This is the basic form of the Kalam cosmological argument for the existence of god. Some say premise 2 is implied by the big bang theory, but this is not strictly correct. Science cannot, at present, distinguish between a universe that began to exist and a universe that always existed. One counter to this argument…
Category: Religion
What it means to say “lobsters are conscious”
The creationist site Evolution News recently posted an article entitled What Does It Mean to Say “Lobsters Are Conscious”? The thrust of this article is to use research about animal sentience to uphold mind-body dualism while simultaneously downplaying the similarities between human and animal minds. In short, the author Denyse O’Leary is trying to have…
The omnibenevolence paradox
This, what I call a paradox, is a major irreconcilable difference between myself and some religious people, especially Christians. If you have faith that God is all good, then you are presupposing that whatever God does must be good. If you personally disagree with God then it must be your moral compass that’s wrong. In…
A response to Catholicism on “What is truth?”
The following question was asked on catholic.com: I got into a discussion about truth, and I had the opinion that there is only one Truth and that is God. So what is truth? Is it something we believe in completely, body and soul? Or is it something God reveals to us? How do we know…
I’m not entirely happy with the rise of the “nones”
Over the past decades in the United States, there has been a rise in the number of people claiming no religious affiliation, or “nones.” While this includes atheists and agnostics, these individuals are often distinguished from those who actively identify as such. “Nones” may be agnostic or atheist, but most have a theistic or deistic…
Intelligent design’s scope problem
Intelligent design (ID) is the position that life must have been designed by an intelligent creator and thus could not have evolved naturalistically. Setting aside all the positive evidence for naturalistic evolution, there is a glaring problem with the very idea of ID itself. Arguments for ID often take the form of comparing human-engineered mechanisms…
A response to Faithroots apologetics
Faithroots is a blog about theology and apologetics that posted “God in the dock: objections to his greatness and goodness (part 2)”. The post covers several arguments for and against the existence of God. It’s interesting to me for a couple reasons. For one, it appears to be a good faith effort to present the…
Medium-strength atheism
Atheism is sometimes divided into weak and strong forms. Weak atheism can be described as an absence of belief in any god, while strong atheism positively affirms a belief that there is no god. This is related to the distinction between agnostic and gnostic atheism, where agnostic atheism claims no knowledge about the existence of…
Video share: Evolutionary Biologist Reacts to Creationist Arguments
This is no ordinary debunk of creationism. Clint of Clint’s Reptiles is extremely generous to creationists and attempts to address their best arguments. He even rephrases each creationist point to make sure he’s understanding it correctly.
Creationists have their own research journal and it’s full of insane nonsense
To depart from Scripture at any point is neither safe nor right. Joubert 2012 p. 81 Answers in Genesis (AiG) is one of the two major young earth creationist (YEC) organizations in the world, the other being the Institute for Creation Research (ICR). Answers in Genesis is an apologetics (i.e., Christianity-defending) ministry dedicated to enabling…
thoughts on mind 