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

Oct 16, 2011 2 Comments by

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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Not so finely tuned theist arguments for a god

Oct 13, 2011 Comments Off by

I’m a new writer here, and I’m a physicist, and we scientists always react to theists trying to use the findings of our field to argue for a god by noticing their arguments get the science wrong. One of the most popular attempts of that sort nowadays concerns the “fine tuning” of physics, so my [...]

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You’re Offended, So What?

Oct 13, 2011 Comments Off by

It is astounding how, even in intellectual debates, the notion is suggested that none of the participants may offend anyone else. Needless to say, it is consistently suggested by the very religious. But nobody has the right to not be offended, for one simple reason, that you can be offended by anything. You could take [...]

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Fear of Atheism

Oct 04, 2011 Comments Off by

On this site we sometimes review phrases which people have typed into search engines and turn them into articles. This article is one such case. Until one hears this title, it doesn’t necessarily seem obvious. It would be correct to say, that there are certainly some people in the world who fear atheism. The important point [...]

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Tradition Is Not A Valid Argument

Sep 23, 2011 Comments Off

This is one of the rarer arguments that emerges in debates. The general idea is that because a certain country has always been tied to a particular religion, or was founded on certain religious principles, that its people should therefore continue to do things according to that religion. There are two obvious examples of when [...]

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Fashionable Atheism

Sep 20, 2011 Comments Off

It seems the favourite catchphrase of the patronisingly religious, particularly now with the rise of new atheism, to call atheism fashionable, trendy, or cool. This is just another way of stating the same condescending remarks as the infamous line “I used to be an atheist, but now …”. It is so revoltingly arrogant and dismissive. [...]

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Is it possible to be atheist and extremist?

Sep 20, 2011 Comments Off

Clearly in order to answer this question we’re going to need to define extremism. Extremism is a relative description. One thing is extremist with respect to another. To label something extremist is to state that it is very different compared to the average. One could suggest that it is as different as something could possibly [...]

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Atheism and Science

Sep 20, 2011 Comments Off

Even the religious are starting to notice that one of the natural philosophical partners to science, is atheism. Bizarrely, this seems to confuse some religious people, as though they weren’t expecting it. Any atheist will tell you, that atheism is the only logically valid philosophy with regards to the existence of gods. It is the [...]

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“I Used To Be An Atheist …”

Sep 17, 2011 Comments Off

This is a common opening line used in arguments by the supposedly newly religious. It’s nonsense and here’s why. Firstly, there’s no reason why it is true. It could easily be just a persuasive technique aimed at bullying the other person into submission by suggesting they are behind in their thinking. Religious people like to [...]

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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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Why Don’t Personal Experiences Count As Evidence?

Sep 02, 2011 Comments Off

When citing the evidence they have for the existence of a god, many religious people will give examples of their own personal experience. On every such occasion, these references are discarded. The reason is simple. In science, all measurable effects are measured several times, often in several different ways by different scientists. The methods are [...]

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What Evidence Is There For The Existence Or Non-Existence Of A God?

Sep 02, 2011 Comments Off

This question may seem, on first inspection, to be simple, but it’s not. We will see that this question is phenomenally complex. Indeed this seems to be a pattern of many questions on religious topics. Once more, the complicated nature of the question is revealed through the definitions used to express it. We need to [...]

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Do You Have The Right To Be Respected?

Aug 30, 2011 Comments Off

No. Here’s why. The first thing we must do is define respect. This is quite tricky; it’s common usage gives it quite a loose definition. Generally people would say that it is to not arbitrarily criticise or insult someone, or to be unjustifiably condescending. One might also consider respect to be conversational equality. Clearly it [...]

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Should Atheists Have Their Own Holidays?

Aug 29, 2011 Comments Off

It is frequently remarked, that as most major holidays in the western world have strong religious significance, atheists should not celebrate them. The two obvious ones are Christmas and Easter. The simplest response to this question is that both of these holidays have essentially very little religious significance left for the population as a whole. [...]

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Religious Symbols At Work: What Are The Limits?

Aug 27, 2011 Comments Off

Some of the most controversial cases to have come about in recent years on the subject of religion are those involving people who were banned from wearing certain items of religious symbolism at work. But in each case, nobody knows what the result will be, because nobody is sure how to resolve such cases. Initially [...]

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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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Are Atheists More Intelligent Than Theists?

Aug 23, 2011 Comments Off

This is a misleading question because it suggests that a person’s philosophical standpoint is always an accurate and reliable indicator of someone’s intelligence. Through consideration of the arguments and evidence for and against the existence of most definitions of gods, there is only one reasonable conclusion that a person can come to: we simply cannot [...]

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Can You Think Evolution Is True And Believe In God?

Aug 22, 2011 1 Comment

This question partially depends on one’s definition of a god, but is more effected by other beliefs and doctrine that one holds. Let’s consider a single god, who is simply a god of the gaps, whose purpose is to create the universe and possibly have some interaction with it as well. With this definition, the [...]

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