Daylight Atheism » Apologetics

Rebutting Reasonable Faith: The Evangelical Conspiracy Theory

Ebonmuse — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:39:59 +0000

In "The Aura of Infallibility", I mentioned William Lane Craig's belief in something he calls the "self-authenticating witness of the Holy Spirit", which he considers to be the most persuasive, crowning argument for Christianity. Basically, all it boils down to is that Craig has a really strong feeling that Christianity is true, and he believes that that feeling should be privileged above any and all ... [visit site to read more]

The Mormon Test

LeahAdmin — Fri, 27 May 2011 21:50:42 +0000

This is a guest post by Leah of Unequally Yoked. Adam is on vacation.

When in argument with Christians, it can be hard to find a good way to explain why you doubt their precepts. John Loftus has a good idea with his Outsider's Test for Faith, but most Christians believe that their faith can pass the test; it's hard to show them how their ... [visit site to read more]

The Language of God: Truth Seekers

Ebonmuse — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 15:41:17 +0000

The Language of God, Chapter 11

By B.J. Marshall

Aside from summarizing the points he's made in previous chapters, Collins uses this final chapter as his last chance to be a Christian apologist, but he surprisingly leaves the door open for other options.

First, I feel compelled to highlight Collins' honesty. He states that, after twenty eight years as a believer, "the Moral Law still stands out for me as the strongest signpost to God" (p.218). I appreciate the candor ... [visit site to read more]

Defending Genocide, Redux

Ebonmuse — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:49:44 +0000

A while back, I wrote a post about professional Christian apologists who defend genocide as a moral and holy act. As revolting as this is, it's unsurprising on one level: these people have devoted their careers to defending Christianity, and as such, their living depends on not admitting any flaws whatsoever in Christian doctrine. If the Bible commands an act as evil as genocide, they have no choice but to defend it, ... [visit site to read more]

New on Ebon Musings: The Apologist's Handbook

Ebonmuse — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 03:48:58 +0000

Earlier this year, I called on readers to help me compile the "apologist's handbook", a list of responses given by lay and professional Christians to common atheist objections, in order to point out how some of those answers directly contradict each other. There were dozens of suggestions, some of them very good indeed.

Well, I've now compiled the best of those responses into visit site to read more]

The Language of God: Collins vs. Dawkins

Ebonmuse — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 04:52:13 +0000

The Language of God, Chapter 7

By B.J. Marshall

The next part of Francis Collins' discussion of atheism is largely an attack on Richard Dawkins. Given that The Language of God is about biology, I suppose it would seem natural to attack an evolutionary biologist like Dawkins.

Collins' first attack is that Dawkins, in The God Delusion, argues that evolution fully accounts for biological complexity so there is no more need for God. "While this argument rightly ... [visit site to read more]

Compiling the Apologist's Handbook

Ebonmuse — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 11:51:22 +0000

Last summer, I had a long e-mail conversation, spanning several months and thousands of words, with a thoughtful, intelligent, but strongly committed conservative Christian named Daniel who came across my site. There was one exchange we had that I found illuminating and that stuck in my mind, and I want to talk about it today.

I wrote that when atheists commit a misdeed, we can't just ask God for forgiveness; we have to seek out the people we've harmed and try to make things right. Daniel ... [visit site to read more]

Doubting the Bible on a Christian Forum

Ebonmuse — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 15:35:23 +0000

A helpful Daylight Atheism reader (thanks, Rowan!) pointed me to this thread on Christian Forums, about a believer who's losing his faith after reading the Bible. From past experience, these threads tend to have the same lifespan as posts on Chinese web forums criticizing the government (and for the same reason), so I advise checking it out while you can. I've also saved a snapshot in case the site's administrators flush it down the ... [visit site to read more]

The Bottomless Hole of Prayer Requests

Ebonmuse — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:01:14 +0000

Lately, I've been spending some time reading Unequally Yoked - a blog about a Catholic/atheist interfaith relationship from the atheist perspective, which is a great concept, and tends to attract interesting commenters from both sides of the theological aisle. There was one recent post, Reading and ... [visit site to read more]

Answering More Questions for Atheists

Ebonmuse — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 10:49:50 +0000

Michael Egnor, a creationist working for the Discovery Institute, has posted a list of questions for atheists (HT: Sandwalk). Ironically, the post which contains the questions has comments disabled, so it's impossible to answer Egnor directly. This is probably another piece of evidence for whether visit site to read more]

The Language of God: Joy and Wishful Thinking

Ebonmuse — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:57:03 +0000

The Language of God, Chapter 2

By B.J. Marshall

Collins continues on his theme of the universal search for the divine with an argument from emotions. He cites his beloved C.S. Lewis, who describes this in his book Surprised by Joy. Lewis relates how this search, this intense longing, is triggered by moments of joy, which he describes as "an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than ... [visit site to read more]

Rebutting Reasonable Faith: The Atheists Are Multiplying!

Ebonmuse — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:45:49 +0000

Since I've been busy the past year and a half answering Lee Strobel's Case for a Creator, I haven't written any posts responding to William Lane Craig's "Reasonable Faith" columns. But I'm done with Strobel's book now - and Craig has avoided my fire for far too long!

Today I'll address question #170, in which Craig answers a correspondent who frets that there are just so damn many atheists at his ... [visit site to read more]