Drange-McHugh Debate: McHugh’s Closing Statement
(2004) In my opening statement and subsequent rebuttals, I presented a case for belief in God, and for belief in Jesus Christ. In this closing statement I will not restate that case here, but will focus on refuting Drange’s last rebuttal. It seems that Drange is confused about which arguments I am using against ANB. […]
Drange-McHugh Debate: Drange’s Closing Statement
(2004) In finishing up my debate with Chris McHugh (CM), I shall first deal with the remarks that he made in his fourth rebuttal and then, at the end, return briefly to my argument from nonbelief. CM claimed that in his opening statement he had made a “case for Christian belief.” But in fact he […]
Stephen Crane: The Black Badge of Unbelief
One of America's most important writers, Stephen Crane had by the age of thirteen rejected the Christian beliefs of his devout parents. In his repudiation of cultural illusions and pretensions, he was a forerunner of Modernism. In his poetry and fiction, he depicts a god-abandoned universe.
Attacks on Religious Liberty Intensify
Separation of church and state is being undermined by those who see an advantage to promoting their own religious agenda. Emboldened by the favorable political climate in the current administration, and energized by the upcoming election, they seem to be intensifying their attacks; one egregious example is that of the Catholic Church. Unless stopped, they will succeed in changing the very foundation of this country, bringing to an end the religious liberty we now take for granted.
The Godly Art of Child Abuse
This is a powerful and penetrating chronicle of the author's experiences in an abusive, fundamentalist Christian home. Using scripture from both the Old and New Testament as an indictment of the biblical God, Archer demonstrates at the same time that Christian dogma can be harmful to children, to families, and to society as a whole.
A Door Ajar for Theocracy
The Transitional Administrative Law of Iraq carries a grave flaw. It has no provision for a separation between religion and government. Given the instability of postwar Iraq, the loophole in the charter must be sealed. If not, Iraq will have a door ajar for theocracy.
Drange-McHugh Debate: McHugh’s Fourth Rebuttal
(2004) Christopher McHugh In this rebuttal, I argue that Drange has failed to demonstrate any problems with the case for Christian belief given in my opening statement. Argument from Simplicity (AS) Drange grants that the individual the steps in AS are reasonable, but objects that the conclusion cannot be believed, and should be regarded as […]
Drange-McHugh Debate: Drange’s Fourth Rebuttal
(2004) Chris McHugh (CM) has apparently given up his appeal to the afterlife defense, for he makes no mention of it whatever in his third rebuttal. His sole response to ANB is now the expectations defense. In his endnote #1, CM claims that an explanation of why GC (the God of evangelical Christianity) would allow […]
Passion and Pathology
AÂ critique on the underlying themes and methodology of Mel Gibson's hit film The Passion of The Christ.
Is Allah Yahweh?
Substantial evidence in the Koran and the Bible lends credibility to Allah's contention that he and Yahweh are the same god. A dispassionate examination of the evidence was conducted by an evidence technician and a forensic profiler affiliated with the International Institute for the Investigation of Fraudulent Deities.
By This Time He Stinketh: The Attempts of William Lane Craig to Exhume Jesus
How can we know that Christianity, and particularly the alleged Resurrection, are true if Craig and other Christian apologists cannot show that they are true? For anyone to ask us to accept such on faith would be like a vacuum-cleaner salesman demonstrating his product in your living room: when the machine fails to suck up any dust, he asks you not to think ill of the vacuum; it's just that he, the salesman, can't get straight how to operate it properly--but he tells you that you ought to buy it anyway!
God is Smiling on Me
Is God smiling on you? It is evident by how prosperous you have been in the world. According to some believers, God grants material rewards to the faithful. No material rewards? Then that's your own fault.
Liberty and Justice For All
"We should separate God from civic life in every way. 'Individual liberty is the essential characteristic of free government,' writes Constitutional historian Melvin Urofsky. Allow religious beliefs to take precedence over democratic liberties and we're finished. Freedom of speech, Freedom of the Press, Right to Assemble, Habeas Corpus, Due Process--forget it. History, Thomas Jefferson reminds us, 'furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government.'"
Drange-McHugh Debate: McHugh’s Third Rebuttal
(2004) In this rebuttal, I will argue that Drange has failed to show that ANB prevails against ED.[1] Concerning my presentation of ED, Drange is absolutely correct when he notes that the version that I presented does not follow the modus tollens form. This embarrassing error on my part was the result of hurried editing, […]
Drange-McHugh Debate: Drange’s Third Rebuttal
(2004) Chris McHugh (CM) still has not done the thing that he had originally said he would do in this debate and that is to “attempt to make a case for the existence of the God of Christianity.” Nowhere in his first rebuttal is there any definition of “the God of Christianity” and nowhere is […]
The Faith-Based War on Terrorism
Kuchar suggests that the war on terrorism might be defined as "the opposition to organized, faith-based and indiscriminate violence." He goes on to suggest, however, that the war on terrorism is, itself, "an international, faith-based campaign of practically indiscriminate violence," and is thus, itself, terroristic, fostered by "blinkered administrations" who promote "patriotic allegiance to comforting slogans."
We are Good. They are Evil.
A Review of The Science of Good and Evil : Why People Cheat, Share, Gossip, and Follow the Golden Rule by Michael Shermer, in which Shermer presents what he describes as "a new theory of provisional ethics."
Old Presidents and New Theocrats
In newspaper editorials and letters, new-fashioned theocrats try to subvert the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by adducing pious remarks of the first U. S. Presidents. The comments are supposed to demonstrate that the first presidents sanctioned sponsorship of religious interests. On the contrary, these presidents left considerable evidence that they favored a strict separation of church and state.
Review of Massimo Pigliucci’s Denying Evolution
"Denying Evolution is about a cultural war that is currently being fought between conservative and progressive worldviews, but this book is not apologetic. It describes the limitations of science as a philosophy and a human endeavor, yet continually stresses that science is a process that has contributed to the quality of life that our society enjoys today. Denying Evolution is an honest, insightful critique about science, its limitations, and the perpetrators of the creation-evolution debate. The book clearly outlines the strategies and motivation of those who seek to destroy science."
Time to Rewrite the Script: A Passover Haggadah for Secular Jews
Are you willing to change your mind in response to new evidence even when your most deeply-held convictions are at stake? If you're Jewish, would you stop celebrating Passover if you were presented with convincing evidence that there was no Exodus? Instead of giving it up entirely, of course, you could reinvent the traditional Haggadah and convert it into an instrument of education. In a spirit of openness and evidentialism, Voron presents a Passover Haggadah for secular Jews--as well as a wealth of evidence, which should also be of interest to Christians, that the Exodus never happened.
Drange-McHugh Debate: McHugh’s Second Rebuttal
(2004) This second rebuttal will show that Drange’s critique of my opening statement offers no sound refutation of any of the arguments presented there. Drange’s debate tactic appears to be relegated to pleading a lack of understanding of my opening arguments. This is surprising, for most of the points made in my opening statement are […]
Drange-McHugh Debate: Drange’s Second Rebuttal
(2004) My opponent in this debate, Chris McHugh (CM), apparently has three main objections to the argument from nonbelief (ANB), which is the argument that I presented in my opening statement. They are: (1) the expectations defense, (2) his claim that ANB’s premise (A3) is unsupported, and (3) a version of what I have called […]
Narrative in the Rise of Religion
In recent years skeptics have often applied Richard Dawkins' "memes" idea to religion. This does go some of the way towards providing a naturalistic explanation for religion but I think it over-emphasizes the importance of belief at the expense of narrative. Religions, I suggest, mostly begin with narrative; belief arises later and is, in a sense, a secondary development. It is probably our Christian heritage that leads us to attach undue importance to the role of belief. Narrative depends largely on language, and there are important similarities between religions and language in the way in which they are acquired. This way of looking at religion suggests an explanation for its seeming ubiquity in human culture and also for its persistence in our modern society.
An Easy Way of Destroying Cosmological Arguments
Plugaru argues that most versions of the Cosmological Argument are useless as a proof of the existence of God.
Talking Peace and Justice
The role of religion in promoting social change moves front-and-center on Martin Luther King Day. But how useful can religion really be?
A Rebuttal to Pardi’s Criticism of ANB
I argue that Pardi’s criticisms of Drange’s version of the argument from nonbelief (ANB) do not refute ANB, although they may or may not require peripheral corrections or clarifications on Drange’s part. I focus not so much on Drange’s formulation, but on what I take to be the central intuitions of ANB and on the inadequacy of Pardi’s objections. I assume some familiarity with Pardi’s paper and with ANB, although I present what I consider to be ANB’s central claims.
The Argument from Physiological Horrors
In this essay Horia Plugaru argues that the existence of physiological horrors provides evidence against the existence of a traditional theistic God. Although the argument proceeds from the empirical observation of facts that shouldn't obtain in a theistic world, and horrors by definition bring us some sort of suffering, the argument is not a variation on the evidential argument from evil, though it is related to it. Rather, the argument is that unjustified and extreme ugliness is unlikely to be found in the work of a perfect creator, but since it is in fact found in the world, human beings are probably not the products of a perfect creator.
The Moral Argument for God’s Existence, the Natural Moral Law, and Conservative Metaphysical Naturalism
Some Christian philosophers and apologists have vigorously mounted a moral argument for God's existence made apart from the standard nonmoral grounds. The moral argument is based upon the idea of natural moral law (fundamental moral principles and norms apprehended as such by persons of good will as universally binding and not based upon supernatural revelation or divine positive law). In this expanded version of a talk given to the University of Colorado Theology Forum, Arnold T. Guminski aims to show why those naturalists and theists who hold that the natural moral law obtains should conclude that the moral argument for the existence of God is unsound. Particular attention is given to the writings of J. P. Moreland, William Lane Craig, and Paul Copan.
The Kalam Cosmological Argument Yet Again: The Question of the Metaphysical Possibility of an Infinite Temporal Series
According to a form of the kalam cosmological argument expounded by William Lane Craig, there cannot be a beginningless temporal world because the application of Cantorian set theory of transfinite arithmetic to the real world generates counterintuitive absurdities, thereby disclosing that an infinite set of real entities is metaphysically impossible. This article shows how this is not the case by pursuing a novel approach wherein it is understood that an infinite set of real entities is not a set, considered as a technical term of art, within the meaning of Cantorian theory. Upon accepting the original version for publication, Quentin Smith, then editor of Philo, wrote: "Your paper has been studied thoroughly for some time and there is agreement that it is at least an undercutting defeater of [William Lane] Craig's beliefs about real infinites, probably even an overriding defeater. More importantly, it introduces a novel metaphysical theory of the relation of transfinite arithmetic to concrete reality." Guminski's persuasive challenge to Craig's account of why Cantorian transfinite arithmetic should not be deemed to apply to the world of concrete entities has yet to be answered by Craig. The world wonders.