Discussion Techniques: “Why?” and “How do you know?”

Jul 21, 2012 Comments Off by

When you’re locked in vigorous discussion with someone on the topic of religion or related subjects, I find the temptation is to try and present counter-arguments which describe what you think is correct. However, I don’t think this is the easiest or most effective way to do it. In most arguments, it seems the easiest [...]

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Monopoly on Marriage

Apr 03, 2012 Comments Off by

Sometimes people wonder why atheists, homosexual or not, take an interest in the equal marriage debate. The response is simple: the opposition to equal marriage frequently originates from religious beliefs. The argument which presently seems to dominate the debate is over who has the right to define marriage. This word ‘define’ is not one we [...]

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The Next Confusing Word: Fundamentalism

Mar 14, 2012 Comments Off by

Recently there was another religion-based debate on The Big Questions which discussed one question: whether fundamentalism undermines faith. The show itself was thoroughly interesting, as it often is, even if this episode was an exercise in how many mad people you can get into one room; it was more interesting to simply marvel at the ridiculousness of [...]

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More Ambiguity On Belief

Dec 23, 2011 1 Comment by

A while ago, there was an article on this website called The Dangers Of The Word Belief. In the article, it was noted that the word “belief” is inconveniently ambiguous because in common speech it ascribes to a different meaning to in religious debate. But there is another obstacle which much be traversed to deal [...]

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Does Our Explanation Of Religion Compromise The Validity Of Its Statements?

Oct 16, 2011 2 Comments

This is something which Peter Atkins once brought up in a debate with William Lane Craig. It is the idea that because we can explain why so many people are religious using evolutionary biology, sociology, and psychology, that therefore there is even less reason to think that religious statements are correct. Certainly the fact that [...]

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What Is Generalisation? When Is It Relevant?

Sep 12, 2011 Comments Off

Generalisation is a method used a lot in logic. The easiest to understand definition is when a concept is applied to a broader range of situations. We hear the principle of generalisation in debates most often with regards to extremism. One person might suggest that the views of the extremist reveal a flaw present in [...]

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Philosophy Is For Everyone

Aug 26, 2011 Comments Off

There is a small number of theist promoters, who can be found lurking in the low-viewer-count videos on the internet, who seem to be suggesting philosophy requires years of professional training before competency can be achieved. The most blatant statement of this kind can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAS0Gcq8Mvo William Lane Craig is attempting to discredit Professor [...]

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William Lane Craig Knows He’s Wrong

Aug 23, 2011 1 Comment

If you’ve watched more than one debate with this man then you’ll start to notice a pattern. He will always start his argument by defining atheism, rather than letting the atheist define themselves. It is in this definition that he tries to win over the audience and make himself seem terribly clever. He always defines [...]

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“I Used To Be An Atheist, Now I’m Not, Therefore Atheism Is Wrong”

Aug 23, 2011 Comments Off

This line of arguing is rarely explicitly stated, but seems to be the undertone used by some people. Generally we tend to hear only the first clause in arguments “I used to be an atheist” and the rest is merely implied. There are three major problems with introducing this to a discussion. Firstly, it could [...]

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The Ongoing War

Aug 06, 2011 Comments Off

Atheism has been around for a long time. Depending on how particular one is, and one’s definition of atheism, it could be said that atheism has been around forever, since before human beings, there was no religion to speak of. But there is clearly an atheist movement, recently fuelled by the rise of new atheism. [...]

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Too Much Nonsense

Jul 19, 2011 Comments Off

This particular video doesn’t seem to have accrued as many views as one would expect, given the nature of the topic and the way it’s discussed. It has a mind-implodingly high density of arguments which don’t follow on from the previous one, which either makes it hilarious or depressing, depending on one’s outlook. The first [...]

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Do Atheists Try To Convert People?

Jul 10, 2011 Comments Off

The phrasing of this title quite deliberately suggests something that atheists will probably dislike, and it’s the word convert. Convert brings up some rather evil connotations as it is usually used to refer to what are sometimes aggressive tactics used by a few pushy religious people. It’s often pointed out that atheists seem to want to [...]

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