Avalos: Secular vs. Religious Harm
Dr. Avalos explains why modern wars don't prove that secularism has done more harm than religion. Enjoy. By the way, have I said recently that Hector is one of my main intellectual heroes? He is!
Hector Avalos's New Book is a tour de force, a Classic Text, Pt. 2
I began my review of Dr. Avalos's book, Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Ethics of Biblical Scholarship, in a previous post you can read right here. His book is divided into two main parts. Chapters 2-6 discusses the various strategies used by biblical scholars to mitigate the negative ethical implications of slavery in the Bible, while in chapters 7-16 he illustrates how the Bible was used to sustain slavery, arguing that "the Bible's stance on slavery posed an enormous, and sometimes insuperable, challenge for abolitionists." (p. 17) I'll not review part two of his book except to say that it is devastating to the apologist claims that the abolitionist movement was inspired by the Bible. We can see this in part one of Avalos's book alone, for in it he discusses the most important biblical passages on slavery in the Bible since that's what the abolitionists had to work with. Hint: they were backed up against the wall. Their movement went against the thrust of the passages found in the Bible.
The Barna Group On Six Reasons Young People Are Leaving the Church
Reason number one: "...unprecedented access to ideas and worldviews as well as their prodigious consumption of popular culture." But we knew that already. Josh McDowell said it before, and *ahem* yours truly. If you want to know the latest before the information brokers do, see me. ;-)
Guess What? My Newest Book Will Be in Christian Bookstores!
Yep, it's the one co-written with Dr. Randal Rauser, as introduced here. We have until January 1st to finish it. So if I'm not making much noise until then you'll understand. During this same time I'll be working on a revision to WIBA. If you don't want to miss a thing become a follower of DC.
Ten Ways How To Resist Preaching to the Choir
[Written by John W. Loftus] I have extensively read both atheist and Christian literature, their blogs, journals and books, along with listening to their videos and podcasts. What I have discovered is that most people are preaching to the choir. They do not step inside each others shoes to understand where they are coming from. They do not meet on common ground, assume common assumptions, and common understandings. They are talking past one another like ships that proverbially pass each other in the night. Instead, they are speaking to people on their own side more than anything else, who seek to confirm what they have already come to accept. There is a time and a place for this, I admit. But I see it almost everywhere I look. More often than not each side speaks from a position without trying to really understand the position of the people they are trying to reach. I’ve thought a lot about this, so in the interest of starting up this conversation let me offer ten ways how to resist preaching to the choir, with specific reference to how skeptics/atheists can do this.
Twelve Reasons I Don’t Believe in Supernatural Claims
This is a real good summary of the reasons. Link.
My Book WIBA is "Not Just a Refutation" But "An Evisceration"
So says one kind recent reviewer. If that's what he thinks then wait till he gets a look at the revised book. I'm chomping at the bit to begin the editing process this coming week for a February publication.
Hector Avalos's New Book is a tour de force; Sure to Be A Classic
I'm very grateful that Hector send me a copy of his new book, Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Ethics of Biblical Scholarship. You can see the table of contents and purchase it if you follow the link. I cannot recommend this book more highly than to say that anyone who wants to deal with the issue of slavery in the future must deal with it. It is so well-informed and argued that Biblical scholars and Christian apologists might hope to ignore it if they could get away with it. ;-) This is a wonderful and extremely needed work. In this first post I'll just introduce it.
5 Logical Fallacies That Make You Wrong More Than You Think
Everyone should understand these 5 fallacies. They apply to our debates at DC:
#1. Facts Don't Change Our Minds
#2. We're Hard-Wired to Have a Double Standard
#3. We Think Everyone's Out to Get Us
#4. Our Brains Don't Understand Probability
#5. We're Not Programmed to Seek "Truth," We're Programmed to "Win"
#1. Facts Don't Change Our Minds
#2. We're Hard-Wired to Have a Double Standard
#3. We Think Everyone's Out to Get Us
#4. Our Brains Don't Understand Probability
#5. We're Not Programmed to Seek "Truth," We're Programmed to "Win"
Can Christianity Survive Pop Culture?
I doubt it, not the way it's going. Evangelical Christians are being forced to retreat from our culture. Many of them prefer home-schooling. And given the entertainment industry I doubt they can watch many TV programs that make the rest of us laugh. I have mixed feelings about this since some of the stuff is getting pretty raunchy, like the CBS sitcom "Two and a Half Men" (linked below). But if pop culture continues headed in this direction then evangelicals might as well become Amish in their way of life to maintain their moral purity. Or, if they are watching, then their morals will continue changing and with it so will their theology.
On Secular Blogging: “If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly”
[Written by John W. Loftus] I've liked this quote by GK Chesterton from the day I read it. Doing something badly is at least doing something productive, if what you're doing is the right thing to do. It's better than not attempting something at all. At least you will learn from your efforts. All of the most important things we learned to do we started out doing them badly, like walking, talking, singing, dancing and riding a bicycle. You improve as you go. You cannot improve until you start. You begin by starting out badly. You have to be willing to fail, sometimes often, to achieve what you want to. So if you decide to do something, anything, be prepared to start out by doing it badly. If you wait until you can do something perfectly you'll do nothing at all.
An Illustrated Guide to Dr. Hector Avalos's Book, "Fighting Words"
In Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence, Dr. Avalos did a careful analysis of the fundamental texts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and shows how four 'scarce' resources have figured repeatedly in creating religious violence: sacred space (churches, temples, holy cities); the creation of holy scriptures (exclusive revelations); group privilege (chosen people, the predestined select few); and salvation (only some are saved). If you want to see his thesis illustrated in the city of Jerusalem you need only look as far as Simon Sebag Montefiore's new book Jerusalem: A Biography. One reviewer wrote of his book:
The amount of murder, massacre etc for 2,000 years is appalling. Religious madness is the theme. Christians murdering Jews and being murdered and both murdering Muslims and being murdered in their turn. WHY? Because Christ was crucified here, Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac here and Mohammed road a horse with a human face aerially around the city, receiving insights as he went. So the murders and massacres are about the places where religious events are believed to have taken place.
Adam and Eve Again
Before eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve either knew that disobeying God was evil or they didn’t. If they didn’t, then they can’t be blamed for disobeying him. If they did, then they already possessed the knowledge that God had forbidden. Either way, God could not justly banish them from Eden. (Adduced by Richard R. La Croix.) Link.
William Lane Craig On Whether the Witness of the Spirit is Question-Begging
[Written by John W. Loftus] Dr. Craig attempts to answer that question right here. What you will see when you read his answer, ladies and gentlemen, is something I have told you about before. Step right up for an extra $1 and see this oddity, folks. Christians repeatedly are forced into claiming that their faith is possible and demand that we show their faith is nearly impossible before they will consider it to be improbable, which is an utterly unreasonable epistemological standard. Here we see it in plain sight. Craig highlights Alvin Plantinga's argument, now get this, that "Christian belief can be shown to be unjustified, irrational, or unwarranted only if it is shown that Christian beliefs are false." Craig says:Science Brings Results: Quantum Levitation
What is there about science that we trust? Results, time after time after time. When we compare the results of science with what religious faith gives us, all faith produces is more and more diverse and even mutually exclusive religions with no method to settle their differences. Remember me saying I had levitated? You doubt this can happen, right? Well it can, and it's no magic trick nor is it done by a religious state of higher consciousness. It's called Quantum Levitation, akin to the "Back to the Future" movie stuff.
Am I At the Forefront of the Current Atheist Movement in America?
That's what one Christian who comments here said to me in an email:
When Christians Criticize Each Other I Think They're All Right
One way to tell whether a theory is in crisis to to observe how many versions of that theory have been proposed. When it comes to how the death of Jesus supposedly atones for sins there have been a lot of versions proposed by Christians who, for good reasons, have disputed the others. So let's recap. The earliest proposals were The Ransom Theory and the The Recapitulation Theory. Then came a host of them afterward, like Anslem's Satisfaction Theory, The Penal Substitutionary Theory, The Governmental Theory, The Moral Influence Theory, and recently The Relationship Theory. There are others: The Acceptance Theory. The Declaratory Theory. The Mystical Theory. The Guaranty Theory. The Vicarious Repentance Theory. The Christus Victor Theory. The Healing Theory. The Penal Non-Substitution Theory. The Kaleidoscope Theory. The Participatory Model. The Scapegoating Theory. Check some of them out! See also this book of four views, and watch as Christians trash the other views! You see, there is nothing left for me to do. Christians do it to themselves. All I need to do is point it out.
Given nearly two millennia I’d venture to say with good reason that there will never be a cogent, well-argued version that can ever pass muster in the future either. I think the whole idea of Jesus dying for my sins to restore me to God is built upon the beliefs of a superstitious ancient world, where gods and goddesses were pleased with sacrifices, whether they were human or animal ones. This ancient world is long gone now, so it’s time to give up believing in an incarnate God who offered a sacrifice for us on the cross to atone for our sins.
Given nearly two millennia I’d venture to say with good reason that there will never be a cogent, well-argued version that can ever pass muster in the future either. I think the whole idea of Jesus dying for my sins to restore me to God is built upon the beliefs of a superstitious ancient world, where gods and goddesses were pleased with sacrifices, whether they were human or animal ones. This ancient world is long gone now, so it’s time to give up believing in an incarnate God who offered a sacrifice for us on the cross to atone for our sins.
"Think Atheist" On the Top Books Debunking Christianity
Link. Besides the books he mentioned which ones would you recommend and why? And to think, William Lane Craig doesn't believe I'm qualified to debate him. Who does he think taught me a lot of what I know anyway? ;-)
The Outsider Test for Faith (OTF) is "Equally Brilliant and...Self-Apparent"
It's discussed at 49:20 in episode #93 of Reasonable Doubts Podcast. It was said that the Religious Dependency Thesis (RDPT) can be discarded in favor of focusing in on the nature of justification. But without it believers wouldn't be jolted into considering the OTF at all. Another reason for including it is because the RDPT is a fact, since it follows (not of logical necessity but of overwhelming probability) from the Religious Diversity Thesis (RDVT). However, the best reason for including it is that if the OTF was made to be about the nature of justification then the debate would still focus in on the RDPT anyway. So why not argue for it and preempt the objections?
Avalos's book, "Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Ethics of Biblical Scholarship"
This long awaited scholarly book is now available. Dr. Avalos' book definitively refutes the claims of Rodney Stark and others who credit biblical ethics and Christianity as a main factor in the abolition of slavery. See it here.
Hey I just Levitated! No Really, I Did!
It was amazing! I did, I tell you. I did! For about five minutes I was suspended in mid-air! It was wonderful! Do you believe me on my word, or not, and if not, why not? As you think about this ignore the Christopher Hitchens quote, as well as the need for a religious context.
For The Record I'm Not Famous Now, Nor Do I Think I'll Ever Be
In the sidebar it may look as if I think highly of myself. There seems to be a lot of self-promotion going on over there. The reason that you see it is precisely because I know I'm not that important. There are new visitors here every hour who have never heard of my work. So it's to introduce them to it. Until I make it on the cover of Time Magazine, or until I am the president of an atheist organization that has billboards all over California, or until I am interviewed on Nightline, not very many people in the over-all scheme of things know of my work, especially the people in Europe. And I don't think that will happen. My books have never been on the "New Books" table at any national chain bookstore. They sit on an atheism shelf in the back of the store, if there is an atheism shelf at all. I'm not complaining. That's just the way it really is. And since I have no new arguments defending metaphysical naturalism and have decided to kick a dead horse, evangelicalism, I'm only dealing with a small slice of the pie. I know that. But I want to get the attention of the people feasting on that slice of pie.
I Stand in the Gap
I am set for the express purpose of destroying the influence of evangelical Christianity in America and in the world at large. I hope atheists can appreciate this. I'm doing what I think it takes as a former evangelical insider. Whether I can do this is not the question, since I just want to be a part of what many others are doing. I embrace a multifaceted approach to accomplishing this shared goal of ours.
I'm Giving Away Some More Books
Well it feels like that anyway, for a donation. I'm moving so I need the money.
It's Possible That Evangelical Christianity is the True Faith
Okay, I've said it. It's possible Christians are right after all. But then it's possible the Loch Ness Monster exists and is evading our attempts to detect her too! Christians must be convinced that their faith is nearly impossible before they will ever consider it to be improbable, which is an utterly unreasonable standard. There are at least two reasons why they demand such a high standard of disproof. The first is what I call the Omniscience Escape Clause (read all the links in this post!). The other reason is Pascal's Wager, in that unless the Christian faith is shown to be nearly impossible the threat of hell still holds sway over the minds of believers. I would think however, that if their faith is shown to be improbable that should be good enough. Here then are several ways where believers, especially evangelicals (my target audience), try escaping out from underneath the weight of probabilities:
Quote of the Day, From My Wife
As we drove past a church having their service yesterday she made me laugh when she said:
Looks like they can't remember how to be good and need to be reminded every week. Some of us are smarter than that.[First posted 9/6/10]
Did Jesus Do Miracles?
There are some doubts that Jesus was known as a miracle worker in his day. David Friedrich Strauss (1808- 1874 CE) was the first to systematically argue this case. Against the rationalist approach of explaining them all away naturally, and against the supernaturalist approach which took these claims literally, Strauss argued in what can be considered a book of its own (a chapter containing 121 pages), that these miracle stories were myths.1
A Helpful Review of My Book WIBA
The author writes:
This was one of the first books I read when I began to doubt. It was extremely comprehensive and I found many of the chapters very helpful. John appeared extremely well-cited and read and I cannot even imagine amassing such a collection on my list of read books as the quantity that fills his footnotes. Link.
I'm Co-Writing a Book With Dr. Randal Rauser
Nine months ago at Randal's initiation we finished a book proposal tentatively titled: God or Godless: One Atheist, One Christian, and Twenty Irreverent, Interesting, and Somewhat Informative Debates. In it we each propose ten topics for debate. This has been a slow process but we finally got a contract from Baker Book House, a major Christian publisher.
A New and Better Pascal's Wager: If God Asked You to Wager Before Being Born What Would You Choose?
Why didn't we get a choice in whether or not we would be born on earth? Wouldn't the reasonably good thing to do is to create us and then ask us if we would want to be born knowing the risks involved?
Does a Religious Context Increase the Odds of a Miracle?
[Written by John W. Loftus] Christian apologists point out that the probability of a miracle is increased when it occurs in a “religious context” as opposed to one that is a merely an “anomaly.” William Lane Craig states that: “A miracle without a context is inherently ambiguous. But if a purported miracle occurs in a significant religio-historical context, then the chances of its being a genuine miracle are increased. For example, if the miracles occur at a momentous time and do not recur regularly in history, and if the miracles are numerous and various, then the chances of their being the result of some unknown natural cause are reduced.” Then he proceeds to argue that in the case of Jesus his resurrection took place in such a religious context.1
More On The Outsider Test for Faith
All a person has to do is make an interesting argument that provokes debate. If you have done that then you have done well. It furthers the discussion. The Outsider Test for Faith (OTF) is such an argument. Here is a recent email and my answers to the objections.
IQ2 Debate: Atheists Are Wrong
Link. Atheist Jane Caro (at 35:15) expresses one of the main reasons I am against religion, the oppression of women. I loved what she said and silently cheered as she spoke! Atheist Russell Blackford (at 54:15) was excellent as well.
The Debunking Christianity Challenges
Is anyone up to these three challenges? Think of it this way: If you're wrong about your Christian faith wouldn't you want to know? Here are three ways to find out. What are you afraid of? Really. What are you afraid of?
Quote of the Day, by Tony Campolo
I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a shit. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night. Link. Hat Tip: James McGrath
I'm Giving Away Some More Books
Well it feels like that anyway, for a donation. I'm moving so I need the money.
Stephen Law's Opening Speech in Debate with William Lane Craig
Link. It's a very good one. I have argued the same things. You can see them here, and in chapter 9 of my book The Christian Delusion.
In Defense of Debates
I understand why some people don't like debates. I really do. Only in an honest dialogue can we get at the truth. In a debate format you'll probably never hear one side admitting the other side has a good point, or retract a statement that was shown to be wrong. No one concedes anything in such a contest because the goal is to win for their side. Just the same, let me offer six reasons in defense of debates.
Does God Exist? A debate between Eddie Tabash & Dr. Peter E. Payne
Eddie is a good debater and should do well. He tells me, "I am prepping day and night. I will spend Saturday with philosopher, Ted Drange." Perhaps that's what it takes. Link.
On Dealing With Apostates.
Some Christians think they have Biblical precedent to scoff, mock and malign those of us who are apostates from the faith because Jesus Paul and Elijah mocked their opponents. Let me try to reason with them.
I'm Giving Away Some Books on Jesus
Well it feels like that anyway, for a donation. I'm moving so I need the money. I also have no plans on writing something about the historical Jesus. For anyone interested in that issue these books should help for a donation.
This is How it Works: Getting Mileage Out of Craig's Refusal to Debate Me
An important context here is William Lane Craig's UK tour (starting this week). He is making huge attempts to publicize it through Dawkins' refusal to debate him. People aren't sufficiently aware of HIS refusal to debate John Loftus. When I pointed this out in a comment on one of Craig's video spots, the comment was removed and I was blocked. In so far as Craig has justified his position, his response seems uncannily similar to Dawkins, effectively 'it would look good on his CV not mine!' I agree with those saying 'Why I Became and Atheist' is a good book and contains more than enough to merit the author the kind of debating platform accorded to some other atheist authors. I do believe many of Craig's British supporters are not aware about the Loftus-refusal and they may get embarrassed when Craig gets called on this in debate questions in the UK. LinkNone of Craig's stated reasons for refusing to debate me make any sense. I would hope someone during the Q & A would ask him why he refuses to debate one of his former students, me.
Who Speaks For Atheism?
My publisher has dubbed me "a leading atheist spokesperson." I didn't say this. I don't care if I am. They do it to sell books. So let's explore this. Am I? Let's take the issue of whether or not there is a historical person behind the Jesus cult, okay? Do I speak for you?
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