The Carrier-Marshall Debate: My First Reply
Christian historian Dr. Wallace Marshall and I are debating whether or not enough evidence points to the existence of a god. For background and format, and Dr. Wallace’s opening statement, see entry one. For all subsequent entries, see index. That the Evidence...Richard Carrier and Wallace Marshall Debate: God or Atheism—Where does the Evidence Point?
Beginning today and for the next three months I will be engaging a formal serial debate here with Dr. Wallace Marshall over whether the evidence points to there being a God—or the absence of one. Marshall has a Ph.D. in history from Boston College and an M.Div....The Carrier-McDurmon Debate: Which Worldview Produces the Better World?
Joel McDurmon is an odd fellow. Founder of American Vision, he is simultaneously an old school arch-conservative who thinks all taxation is theft and public schools must be abolished, and a passionate, well-reasoned advocate for liberal talking points like that the...The Real Basis of a Moral World
What worldview is better for the world? That’s a question I debated with Joel McDurmon of American Vision just the other day in Houston. I’ll announce the video when it goes live. But one of the matters that came up centrally in that debate was moral...Speaking in Cincinnati!
I will be speaking for the Free Inquiry Group on the science and philosophy of moral reasoning in Cincinnati, Ohio, this coming October 23rd, Tuesday 7pm, at the First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati on 536 Linton Street. Details on Facebook and Meetup. Description:...Money Buys Happiness? Not After You Hit Six Figures
Five years ago I took Michael Shermer to task for pushing pseudoscience in his bungled attempt to argue (in agreement with Sam Harris and myself) that moral philosophy could and should be retooled into a proper empirical science, the same way every other philosophical...Your Own Moral Reasoning: Some Things to Consider
We all know the Golden Rule, taught supposedly by the Jewish Rabbi Jesus in the West and the Confucian scholar Mo Tzu in the East: “do to others as you would have done for yourself.” Or as the equally ancient Rabbi Hillel, or Confucius himself, said, “do not do to...Plantinga’s ‘Two Dozen or So’ Arguments for God: Moral & Other Arguments
Part 3. I just addressed Plantinga’s ontological and metaphysical arguments (A through I) and his epistemological arguments (J through Q). Here I conclude with his moral and other arguments (R through Z; and finally, his whopper of all arguments, the Argument...Eight Philosophical Questions We’ll Never Solve?
Years back George Dvorsky wrote a popular article at io9 titled “8 Great Philosophical Questions We’ll Never Solve.” It’s interesting because all eight are triggers for the same cognitive biases sustaining irrational theistic belief. Is it true...My Debate with Ray Comfort: Can Moral Facts Exist without a God?
Last Saturday, I was recruited to live-debate Ray Comfort on Facebook. That’s right. The banana man himself. Warlock to Kirk Cameron’s imp. Mr. “Everyone Is an Adulterer” (including Mother Theresa and that unborn fetus over there). Topic? “Can...MythCon IV: What Organizers & Outreach Directors Need to Know
This fourth Mythinformation Con was fascinating, and overall quite excellent, even when it was disturbingly bizarre (video here). Most readers might want to know my take on the strange hour and a half of anti-feminist cult leader Sargon of Akkad battling feminist...How Can Morals Be Both Invented and True?
After my post on Timothy Keller’s bewilderment at how atheists can have and justify morals and civil rights, many Christians struggled to understand the point, that morals and rights are totally made up, just like language and wheels and eyeglasses and laws, and at...Timothy Keller: Dishonest Reasons for God (Chapter 9)
I began my critique of Keller’s The Reason for God with an exposé of everything up through Chapter 1, then 2, 3 through 5, 6, 7, and 8. Here I will cover Chapter 9. Next will be 10 through 12. And I’ll close with one more post on the rest of the book,...Timothy Keller: Dishonest Reasons for God (Chapter 2)
I began my critique of Keller’s The Reason for God with an exposé of everything up through Chapter 1. Here I continue with Chapter 2. Next I’ll cover Chapters 3 through 5. I’ll continue to other chapters in future installments. Here the same themes...Christians Did Not Invent Charity and Philanthropy
Let me dispel a common myth: no, Christianity did not bring the idea of charity to the Western world. The concept of charity and concern for the poor was already fully developed before the Christians borrowed the notion from their pagan and Jewish peers. It’s...Get Dr. Carrier’s Latest!
About the Author
Richard Carrier is the author of many books and numerous articles online and in print. His avid readers span the world from Hong Kong to Poland. With a Ph.D. in ancient history from Columbia University, he specializes in the modern philosophy of naturalism and humanism, and the origins of Christianity and the intellectual history of Greece and Rome, with particular expertise in ancient philosophy, science and technology. He is also a noted defender of scientific and moral realism, Bayesian reasoning, and historical methods.
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