Join My Course & Learn the Best Ways to Refute Arguments for God

Come be my student next month! My online course for August is “Counter-Apologetics: Learning the Best Ways to Refute Arguments for God.” Starting next week, it includes special advice on arguing against Islam as well as both liberal and conservative Christianity, tips and tactics of in-person and online argument and debate, the most effective way to frame ten key arguments for atheism so that theists can’t get around them (without looking silly), and a whole lot else. It’s affordable and has no scheduled events, it’s all learn-at-your-own-pace, and you can participate as much or as little as you want in the challenges and discussions and readings.

And purchase the course text, Malcolm Murray’s The Atheist’s Primer, at Google Play.

Let anyone else know who might be interested in taking this course, too! Any staff or officer of a nonprofit organization can even get a discount (email me for details).

There are many benefits to taking this course. Here are several to consider…

You can improve your ability to inoculate fence-sitters and the misled by debunking bogus or trick claims (a la Snopes); to discredit the dishonest authorities believers rely upon (thus embarrassing or shocking them into no longer trusting the untrustworthy); to concisely take-down arguments and claims in a way that maximizes cognitive dissonance; and to get a believer to rethink how they think about their own arguments and claims.

I will also be discussing tactics and advice for engaging both formal and informal debates, based on my extensive experience with both.

The official course description:

Learn how to most effectively dismantle Christian and Islamic apologetics in the public arena from Dr. Richard Carrier, a published historian and philosopher with a decade of experience in formal and informal debate, cross-media counter-apologetics, and the history and philosophy of religion and naturalism. You will consult targeted readings, answer challenge questions, engage in moderated discussions, and you can ask all the questions you’ve ever wanted about this subject, and get answers from an experienced pro.

You’ll also benefit from Dr. Carrier’s instructive commentary on the required course text, which is the little known yet essential guide to the subject, Dr. Malcolm Murray’s The Atheist’s Primer (Broadview Press 2010). It’s out of print (though used copies are available on Amazon, their delivery may be slow). But it’s readily available and very affordable in ebook format through Google Play, and therefore highly recommended. You’ll need it as the main course text. Additional course readings will be provided for free, including special lectures on tactics of debate, the cognitive science of persuasion, the goals and aims of counter-apologetics, and how to understand and covertly deploy Bayesian counter-apologetics to confound and disturb the defenders of religion (and without even using math).

Register now!

5 Comments

Mark Szlazak on July 28, 2016 at 1:23 pm

Why that book (“The Atheist Primer”)? Are there others even those written by theists that actually give an accurate account of the arguments?

Richard Carrier on July 30, 2016 at 8:50 am

I haven’t found one that’s as comprehensive or as useful. Murray covers both liberal and conservative Christian arguments, and a deep variety of them. And he is as charitable as one needs to be; he gets their arguments correct, and points out what’s wrong with them analytically.
Reply

Richard Carrier on July 30, 2016 at 6:07 pm

A commenter asked:

Dr. Carrier,

I hope you will offer some classes on Biblical Archaeology or some critical analysis of Thomas L. Thompson’s work for the neophytes. I’m not interested in arguing with god-believers. That arguing — I guess —keeps their belief alive. I want to get an objective understanding on how the cultural, political, social and economical conditions are reflected into all kind of myths and legends. This is much more evident — I guess, again —in that remote past.

“History originated as myth.” … “Indeed, men cannot live without history; if they possessed none they would invent it — and, in fact, they have.” The Great Cultural Traditions by Ralph Turner

I teach a “historical methods” course for that general purpose (among others). And indeed I’ll be offering that course this September, just the month after next! So keep your eye out for that. It’s not directly what you have in mind, just in the same goal space.

But I don’t do archaeology. And the socio-cultural origins and development of Judaism is not enough of a specialty for me to be the one to build a whole course on it. I will next year start teaching courses on the socio-cultural origins and development of Western science, though. And that may interest you.

Mark Szlazak on August 8, 2016 at 4:07 pm

Thanks. I got the book. Could you provide a clarification on what you said about it on the back cover? Specifically “…, and correct in nearly ever detail, …” Why “nearly”?