Category Archives: Atheism

What would convince you?

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A few years ago, a visitor to our home expressed surprise at seeing a copy of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion lying around.  My response was that I find it helpful to know what those I might disagree with are actually saying.

In the same spirit, I present here the key points in this 2013 essay by Daniel Bastion.  These twenty reasons for not taking Christianity seriously have garnered high praise from sceptics such as John Loftus (‘Read ’em and weep Christians’) and David Madison (‘Bastian’s essay is indeed essential homework.…

Seven types of atheism

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“But I’m not that kind of atheist!”

I myself have had discussions with atheists who would disavoy the strident tone and intolerant rhetoric of the so-called ‘new atheists’.

Truth is, atheists comes in various shapes, sizes and flavours.

Andrew Wilson has reviewed a book by John Gray entitled ‘Seven Types of Atheism’.

Here are Gray’s seven types:

1. ‘New Atheism’

Dating back to 19th-century thinks such as Henri de Saint-Simon, August Comte, J. G. Frazer, the new atheism atheism lives on in the work of Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, Dennett, and others.’ …

Did he really say that?

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Shared recently on Facebook was an image of Pope Francis and the following quote, attributed to him:-

It is not necessary to believe in God to be a good person. In a way, the traditional notion of God is outdated. One can be spiritual but not religious. It is not necessary to go to church and give money — for many, nature can be a church. Some of the best people in history do not believe in God, while some of the worst deeds were done in His name.
…

God bless the ‘Sunday Assembly’

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Yesterday morning (9th November 2014), the Norwich ‘Sunday Assembly’ held its first meeting.

Describing itself as ‘a global movement for wonder and good’, the Sunday Assembly sets out to offer much that a Christian worship service might offer – including communal singing, time for reflection, an address, tea and coffee at the end (can’t get much more religious than that!) – but without God.

The folks behind the Sunday Assembly are peaceable humanists.  They regard themselves as godless, but not anti-god.  …

The Christian revolution – putting the record straight

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I was prompted by this post to get hold of an (audio) copy of David Bentley Hart’s 2009 book Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies.

I listened to the whole thing during the course of a short walking trip.  Here are a few random thoughts by way of response.

As some other reviewers have pointed out, the book’s main title (‘Atheist Delusions’) was quite possibly chosen by the publishers, and not by the author, and serves more as an attention-grabber than as an accurate guide to content.  …

“The biblical God commanded genocide”

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At last, in chapter 6 of God or Godless?, we have a real problem to debate.

Atheist John Loftus regards this as completely cut-and-dried: in several places in the Old Testament, the biblical God commanded genocide.  He cites the following texts: Joshua 6:16-25; Deuteronomy 2:4-34; 7:1-6; Numbers 31:7-18.  Since there can be no possible justification for this genocide, John thinks that apologists either have to concede that they never took place, or they have to argue that they did take place, but were mistaken in thinking that it was God who had commanded them. …

“Science is no substitute for religion”

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We’re up to chapter 5 of God or Godless, by John Loftus (atheist) and Randal Rauser (Christian).

Randal seeks to support his contention by pointing out that some scientists have a quasi-religious outlook on the cosmos.  The natural world is their God, and the scientific method their dogma.  But this religious impulse should be directed at the Creator, rather than the creation.

John, in his opening statement, pretty much reverses the original assertion by saying, in effect, “religion is no substitute for science.” …

‘The biblical God requires child sacrifices for his pleasure’

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This is the strange theory advanced by John Loftus in chapter 4 of God or Godless?.

I call it ‘strange’ because I had not come across it before.  I hastily looked up the passage he cites (Exodus 22:29-30) to see what I had been missing all these years.  We read:

‘You shall not delay to offer from the fulness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses.  The first-born of your sons you shall give to me. 

…

“If there is no God, then everything is permissible”

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This is the topic of debate in chapter 3 of God or Godless?

Randal Rouser opens by imagining the mind-set of someone who tortures and kills people for fun.  He imagines the character denying that what he does is evil, because (on the assumption that there is no God) morality is a purely subjective concept, with no objective basis for deciding whose morality is right and whose is wrong.

John Loftus, in his opener, says that the title of the chapter assumes that there is one God, whereas there are multiple concepts of God, with their own moralities. …

‘The biblical concept of God evolved from polytheism to monotheism’

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In chapter 2 of God or Godless? John Loftus asserts that the biblical concept of God evolved over time from polytheism to monotheism. He infers from this that there is no unified teaching about God in the Bible, and that the choice of one (Yahweh rather than Baal, say) is more or less a historical accident.

John’s argument is full of sweeping statements, right from the start.  When he says, “biblical scholars long ago acknowledged…”, he should have said, “Some biblical scholars think…”.…