Blurbs for My Anthology "Christianity in the Light of Science"

We're in the final copy-editing stage for this new anthology. Below are the blurbs to be put on the back cover.

This is the best compilation John Loftus has done to date and I have enjoyed reading his others. I truly couldn’t put it down. He has assembled leading authors to write essays in an easy to read manner that are well annotated. If you find a particular subject of interest in a couple of authors or more, check out their larger body of work. I highly recommended this book for those who want to delve deeper into why religion persists in our world and why it shouldn’t. --Karen L. Garst, PhD, editor of Women Beyond Belief: Discovering Life Without Religion and blogger at www.faithlessfeminist.com.

Ehrman–Licona Ongoing Dialogue On the Historical Reliability of the New Testament

Briefly, in such a dialogue both Dr. Ehrman and Dr. Licona will each contribute (1) an interview, (2) a statement, (3) a response, and (4) a reply — in that order.

The interview will typically take 6,000 words and give each the opportunity to favorably discuss one’s own life and work. The statement will typically take 10,000 words and constitute the portion of the dialogue where each most forcefully advances one’s own case. The response and reply together will typically take another 10,000 words, enabling each to refute the case of one’s interlocutor.

Drs. Ehrman and Licona will argue the following theses:

Dr. Ehrman: The New Testament is not a reliable historical guide to the life, work, and teachings of Jesus. In particular, it provides no convincing evidence for the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

Dr. Licona: The New Testament is a reliable historical guide to the life, work, and teachings of Jesus. In particular, it provides convincing evidence for the bodily resurrection of Jesus. LINK.

The Gore At the Very Heart of Christianity is Disgusting

A good friend of mine gave me a prayer card with this photo of a statue, now located at the Cathedral Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

I cannot begin to describe what a gruesome faith Christianity really is. Maybe this picture can help. 

You see, the more gruesome the death of Jesus was, then the more he loved us and wants us to be grateful for what he did. The more gore the better, you see.

So this statute could be bettered, since he surely loved us more than this statue depicts. His entrails should be spilling out over his naked body, with at least one eye completely gouged out, a broken swollen nose, a broken jaw hanging off his cheek, and bloody hair in tattered shreds. 

Have you no imagination Christian!

Methodological Naturalism Again

Paul de Vries described the difference between “methodological naturalism,” which is a disciplinary method that says nothing about God’s existence, from “metaphysical naturalism,” which “denies the existence of a transcendent God.” [Paul de Vries, “Naturalism in the Natural Sciences,” Christian Scholar’s Review 15(1986): 388–96]. The method of naturalism assumes that for everything we experience there is a natural explanation, whereas metaphysical naturalism is a worldview that denies the supernatural realm exists. [For discussions of this see Alvin Plantinga’s essay “Methodological Naturalism?” parts 1 and 2, which can be found at www.arn.org, and in the journal Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith (49 [1997]). Barbara Forrest’s “Methodological Naturalism and Philosophical Naturalism: Clarifying the Connection,” Philo 3, no. 2 (Fall–Winter 2000): 7–29, along with Michael Martin’s “Justifying Methodological Naturalism,” both found at www.infidels.org/library.]

I myself have written a few things about it. Now for a few new thoughts.

Do I Worry I Could Be Wrong About God?

I was asked this question. My answer:

I have no worries. What would I be worried about if so? The possibility there is a wicked god who would torture me in hell is infinitesimal on my calculations. We should think exclusively in terms of the objective probabilities and proportion our conclusions to the evidence. When we do so, there is no reason to think any one of the many god-concepts exists.

I'm Preparing to Debate Abdu Murray Next Week.

It will be streamed live. Here are the links: 1) Link to the event on Facebook. 2) Link to the feed at Ravi Zacharias Ministries. Ravi spoke at my graduation from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1985. 3) Link to the feed on YouTube. I'd appreciate it if my readers shared this event with everyone who might be interested.

Feel the Bern! Sanders Is Still In This!

Since I don't think anything significant happened on Easter I'm not treating it as a special day.

Bernie Sanders gained three YUGE wins in Alaska, Hawaii and Washington yesterday with more than 68 percent of the vote, same as he did last week in Idaho, Utah, and Democrats Abroad. The real numbers to watch are circled in red. 2,383 delegates are needed for the nomination · 2,049 still available. The chart above hasn't yet been updated yet. Washington has 101 delegates; 25 have gone to Sanders while 9 have gone to Hillary. That's only 34 out of 101. These numbers will change early tomorrow. The super delegates switched to Obama in June of 2008.

Happy Rabbit's Day Everyone!

It's funny isn't it? That an omniscient God could not have done better?

Christian, Your God Concept Is Only Conveniently Omnipotent

This salamander can regenerate amputeed body parts. I've argued if there is a good omnipotent God s/he could make us like that. If God exists all amputeed limbs should regenerate themselves. Or, is God only conveniently omnipotent? Which is to say, he's only omnipotent in selected stories we read in the Bible. (Iron Chariots, anyone?) Go figure. Christians will remove from consideration what we would expect if God exists, preferring instead fairyland tales told in the ancient superstitious pre-scientific past, which by their very nature cannot be witnessed or verified.

Come on people, think like an outsider 
for once in your life!

Del cristianismo al ateísmo: Mi experiencia personal

Leyendo la Biblia en México

Dos preguntas siempre surgen cuando creyentes cristianos se enteran que soy agnóstico o ateo.*  

Una es ¿Cómo es que una persona pudo haber llegado a ser ateo o agnóstico con su estudio de la Biblia?

Mi respuesta menos complicada es que soy agnóstico o ateo precisamente porque he estudiado la Biblia, y porque me he dado cuenta de muchas cosas que los creyentes comunes no conocen.  

Las razones específicas han sido explicadas en detalle en mi libro,¿Se puede saber si Dios existe?, el cual es probablemente el único libro escrito originalmente en español por un ateo que es erudito bíblico acádemico nacido en América Latina.

Otra pregunta común es: ¿Cómo se puede vivir una vida productiva y feliz sin Dios? 

En sí, un concepto muy popular es que el ateo es una persona amargada, que no tiene ningún motivo para vivir, o vive una vida que no le satisface. Muchos piensan que el ateo es una persona que se dedica a los vicios y placeres sin conciencia.

Aquí deseo exponer como llegué a descubrir las verdades que he discutido en mi libro de un punto de vista personal, y también demostrar que un agnóstico o ateo puede vivir una vida productiva y que se considere buena en nuestra sociedad.        

David Pakman Interviews Me: How an Evangelical Christian Preacher Became an Atheist

My Future Non-Plans

I have a book to copy-edit, another one to write (due June 1st) and then I'm taking a break, hopefully a long one. If I like my break I may not come back. Don't hold me to this since I may change my mind. "Don't say I didn't say, I didn't warn ya."

The Damoclean Sword of Hell

Bart Ehrman: "Why the biblical stories about the last days and hours of Jesus are probably not true"

LINK. Hat Tip to Patrick Reynolds for this.

Quote of the Day, By Chuck Johnson

Exaggerating the truth of something which is true, or exaggerating the falseness of something which is false is the root of a huge amount of ignorance, dishonesty, and disastrous thinking. By proportioning our beliefs to the evidence, and by becoming authentic by not pretending to know what we don't know, we can see our way to the truth.

A Brief Email Discussion On The Evidence That Our Brain Lies to Us

Garard: In chapter 3 of your book, How to Defend the Christian Faith: Advice from an Atheist, if your content is true, how would you know?

Loftus: Because of the scientific evidence coming from both psychological studies and neurology.

Garard: But to suggest you can't trust your brain would suggest you can't trust the evidence from scientific and psychological reports. You could be misunderstanding them, you could be mistaken about what you're reading, they could be mistaken, how do you avoid total skepticism?

Loftus: No. Only a lying brain could reach that conclusion. For upon accepting this evidence, total skepticism could not be an option since the evidence tells us the truth about our brains, that they can and do lie to us. Henceforth, to keep our brains from lying to us about things we desire to be true but aren't, we would demand the same kind of evidence that forced our brains to accept this conclusion. Where there isn't this same kind of evidence we would force our brains to heel by proportioning our beliefs to the evidence, and by becoming authentic by not pretending to know what we don't know.

Thank you. Thank you very much! The End. [Loftus exits the building.]

Quote of the Day, By Dr. Wallace Marshall

[Re-dated post from April 5, 2015]

Recently Dr. Marshall messaged me with permission to quote him:

I wish I could make your two chapters on the problem of suffering (in Why I Became an Atheist) required reading for all evangelicals. They would banish many a shallow Christianity! Your section on the free-will defense also raises a number of issues that most Christians haven't thought about.

--Dr. Wallace Marshall is a Christian apologist and Director of the Charleston, South Carolina, Reasonable Faith chapter.

Dr. Wallace Marshall Endorses the Outsider Test for Faith

This should not be news to anyone since I'm confident the only way to objectively test one's inherited religious faith is from the outside. The very fact so many Christian apologists have been attacking it shows they really are not interested in knowing whether their religion is true or not. They do so because they tacitly acknowledge their faith cannot pass the test. David Marshall pays lip service to it by acting as if he endorses it, but he guts the test of its key elements.

Enter Dr. Wallace Marshall, whom I debated last Wednesday. [No, to answer your question, I was told it was not recorded.] Marshall told me he endorses the OTF since he is an evidentialist, and gave me permission to quote him. He's the first Christian apologist to do so. See? That wasn't too hard, was it? The problem, as I highlighted in my latest book, How to Defend the Christian Faith: Advice from an Atheist, is that most Christian apologists reject evidentialism, that is, they deny the need for, and/or existence of sufficient evidence for their faith. 80% of them by my rough estimation. So let me put it to Christian apologists everywhere: what would you think if 80% of Mormon apologists denied the need for, and/or existence of sufficient evidence for their faith? Come on, think like an outsider for once in your lives!

Infinity Is Not A Number, So The Kalam Argument Fails

The concept of infinity is not an actual number. It’s a placeholder for a number beyond our finite conceptions. To see this, just think of an infinite set of even numbers. Now add to that set an infinite number of odd numbers. By adding an infinite set of odd numbers to the infinite set of even numbers we have not increased the actual numbers in that set. So an actual infinite set of numbers does not exist. We could even subtract all numbers with zeros in them, or the numbers 1-1000, or all prime numbers and more, and still have an infinite set of numbers leftover.

With the Kalam argument William Lane Craig's error is in thinking infinity is an actual number. Based on this error he says there cannot be an actual infinite number of past events. Well, of course not. That's because infinity isn’t an actual number. Since infinity is not an actual number we cannot count an infinite number of past events. The way Craig uses infinity assumes there was a beginning an infinite time ago anyway. The truth is that an infinite timeline necessarily lies outside of our epistemic horizons. But this tells us nothing at all about whether the universe is eternal.

I short, the Kalam rests on the claim that infinity is a number. But it isn't. So nothing follows from the fact we cannot count to infinity.

Dr. James Lindsay, a friend of mine who has a Ph.D. in math and wrote the book Dot, Dot, Dot: Infinity Plus God Equals Folly, says:

Eternal cosmologies deny the existence of a beginning. Eternal means no beginning and no end. No first moment. No last moment. In an eternal cosmological model, we have to reckon time only from defined moments, and we can imagine a timeline of infinite length in both directions from any point that we choose. The way we conceive of that is not of a beginning infinitely long before or an end infinitely long after but rather as “there’s always an earlier moment than any we describe and always a later moment than any we describe.”

Now the point isn’t that we know the universe is eternal. It’s that we don’t know that it isn’t. The whole point, by definition, of an eternal cosmology is that there is no first moment (i.e., no beginning).

He goes on to say,

The Kalam is exactly the kind of cosmology we would expect from people who hadn't yet discovered science…It would be absurd if they weren't so embarrassingly serious.

The Moral Argument to the Existence of God

As far as I can tell, the Islamic State could make the same moral argument to the existence of their god, using their own morality, where it’s okay to rape women, own slaves, chop off heads and burn people alive. Christians like Wallace Marshall would have to agree with their Moral Argument, but disagree with their morals. However, their morals are used as evidence that their god exists, just as his morals are used as evidence his god exists. So certain kinds of morals lead to certain kinds of gods. Or certain kinds of gods are used to justify certain kinds of morals. Which comes first? I’m as sure as sure can be that the morals come first. Where do believers get their morals from? That’s as tricky of a question as it is for me. But I can guarantee you Marshall does not get his morals from the Bible. For if he did, his morals would look much like the morals of the Islamic State. For in the Bible we see much of the same things, like slavery, holy wars, genocide or ethnic cleansing, and Inquisitions.

Regardless, there is no time in the history of ethics where Marshall could not make this argument based on the morals of his day. He could own slaves, offer up his child to Yahweh or have sex slaves and be heard to argue at the local pub that his god is the source of objective morals. This argument to god from morals is empty rhetoric without any content.

Since morals come first, I think Philosopher Raymond Bradley has produced a good counter-argument. Bradley: “If there are universal objective moral truths, then there is no God of the Bible. He then provides some universal objective moral truths that are counter to biblical morality: 1) “It is morally wrong to deliberately and mercilessly slaughter men, women, and children who are innocent of any serious wrongdoing”; 2) “It is morally wrong to provide one’s troops with young women captive with the prospect of their being used as sex slaves”; 3) “It is morally wrong to make people cannibalize their friends and family”; 4) “It is morally wrong to practice human sacrifice, by burning or otherwise”; 5) “It is morally wrong to torture people endlessly for their beliefs.” He argues that “if we take these moral principles as objective ones, as Christians themselves do, then since we find them commanded and permitted by the God of the Bible, he does not exist.”

My Opening Debate Statement vs Wallace Marshall

The details of the debate can be seen here on Facebook. Below is my 20 minute opening statement. Enjoy below.

Christianity or Atheism? Which Makes More Sense?

Come Out To SASHAcon On March 19-20th. I'll Be One of the Speakers.

Come out to SASHAcon on March 19-20th. I'll be one of the speakers. LINK.

Why Should We Believe Meme

On Twitter Eric @edes1103 created this meme from something in my book, How to Defend the Christian Faith: Advice From an Atheist.

I'm Debating Dr. Wallace Marshall This Wednesday On the Existence of God

I'm going to debate Dr. Wallace Marshall this coming Wednesday, as announced here on Facebook. Wallace appears to have read my magnum opus and says two chapters in it should be "required reading for all evangelicals." Good! I searched and found a debate between Wallace and Phillip Drum on a similar topic. See what you think. Any suggestions?

Daniel Dennett On The Good Vs Bad Of A Religion

Hemant Mehta On the Outsider Test for Faith

Peter Enns Wrote Another Book, "The Sin of Certainty"

I am very uncertain about faith!

Peter Enns has a new book titled, The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than Our "Correct" Beliefs, to be released on April 5th. I thought I'd capture a photo of me with it, so the rest of you would be jealous I was sent a free review copy and you weren't!

The controversial evangelical Bible scholar...explains how Christians mistake “certainty” and “correct belief” for faith when what God really desires is trust and intimacy. Combining Enns’ reflections of his own spiritual journey with an examination of Scripture, The Sin of Certainty models an acceptance of mystery and paradox that all believers can follow and why God prefers this path because it is only this way by which we can become mature disciples who truly trust God. It gives Christians who have known only the demand for certainty permission to view faith on their own flawed, uncertain, yet heartfelt, terms.

God Has Watched Every Molestation And Did Nothing

If you say God has good reasons for allowing this child abuse, then his reasons must be beneficial for the very children who were molested. His reasons for allowing this to happen cannot merely be to teach the rest of us lessons. Otherwise the victims are being used as fodder for what God wants to teach us. So let's talk again about why a perfectly good God allows such things. Why? Given the amount of child abuse his reasons must be discernible to us enough to conclude they are good ones. Otherwise, an all knowledgeable God would know that because of his inaction many people would not believe in him.

The Story Of The Exorcist Is Purely A Religious Thing!

New Book by Sean B. Carroll, The Serengeti Rules: The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters

How does life work? How does nature produce the right numbers of zebras and lions on the African savanna, or fish in the ocean? How do our bodies produce the right numbers of cells in our organs and bloodstream? In The Serengeti Rules, award-winning biologist and author Sean Carroll tells the stories of the pioneering scientists who sought the answers to such simple yet profoundly important questions, and shows how their discoveries matter for our health and the health of the planet we depend upon.

One of the most important revelations about the natural world is that everything is regulated--there are rules that regulate the amount of every molecule in our bodies and rules that govern the numbers of every animal and plant in the wild. And the most surprising revelation about the rules that regulate life at such different scales is that they are remarkably similar--there is a common underlying logic of life. Carroll recounts how our deep knowledge of the rules and logic of the human body has spurred the advent of revolutionary life-saving medicines, and makes the compelling case that it is now time to use the Serengeti Rules to heal our ailing planet.

A bold and inspiring synthesis by one of our most accomplished biologists and gifted storytellers, The Serengeti Rules is the first book to illuminate how life works at vastly different scales. Read it and you will never look at the world the same way again. LINK

What Does Your God Actually Do?

It won't do to say God works through people when every religious person would say the same thing. What does your God actually do that can be objectively measured? Why does s/he need anything or anyone to do this work?

Michael Moore's Satire "Where To Invade Next?" Is Both Hilarious and Brilliant!

I've written a lot about ridicule and satire. I've defended their use in our religious and cultural debates in several posts here at DC. I argue ridicule and satire work to change minds. Ridicule works to the degree there is truth behind it.

Enter Michael Moore with his just released movie, "Where To Invade Next?" It is both very funny and based on fact. Below for your consideration I'm including a trailer along with an interview he did with Stephen Colbert. If you care about the direction of America this is a don't miss movie, a movie that is neither liberal nor conservative. Chris Woods, a friend of mine and movie aficionado wrote, "IMO, Michael Moore's Where To Invade Next is not only the best Michael Moore movie I've seen, but also the best movie I've seen so far this year." I agree.

There were three segments to Moore's movie that really touched me. The children in France are fed good lunches in their schools, compared to the shit that gets fed to American students in our schools. Why does this continue! It's a complete and utter disgrace.

In another segment we're told of the recent Tunisian political revolution where women have successfully risen up to gain equal rights, something I hadn't heard of before. The president was interviewed by Moore, who is clearly a Muslim with conservative Muslim values (i.e., repressive of women), but he has come to embrace secularism, or the separation of State and Church, where people should be free to live the way they desire irrespective of their religious values. Now there's an idea Christians should wish upon the Muslim world. Why don't more of them wish it upon us in America! That befuddles me.

Then in a segment directly following the Tunisian one, Moore interviews Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, who was the first woman in the world to be elected head of state, in Iceland. For about what seemed to be ten minutes afterward, there was a superior montage of women leaders and activists around the world, showing what women have accomplished. It was inspiring. Viewers could clearly understand that it's time for women to take charge of the world. The rule of testosterone-driven male egoists should end, and I agree wholeheartedly. [Of course, in America we should tackle one problem at a time. So while Moore and I truly think women should lead us, both he and I endorse Bernie Sanders for President. Here are his reasons why.

"Evangelical Christianity’s Brand Is Used Up" by Dr. Valerie Tarico

I think it's time evangelicals grasp what they have done to their own branding as evangelicals. They have mucked up the word "evangelical." They should abandon using the description or change their beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. Excellent essay! I love how Tarico writes, using simple bullet points for easy comprehension. Enjoy.

• Evangelical means obsessed with sex.
• Evangelical means arrogant.
• Evangelical means fearful and bigoted.
• Evangelical means indifferent to truth.
• Evangelical means gullible and greedy.
• Evangelical means ignorant.
• Evangelical means predatory.
• Evangelical means mean. LINK.