A Short Note on Two of Bart Ehrman’s Jesus Books

Focus:  How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee and  Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth 

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An Analogy of the Bible

Meet the Bible:  Not Dead Yet!

The Bible is like a very elderly senile citizen who can’t be historically linked to any known birth records (literary origins); a person who is incoherent and out of touch with reality. 

Yet, with the love of her children (the believers) and her attorneys (the apologists) using creative ingenuity (theology) along with the denial of reality (science), she (the Bible) is lovingly supported by the arms and allowed to apologetically shuffle along.

(This is a revised analogy of the Bible I wrote 14 years ago.)

Happy Thanksgiving to All

Today I want to express the gratitude I experience all year long.

I’m grateful for being alive now in this era, rather than in the barbaric past, or what looks like the coming worldwide religious wars, and/or global disasters in the future. I’m also thankful I have been healthy enough to live longer than most human beings have ever lived, and that I have had more wealth than most people on the planet can dream about, and that I’ve never gone a day without the essentials of life. I’m also grateful for my family and personal friends who, like me, have never known the violence we see in many parts of the world today. I’m also grateful to have broken out of the cave of superstition, and knowing I’m one of the lucky few who see the universe and our world as it is, without pretending there is a mind-reading barbaric deity telling us what to do, such that we have the privilege of figuring it out for ourselves, and doing a much better job of it. Yes, I am thankful that the forces of nature just happened to give me and others these wonderful gifts. I’m thankful I’ll have the privilege of dying, since that is the price I must pay for being alive, and knowing that upon dying I’ll return to the same state I was in before being born, rather than suffering eternally because I could not believe in a deity that lacked sufficient evidence.

It's not just me who is thankful. Yes, the godless can ‘give thanks’ — and here is how we do it

Announcing the Audio Book of "Why I Became an Atheist"

Yep, my first book published by Prometheus Books is now available on Audible as an audio book. Just click here to get it, or here. This audio book could be a great gift for the growing number of people who drive a distance to work and back, or who are bedridden, or prefer listening to it while sipping on some wine in the afternoon or in the evening just before going to sleep. It could also be used in discussion groups. This book is my magnum opus, that is, my most important work. Directly underneath the cover photo is a play button to hear a sample from narrator Buzz Kemper. That's all I've heard so far myself, and he does a wonderful job, better than I would have done if I had read it. It's published by Pitchstone Publishing, which was founded by Kurt Volkan in 2003, and has published a number of books by important atheists like Ronald Lindsay, Dan Barker, Sean Faircloth, Herb Silverman, Daniel Dennett, Hemant Metha, Peter Boghossian, Phil Torres, James Lindsay, Greta Christina, Ryan T. Cragun, Dan Arel, Amanda Knief, Matthew O’Neil, myself and others. To see the list of books so far click here, and then click on a book to read more. It's an honor to be a Pitchstone published author just as I'm honored to be a Prometheus Books author/editor. Enjoy.

Why Atheists Must Assert Jesus Never Existed

In the Afterword to Raphael Lataster’s latest book, Jesus Did Not Exist: A Debate Among Atheists, Richard Carrier addresses the Academic Biblical Academy:  “With this book, Jesus Did Not Exist:  A Debate Among Atheists, Raphael Lataster has certainly demonstrated at the very least one thing; the entire field of Biblical Studies should be taking this question seriously; yet they have not.  This has to stop.  They need to either build a more defensible case for historicity, one that does not violate logic or rely on non-existent evidence, or they need to officially recognize, at the very least, that historicity agnosticism is a credible response to what little evidence there is.  The Academy needs to stop lying about the evidence or about the argument of peer-review experts who challenge historicity.  They need to address those arguments as actually made, and the evidence as actually presented.  And Lataster has shown that this isn’t what the experts are doing.  So what should they do?”  (Quoted from Jesus Did Not Exist:  A Debate Among Atheists, p. 417)

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Quote of the Day, by Dan Parks in Defending the Hebrew View of the Universe With Discussion

Dan Parks:

I’ve found it interesting that it is very similar to that of ancient native Americans, thousands of years before the time of Abraham. It was the old world “science” of that time of the writings of the ancient Hebrews. Now, if Genesis 1:1–2:3 is a protohistorical-polemical-calendrical-liturgical composition of old world scientific non-revelatory conceptions of origins (received by the learned men), infused with revelatory conceptions (received by supernatural modes), then the Bible could reasonably be considered by faith to be trustworthy concerning creation because: (a) the divinely-revealed revelatory conceptions (that God created the cosmos, humans, animals and vegetation) have not been debunked by science, as it is not inconsistent with God to create over a vast amount of time or create humans that evolve from less complex animals (and I’ve built an argument that God is more likely create an OEC world versus a YEC world); and (b) such a view of Scripture (infusion of the human and the divine) is consistent with plenary-verbal inspiration and a qualified inerrancy (2 Tim. 3:16) that takes into account the divine objectives of progressive revelation, divine hiddenness in order to bring about a greater good.

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New #1 Book In Atheism: "Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World"

Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient Worldwas written by Tim Whitmarsh, Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge. I like the blurbs, especially this one:

If you have ever wondered about premature skeptics who questioned beliefs held sacrosanct in their own time--such as religion or slavery in the ancient world--this is the book for you. In plain English, classics scholar Tim Whitmarsh explores the minds of those who doubted the existence of gods more than 2500 years ago and got into trouble because of their doubts. It is a pure delight to be introduced to people who questioned the supernatural long before modern science provided physical evidence to support the greatest insights of human reason. —Susan Jacoby, author of Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism.

I taught introduction to philosophy classes and was always curious how some people in the ancient world could question the existence of god, or gods, without the scientific evidence we have in today's world, or the scientific method itself! This book is now on my wish list.

I Present to You the Universe as Conceived by Ancient Hebrews

So Christian, tell us again why you believe anything else that was said in the Bible about creation, rather than trust modern science? LINK.

Salon: "Sanders explained his democratic socialism in a speech last week that should be a wakeup call for America"

"The two political parties, who for decades have been neoliberal parties serving the interests of the capitalist class first and foremost, seem to be moving further apart. Since the ISIS attacks on Paris, some Republicans have started to sound increasingly like their fascist forbearers, while also talking about the importance of freedom. But the only candidate who offers the real freedom that so many great Americans have advocated in the past, it seems, is Bernie Sanders." LINK.