Showing posts with label Apologetics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apologetics. Show all posts

Saturday, December 12, 2020

The Watchmaker Argument Debunked

"As most famously presented by William Paley in his theological work titled “Natural Theology”, the Watchmaker Analogy (teleological argument) is a recurring argument for a designer, which, by way of analogy, asserts that complexity requires a designer."

Click on the link below that pin-points several flaws and fallacies that those who use the Watchmaker tend to commit:


Thursday, December 10, 2020

Listen To Science, NOT Some Scientists

One common obfuscation by religious apologists is to hold up particular scientists as examples of the falsehood that religion and science are compatible. Below are three examples of noted scientists not using their science skills in understanding reality:
  • "Why do some scientists believe in God? Has science proven God's existence? Here, Dr. Gerald Schroeder, Dr. John Lennox, and Dr. Francis Collins use science and religious apologetics to argue for God. Lennox defends Christianity against the problem of evil, Collins uses the fine-tuning argument, and Schroeder "proves" the Biblical God using a creative argument of his own. He claims you will "believe in God in 5 minutes." These men are smart, but even smart people believe weird things sometimes. My atheism and skepticism still feel unchallenged for now."
Click on the link below:


Monday, December 7, 2020

Is The Multiverse Scientific?

" - - - prominent physicists are divided about whether any other universes exist outside of our own. Some even go as far as to say that the multiverse is not a legitimate topic of scientific inquiry because it can not be empirically falsified. But Neil deGrasse Tyson among other prominent cosmologists thinks that given our understanding of quantum mechanics and the thoery of General relativity, the possibility of the existence of the multiverse is a legitimate scientific hypothesis."

At least there are tested scientific methods that point to its possibility, what does "Goddidit" have?

Click on the link below for a clarifying presentation on the subject.


Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Another Look At "Nothing"

 "This is maybe one of the biggest questions of all because it’s basically asking not only where did everything come from, but how did all of it arise in the first place. Here’s as far as science has gotten us, at least, so far."

If you are a theist and claim that, since so much is unknown about the origin of our reality, that an "Omni" God did it, you are continuing to fill our lack of knowledge with unsupported assertions, the core of ALL religious apologetics.

Click on the link below:


Tuesday, December 1, 2020

A Different Angle On The Naturalism Vs Theism Debate

"In his 1997 debate with William Lane Craig, Paul Draper considers seven lines of evidence and asks if they are more expected on theism or on naturalism. He argues that the meager moral fruits of theism, mind-brain dependence, evolution, the biological role of pain and pleasure, tragedies, divine silence during tragedies, and religious confusion are not what we would expect to find if theism were true. The world looks about as one would expect it to look if God did not exist."

Click on the link below for the Podcast.


Saturday, November 28, 2020

Madonna Of Guadalupe Debunked

There are countless claims of Mary, the supposed mother of the supposed Jesus, appearing at many times and places to do miracles, give prophesies, et al. In every case there are reasons for serious doubt regarding their truth. The Madonna/Virgin of Guadalupe is on par with the visions of Mary at Lourdes and Fatima in their acceptance by Catholics. Below you will find links questioning the Guadalupe appearance. Since all of these "visions" would be "Extraordinary", I require extraordinary evidence and none is seen.

The Virgin of Guadalupe

Madonna of Guadalupe 'fake'

The Marian Apparition of Guadalupe and Her Fantastical Portrait

The Myth of the Virgin de Guadalupe

Friday, November 27, 2020

No, Religious Societies Are NOT Better

There is a trove of data rejecting the claim that religious societies are better. Click on the links below for the truth:

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"Do societies fall apart when they become more secular? Clearly not."

"Are secular countries worse off than religious ones? Is atheism the downfall of nations? Are countries cursed by god when they stray from the faith? Or do non-religious outperform religious countries on measures of wealth, well-being and success? Today, we'll dive into the data to see if atheism is, in fact, the downfall of nations or if the blessing of God/curse of secularism is a myth."

"Are Christian countries better off than secular countries? Does God bless Christian nations and curse atheist countries? Or are the secular countries better off when we measure wealth, prosperity, happiness, and well-being?"

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Why Is Christianity So Splintered?

From its beginning, Christianity could not agree on anything. Because of the complicity with the Romans (see Constantine), Christianity, under the Catholic Church, created an official monopoly on "Truth (tm)" and evolved into the most powerful force in Christianity that we are living with today. In spite of this situation, the disagreements within Christianity persist, and each entity claims that THEY have the "Truth (tm)". Why?

Unlike science, where it is possible to form a consensus on a topic, Christianity, and virtually all organized religions, have no tool to do so. The latter relies on philosophy and theology, which don't have a way to justify/verify opinions. 

If you disagree with anything above, I suggest you peruse in detail all of the posts in my "Featured Post" page above, and especially those labeled "Religion/Christianity." Peace. 

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Personal Relationship With God Explained

One of the hardest "nuts to crack" when attempting to get a strongly religious person to look at their beliefs in a God outside of the dogma and indoctrination from which they have been exposed is their "personal relationship" with God. Science, and specifically psychology, explains what is going on in the brain of such a person. Click on the link below to better understand why this is so:

Attachment theory and psychology of religion

Sunday, November 15, 2020

Why A Christian God Would Be Extraordinary



The image above is of the Milky Way galaxy, our Sun's home.  It is estimated that there are two trillion (2,000,000,000,000) galaxies in the observable universe (link). There may be as many as a hundred billion (2,000,000,000) solar systems in our galaxy (link). 

There are many scientific hypotheses that support an infinite multiverse underlying our universe, thus making the God hypothesis unnecessary (link).

Underlying our classical reality of atoms and molecules is quantum mechanics (link). Within such is a reality where the laws of cause and effect break down (link).

There is no claim of communication between God and humans consistent with the known laws of nature.

There is no way to even begin to compute a prior probability of God due to a lack of objective evidence of such (link).

Conclusion: 
  • The claim for a Christian God lacks plausibility and probability, thus, it is extraordinary and requires extraordinary evidence for acceptance. There is no objective evidence for any God.

Friday, October 30, 2020

Faith Is Easy To Debunk

"The single greatest bit of advice that I can give to someone who has been presented with an Argument from Faith is to get the proponent to first very clearly declare which definition of the word ‘faith’ they’re using, and to then help them put their argument into a syllogistic form.
"The reason for this is because the word ‘faith’ means many things to many people, and if we want to effectively communicate with one another (which is the very point of rational discourse), then we simply must make sure that we first understand each other, by ensuring that we’re using the same language and definitions."

Click on the links below to understand the weakness of arguments from faith:



Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Street Epistemology: It Works

Street Epistemology is a conversational tool that helps people reflect on the quality of their reasons and the reliability of their methods used to derive one's confidence level in their deeply-held beliefs. It is used by science-based-thinkers to promote, one-on-one, critical thinking and to encourage people to analyze the level of magical thinking they use. Needless to say, magical thinkers, especially theists, are defensive against the process. However, as the video below demonstrates, it can be very effective. It's important to watch the whole video to get its full impact.


Wednesday, October 14, 2020

European Colonialism Demythicized

There is a strong movement from the US political Left to remove statues of Christopher Columbus and his holiday because of the verified cruelty of many of his actions (link). The political Right is in opposition to these actions (link). What is the truth about him? The link below is to a podcast that goes in-depth on the actions of Columbus, the general history of European colonialization, and "American Exceptionalism:"


Saturday, September 26, 2020

Slavery And Christian History

Christian apologists have many challenges in defending their unsupported dogma. Included in these challenges are the passages in both the Old and New Testaments that appear to support slavery. The 20-minute video below does an excellent job presenting the truth of the matter.

3 Justifications for Scriptural Slavery - Debunked

Friday, September 25, 2020

Western Civilization And Values

One Christian apologists' arrow in their quiver of false claims is that Western Civilization owes its values to Christianity. The 10-min video below sets the record straight:





Thursday, September 24, 2020

A Clear & Succinct 3-Point Debunking Of Christianity

I have posted a great deal against Christianity on this blog. Why? In the USA it is the most powerful and harmful pseudoscience. This is the simplest debunking of Christianity I can think of:
  • There is no evidence of an "Original Sin"
  • The Bible has no "Primary Sources", Thus, it is not trustworthy as history
  • There is no evidence for any claims on our reality made by Christianity
Also, consider the truism that "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

If you disagree, please read "Featured Posts" under the tab above, and, especially in detail, every post of mine pertaining to "Religion/Christianity."


Sunday, September 20, 2020

More on "Original Sin": Not Only Is It Falsified, But It Is Immoral

Several months ago, I posted on the falsification of the dogma of "Original Sin" by science, thus making Christianity bogus from its start (link). The link below is to a video delving into the incoherence and immorality of the fictional story:


Thursday, September 17, 2020

The Catholic Church, Scientists, And Executions

Critics of the Catholic Church, especially atheists, have charged that numerous scientists in history were executed by the Catholic Church for promoting the results of their scientific inquiries. As is the case with all attacks on the Catholic Church, apologists attempt to "set the record straight." Below are examples from one Catholic apologetic website and my responses to such:

1. Hypatia

Hypatia's death was political; Hypatia was not an enemy of Christianity; on the contrary, she was respected by the Christian intellectual circles of the day; she was a victim to the political jealousy which at the time prevailed; she was not killed for being a scientist.

2. Roger Bacon

Details on Bacon's life are thin, but he was certainly not persecuted for his scientific ideas; He also had a reputation as loose cannon theologically because of his promotion of certain wild prophecies then floating around in relation to the Spiritual-Conventual debate, as well as his preference for deterministic astrology.

3. Pietro d' Abano

Medieval science was often bound up with occultic practices and magic; Though Abano was a distinguished physician and scholar, he was also deeply involved in the occult; His arrest by the Inquisition seems to be on the grounds of magic and his astrological theories.

4. Cecco d' Ascoli

Ascoli was a renowned scholar and astronomer who was of favorable enough reputation to work in the service of Pope John XXIII;  He first fell afoul of the Inquisition in 1324, not for any scientific theory, but for some statements he made in a commentary on John de Sacrobosco's book Sphere that concerned wild theories about demonology; He fled the papal court to Florence where he subsequently got in trouble for trying to read Christ's horoscope; Cecco was subsequently condemned and burned. Again, it was not for his scientific theory that Cecci d'Ascoli was put to death, but for his occultic impiety.

5. Michael Servetus

Servetus was not a religious skeptic. Servetus rejected the tenets of both the Catholic and Protestant creeds, but not because he was a religious skeptic per se, but because he was a Unitarian - he rejected the doctrine of the Holy Trinity; It was for his heterodoxy regarding the Trinity that he was condemned by the Inquisition and later burned at the stake by John Calvin. He was certainly not killed for any of his scientific ideas.

6. Girolamo Cardano

Cardano possessed an extremely abrasive personality that brought him into conflict with his professional peers; The Inquisition arrested him in 1570; It seems clear that Cardano's arrest by the Inquisition was a strong-arm tactic employed by his professional rivals; He never seems to have been in danger of his life and there is no indication his scientific theories were ever the reason for his persecution.

7. Giordano Bruno

Bruno's case is difficult because it is unknown to what degree his cosmological theories were behind his condemnation;  It is true that he was burned at the stake in Rome in 1600, but the church authorities guilty of this action were almost certainly more distressed at his denial of Christ's divinity and his other heresies than at his cosmological doctrines.

8. Lucilio Vanini

He also wrote several works in which he denied the immortality of the soul He was commanded by his superiors to report to Naples for discipline, but instead he fled to England; The Parlement of Toulouse found Vanini guilty of blasphemy and atheism and put him to death; His death had nothing to do with the Church. It was not the Church, but the secular authorities who apprehended him and the Parlement of Toulouse that condemned him to death. The Catholic Church literally had no part in his death.

9. Tommaso Campanella

Campanella's questioning of Aristotle did get him in trouble with the Inquisition, but he was released after only a brief confinement. What got Campanella in trouble was not his science, but his politics

10. Kazimierz Lyszczynsk

Like other philosophers of the age, Lyszczynsk found traditional arguments for the existence of God to be unconvincing;  King Jan Sobieksi attempted to rescue Lyszczynsk by having the case transferred to Vilna, but the clergy, led by Brzoska, insisted on his condemnation. Brzoska succeeded in getting Lyszczynsk condemned to death by the royal diet of 1689; Lyszczynsk had his tongue tore out, hands burned, and suffered beheading before having his body and his manuscript committed to the flames.

Conclusion

In none of these cases was a man put to death or imprisoned merely on account of his scientific ideas; in most cases, these people were punished for theological heresies, or for political actions or financial reasons; Speaking of the Church punishing people, it also must be pointed out that in none of these cases did the Church actually kill anybody. It must be remembered that heresy was a civil crime in the secular law books.

http://www.unamsanctamcatholicam.com/history/historical-apologetics/79-history/596-scientists-executed-by-the-catholic-church.html

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My comments:

  • During the period of time that these events occurred, there was functionally no divide between the Catholic Church and secular law.
  • Virtually all scientists during this time were under the thumb of the Catholic Church.
  • The "crimes" were essentially blasphemy/heresy against the Dogma of the Catholic Church punishable by torturous death. Science during this time was essentially any claim approved by the Catholic Church, and any opinion, scientific or otherwise, not in keeping with the Dogma was blasphemy/heresy.
  • In other words: not all who were executed for heresy were scientists; not all scientists were executed for scientific heresy; all who defied the dogma of the Catholic Church were punished if not executed.
  • Note that this apologetic didn't address the "Biggie": Galileo. Here is what happened to him and why.

Saturday, September 12, 2020

One Christian Dogma They Keep Quiet About

 Conscience: the inner sense of what is right or wrong.

Unfortunately, all branches of Christianity exert pressure on the non-believer to become a member by explicitly or implicitly using threats of going to Hell and separation from God after death if one remains a non-believer. However, rarely do they point out the Christian dogma of primacy of personal conscience (link)(link)(link) in deciding whether to remain a non-believer or convert to Christianity.

I was a Devout Catholic most of my life. However, as a skeptic (science-based thinker) since college in all but religion (funny how compartmentalization fools the brain), I finally had to accept that there is no objective evidence for any God, in spite of Christian claims on our reality. This conversion from Catholicism to atheism is what my informed conscience told me I should do.

Imagine what would happen if Christianity would emphasize this primacy of the conscience and also promoted informed critical thinking on religious claims.



Friday, September 11, 2020

Founders Of Religions Had NO Idea About Reality

 "The number of known exoplanets seems to grow every day. Most of them are worlds completely unlike our own. But some get pretty close to something resembling home - and may someday become exactly that."


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Choose how you look at reality wisely. Yes, it is a binary choice.

Choose how you look at reality wisely. Yes, it is a binary choice.
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SCIENCE JUSTIFIES ITSELF

SCIENCE JUSTIFIES ITSELF
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