In October 2012, 14 eminent scientists, philosophers and other thinkers met for 3 days in a workshop entitled Moving Naturalism Forwards. What should we learn from this meeting?
Tag Archives: Atheism
Conversion & deconversion statistics
Recently I’ve discussed some stories of atheists who once were christians and christians who once were unbelievers. Here’s some statistics on how religious belief is changing in various countries.
The way we treat deserters
“You can tell a lot about a place by the way they treat their own ….
The way they treat their own deserters.”
David Bridie, ‘The Deserters’
Statistics (see below) show that a significant number of people, active church members and apparently believers, are leaving their churches and in many cases leaving the faith. In a sense (from an insider’s viewpoint) they are like David Bridie’s deserters.
What can people tell about us by the way we treat our deserters?
Pastors who once were christians
Not long ago I commented on the number of Atheists who once were christians I had come across on the web and in real life. Recently, I’m finding former pastors.
Many of these guys are still struggling with doubt, unwilling to give up their job and let down the people who depend on them, but also unwilling to keep up a pretence.
What’s going on? And what’s the answer?
Learn some cosmology
I’ve always been interested in astronomy and cosmology, and sometimes wish I’d studied it. I find the universe fascinating and amazing to look at, think about and learn about.
Cosmology has also always been of interest to theists, as it seems to point to the existence of a creator God. The cosmological argument and, in particular, the teleological argument (see The universe points to God) have evolved over centuries based on the discoveries of cosmology. And therefore, of course, it is of interest to atheists, who wish to combat the arguments.
I want to introduce you to one atheist physicist with expertise in cosmology who I think you ought to know – an Aussie, Luke Barnes.
Arguments against Jesus
Continuing my discussion of common arguments used against christians.
This post: arguments that seek to undermine faith in Jesus by arguing that the gospels aren’t reliable as history, or that we can know little factual about Jesus, or that Jesus could not have been divine.
Atheists who once were christians
We can read the statistics which show that, in most western countries, church attendance has fallen in the last century. In some cases it is still falling, though in others it has levelled out. The ‘leavers’ are not necessarily giving up all belief in God – many list themselves as ‘not committed’ – but some are choosing to be atheists.
But this is all statistics. There is also a human face to these changes.
Is the idea of God incoherent?
In philosophy, an idea is incoherent if it is self contradictory, and cannot even be properly defined.
There are many things about the idea of God that some atheists think are incoherent. Here is a brief summary and comment on seven arguments, all of which I have seen presented, sometimes by philosophers, as serious and telling objections to the idea and existence of God.
Does God prefer belief or obedience?
“God Prefers Kind Atheists Over Hateful Christians” said the article and the photo, and it caught my attention as it caught many others’ (as it was aimed at doing).
Is it true?
Arguments against God – oldies, but not goodies
More arguments unbelievers often use against christians. These ones are common, but not very good, but at least they provide a little amusement.
Arguments against God – from science
This post continues the series into preparing disciples of Jesus to stand against attacks on their faith, and specifically on arguments unbelievers often use against christians. I have seen every one of these arguments used in books or on the internet, even some that are clearly not very effective. Several arguments are based (loosely) on science.
Lawrence Krauss and creation from nothing
Creation out of nothing (ex nihilo) is one of the fundamentals of the christian faith. The Cosmological argument attempts to use the universe to show that God exists. The universe couldn’t cause itself to exist, the argument says, nor could it exist for no reason, so an external agent (what else but God?) must have caused it.
Despite various attempts to refute the argument, it remains a strong one, not least because of its basic common sense. But some atheists have argued that quantum physics shows that the universe could indeed have arisen out of nothing.
Arguments against God
We have been considering why believers may give up their faith and how we may train disciples to think better about their beliefs and so be better able to stand up against attacks. We have looked at some reasons to believe (and we will look at some more).
Now it is time to consider the arguments sceptics may use to attack christian belief – arguments against God, the Bible, Jesus and faith.
Arguing the resurrection
The resurrection of Jesus is obviously one of the central teachings of christianity, and is also under attack from sceptics. Disciples need to know why they believe it in the first place, how to defend their belief, and even perhaps how to use the resurrection as a challenge to non-believers.
Photo: malpansj2008 on Picasa)
Reason and ridicule
Criticisms of christians and christian faith seem to be more widespread and trenchant than they used to be. And the main basis of the attack is that christianity is not reasonable, not based on evidence. Yet in my experience, the attacks that have greatest impact are not intellectual but emotional, built as much on ridicule as on reason.
What are we to make of this? And how should we deal with it?
Who’s afraid of Yahweh?
It doesn’t take long before a thoughtful Bible reader comes across some rather odd and nasty things, especially in the Old Testament. And non-believers use the odd and nasty things as a weapon against christians: “How can you believe in a God who is genocidal?” they might say.
What are we to make of these things? Do they make it hard to maintain faith in Jesus? And how should we answer the critics?
Why do some christians give up belief?
We’re taking a look, over a few posts, in why it is getting harder to make disciples in the western world, and why more christians are dropping out.
This post looks at the many different reasons why christians stop believing, and is based my discussions with atheists on forums and blogs over the past six years, and on accounts people give of their own ‘deconversion’ on mainly atheist websites. (These are not too hard to find.)
Dawkins vs Craig
I have blogged before on the atheist vs christian wars, most recently in Atheist vs christian internet wars. The latest instalment is the verbal slanging match between US christian philosopher William Lane Craig and UK atheist biologist Richard Dawkins.
I think there are some things we can learn from this unedifying exchange.
Atheist vs christian internet wars
The past six years, I’ve spent a lot of time on the internet, making comments on blogs and discussing on forums. The two most common subjects I’ve discussed have been web design and God. The people I’ve met discussing web design have almost always been friendly and helpful. I wish I could say the same about discussing God, religion and christianity!
I’ve made a lot of friends over that time, but I’ve also seen some ugly personal attacks, a mass of derogatory put-downs and a lot of polarisation. Modern day atheism can be a lot more militant and outspoken than it once was, no doubt partly in reaction to provocation, and I have sometimes been on the receiving end even though I try not to be provoking.
But the sad thing is, I see just as much bad behaviour from the christians.
(The future of atheism)
Last post I looked at some statistics on church attendance, which has been declining in recent years in many countries. This is just a brief aside to reference a post on the Christian CADRE blog suggesting that while churches may be losing numbers, these people are not going over to atheism, at least not in the US.
It seems that people who leave churches either keep on following Jesus, probably more seriously than they did before, or else they hold to some religious beliefs, probably in a less formal way.
