Category Archives: Atheism

“If there is no God, then life has no meaning”

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This is the first topic debated by Randal Rauser (a Christian) and John W. Loftus (an atheist) in their book God or Godless?

John Loftus concedes that if there is no God, then life has no intrinsic purpose and we have to either (a) muddle along in a purposeless existence, or (b) construct some kind of purpose for ourselves.

Yes, I agree with that.  If it were proven to me that God did not exist, life would either become meaningless for me, or I would have to construct some kind of meaning.…

God or Godless?

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This is the title of a recent (2013) book of written debates by John W. Loftus (an atheist) and Randal Rauser (a Christian).

Twenty topics are covered in all, half chosen by one protagonist and half by the other.  For each topic there is an opening statement of about 800 words from each person, rebuttals of about 150 words, and closing statements of 50 words.

It’s an interesting approach, although not without its weaknesses and limitations:-

  • The opening statements were written completely independently, and so sometimes do not focus on the same subject-matter.
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Atheism: terrible, if true

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Some atheists are optimists.  They are so enchanted by the idea of giving up all belief in God, the supernatural, and fairies-at-the-bottom-of-your-garden that they imagine that the void that has been left is utterly benign.

Others, however, are not so sure.  They are inclined to be much more pessimistic about the implications of their unbelief.  They have the honesty and insight to face up to what a world-view without God really means.  Professor Dawkins, while he knows little about the Christian faith and still less about the Bible, rightly regards the cosmos with awe and understandably regards it as staring back at him with ‘blind, pitiless indifference’.…

Contradictory texts, bizarre miracles, man-made myths?

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A recent discussion on Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable show promised more than it delivered.

The topic – or, at least, the starting-point for debate – was the often-heard retort of atheists to Christians, “I just believe in one god less than you.”  The argument, such as it is, is that once we have moved from polytheism to monotheism it is but a short further step to deny the existence of that one remaining god.  The argument is fatuous, of course. …

Ten virtues for atheists

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Good for philosopher Alain de Botton, who has challenged atheists to consider what virtues they think might add up to a ‘good life’.  That’s better than worrying about how to be wealthier, or more attractive.

He has come up with a list of ten:-

  1. Resilience
  2. Empathy
  3. Patience
  4. Sacrifice
  5. Politeness
  6. Humour
  7. Self-awareness
  8. Forgiveness
  9. Hope
  10. Confidence

Problems?  Yes, I think there are some problems with this approach.

First, there is the problem of definition.  Sacrifice? – of what, to whom? …

Has neuroscience killed God?

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I recently got round to listening to the podcast of a discussion on this topic on Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable show.  The Revd Dr Alasdair Coles is a neurologist and a Christian.  His interest in the subject was stimulated by meeting a Christian patient who claimed to have some very powerful religious experiences but which, as it seems, were actually being triggered by epilepsy.  The sceptical perspective was represented by Martyn Frame, a psychological therapist.…

Brideshead Unvisited

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I’m not a huge movie buff, but, faced with a long rail journey, I settled down to watch Brideshead Revisited on the tiny but effective screen of my iPod.

I won’t attempt to re-tell the story here, but just to say that I was interested in the strong religious thread running through the plot.  The leading character, Charles Ryder, is presented as a level-headed, fair-minded atheist.  He comes into contact with an aristocratic family with a strong Roman Catholic tradition. …

Evangelicals and child abuse (?)

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Peter Lewis writes in a recent edition of Evangelicals Now:-

A short while back, Bel Mooney interviewed Philip Pullman, author of the famous children’s books where the church is the evil power that abuses children and ‘God’ is a fake, an extremely old angel who came into existence as a throw-up of evolution, pretended to be ‘God’ and has to be preserved in a block of ice by other angels. The great deliverance is to be freed of the idea of God and then everyone is free to go on into non-existence when they die.

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Genes: masters or slaves?

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In Richard Dawkins’ celebrated book The Selfish Gene, there is a passage which (rather typically for him) smuggles non-empirical assumptions into a statement that purports to be a scientific one.

The passage reads as follows:-

[Genes] swarm in huge colonies, safe inside gigantic lumbering robots, sealed off from the outside world, communicating with it by tortuous indirect routes, manipulating it by remote control.  They are in you and me; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence.

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The Curious Case of Madalyn Murray O’Hair

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Madalyn Elizabeth Mays was born in Pittsburgh on Palm Sunday (April 13) 1919.  She married John Henry Roths in 1941.  During the war, she worked as a cryptographer in Italy.  While apart from her husband, she became pregnant with her first child.  Although William J. Murray, a senior American officer, did not acknowledge the child as his own, she seemed to regard herself as married to him.  She divorced Roths, and called her son William Joseph Murray III and referred to herself as Madalyn Murray. …