thoughtful ideas on life's big questions
Here’s another common atheistic argument. Christians often argue that God is the only reasonable or feasible explanation of how the universe got here. A common atheistic response is to say that “God did it” explains nothing – it leaves us with no more of an explanation than we had before we brought God into the […]
I suppose we all like to think we are very honest with ourselves – we only believe what we really think is true and we don’t close our minds to evidence that goes against our beliefs. I suppose we all like to think that. But I think we are sometimes fooling ourselves. Let’s look at […]
It is not uncommon to hear about someone who says they have been miraculously healed by God. We may also look at some ‘faith healers’ and find it easier to believe they are charlatans. Do healing miracles happen? Is there any good evidence for healing miracles? How do we explain them?
One of the most common arguments I’ve seen used by atheists against belief in God is based on one or more of many obvious mythical, unreal or downright silly beings – commonly Santa, Thor, Zeus, fairies, even the cheesy Flying Spaghetti Monster and a hypothetical celestial teapot. The argument is that there is no more […]
One of the evidences often quoted for the existence of God is miraculous healings. There are many responses a sceptic might make, but one of them is the argument that since healings are claimed by many different religions, they cannot be used to support the existence of any particular God. My friend Steven at Think […]
In the discussions and arguments between believers and sceptics on the internet, you’ll find a number of arguments and statements recurring. Many of them are presented as if they are telling blows for their proponents, without necessarily ever being argued logically. I have discussed the Carl Sagan claim “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence“, and now […]
I came across an interesting blog recently – Think That Through – where Steven had posted on the topic of What’s up with faith?. Steven is an atheist, and his post was discussing his objections to what he understands to be religious faith. The blog is worth reading, and Steve encourages polite discussion even from […]
I don’t get mad all that often these days – perhaps I’m getting too old and tired for that – but some of the climate change sceptics are really getting my goat. It’s not that I think believing in human-induced global warming is the only conclusion we can come to – there are, after all, […]
But what is certain is …. that humans believe only the irrational tales of their own culture, not those of others Adele Mercier I hear it a lot these days. “People only believe in christianity because they were born into a christian culture.” “If you were born in Mecca, you’d be a Muslim.” “No religion […]
In many people’s minds, there is no argument. Science is based on evidence and can give us close to certainty; faith is not based on anything and is a delusion – believers may say they are certain but they cannot be. But there is a problem for this view – what do we make of […]