Reading Time: 10 minutes Christians promise up and down that their product can give people peace of mind about death. It does not. And Tim Keller found that out the hard way, though I doubt a single one of his followers will understand his recent confession.
Christian Apologetics
Posted inReligion
Sofia Carozza and Her Argument from Cognitive Dissonance
Reading Time: 9 minutes Today, let me show you a post by Catholic Sofia Carozza that riffs on a cherished Christian lie about their own imagined uniqueness: that they’re so incredibly radiant and vibrant that it should inspire non-believers to doubt their doubts.
Posted inReligion
‘Logical Christians’ and the Great Divorce Between Beliefs and Behavior
Reading Time: 6 minutes Hi and welcome back! For the past few days, we’ve been talking about a theme: the way toxic people cultivate a complete divorce between their beliefs and their behavior, between fantasy and reality. Indeed, a vast number of Christians consider themselves to be very logical people who only adopted their various (contradictory) opinions as a […]
Posted inReligion
Beliefs vs. Behavior: Evangelicals’ Redefinition of Occam’s Razor
Reading Time: 13 minutes Hi and welcome back! Yesterday, I mentioned briefly that White evangelicals’ own stated beliefs regarding racism contrast mightily with their actual often-very-racist behavior. Indeed, a lot of the awful stuff these Christians do should be impossible for people holding their stated beliefs. This whole topic came to me a bit ago, when we talked about an Evangelical’s […]
Posted inGeneral
The 10-Second Argument for God (is Ridiculous)
Reading Time: 10 minutes Today, let me show you this guy’s rewarmed, regurgitated, and poorly-understood cosmological argument, and then why it doesn’t fly at all — and then, we’ll cruise way on ahead of him to wonder why he doesn’t bring up real evidence to support his claims.
Posted inReligion
The Actual Product Sold By Christian Smith in ‘Atheist Overreach’
Reading Time: 9 minutes Hi and welcome back, y’all! We recently reviewed a 2019 book by Christian Smith, Atheist Overreach. In it, he developed a thesis that he felt merited atheists’ attention: that Catholicism–er, sorry, religion represented some humongous value to humanity that they needed to accept for humanity’s own good. In short, he argues for compliance with religious leaders’ demands, not […]
Posted inReligion
‘Atheist Overreach’ and the Appeal to Consequences
Reading Time: 7 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been talking about Christian Smith’s 2019 book Atheist Overreach. In it, he poses three questions he thinks are super-important. And he asks these three particular questions for a reason. See, he thinks that if humans abandon religion forever, then we’ll bring much suffering upon ourselves. Today, let’s check out […]
Posted inReligion, Science
‘Atheist Overreach’ and the Courtier’s Reply
Reading Time: 6 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been reading and discussing Christian Smith’s 2019 book Atheist Overreach. In part of this book, he describes what he considers scientists’ overreach into religious matters. And he does so using a tactic the skept-o-sphere has called the Courtier’s Reply. Today, I’ll show you what that is and why it doesn’t […]
Posted inReligion
‘Atheist Overreach’ and the Problem of Wingnuts
Reading Time: 8 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been looking at the 2019 book Atheist Overreach by Christian Smith. It examines the question of religion’s necessity to modern societies. Shockingly, a Christian writer lands on religion being super-duper necessary OMG y’all. One thing I’ve been noticing as I read this book is that it illustrates perfectly the Problem of Wingnuts: how […]
Posted inScience
Avoiding the Burden of Proof in ‘Atheist Overreach’
Reading Time: 11 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been reviewing Christian Smith’s 2019 book Atheist Overreach. In it, he seeks to persuade his audience of two things: first, atheists need to quit talking about religion, and second, that everyone actually needs religion to continue to be a dominant force in the world. One section of the book deals […]