This November my online course subject is “Counter-Apologetics: Learning the Best Ways to Refute Arguments for God.” In September I dealt with Boghossian’s one-on-one approach. Now we address a facet of the mass-market approach: how to inoculate fence-sitters and the misled by debunking bogus or trick claims (a la Snopes), how to discredit the dishonest authorities believers rely upon (thus embarrassing or shocking them into no longer trusting the untrustworthy), and how best to concisely take-down arguments and claims in a way that maximizes cognitive dissonance, and assists even Boghossian-style street epistemologists in getting the believer to rethink how they think about these arguments and claims. I will also be discussing tactics and advice for engaging (and viewing) both formal and informal debates, based on my accumulated experience with both.
The official course description: Learn how to most effectively dismantle Christian and other theistic 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 can ask all the questions you’ve ever wanted about this subject, and get answers from an experienced pro, and benefit from his 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), available in print through Amazon and in ebook format from Google Play. Students must purchase either version for the course. Additional course readings will be provided for free, including special lectures on tactics of debate, cognitive science of persuasion, the goals and aims of counter-apologetics, and how to covertly deploy Bayesian counter-apologetics to confound and disturb the defenders of religion.
As usual, these courses are one month long, and you learn at your own pace and on your own time, and participate as much or as little as you want (many just lurk and read the assigned readings and resulting discussion threads).
Slightly, but not completely off-topic, I was interesting in learning about the content of certain manuscripts which did not make it into the canon (many make claims about how the Epistles and Gospels that made the cut were somehow superior). Would you recommend Robert Price’s ‘The Pre-Nicene New Testament’ for this purpose?
Richard can I sign up for any previous online course info I won’t be interested in being better prepared for discussion
Carrier,
I see your attacks on Christianity,
but where are your attacks on other religions, like Hinduism and Buddhism?
As if Christianity is the best representative of theism?