Why the Fine Tuning Argument Proves God Does Not Exist

In Bayesian Counter-Apologetics I outlined why the Fine Tuning Argument actually disproves the existence of God. And I didn’t make that up. What I outline there was independently corroborated twice by the peer-reviewed research of multiple experts (see On the...

Some Ancient Chinese Philosophy on Why We Ought to Be Moral

When looking for “the objectively correct” answer to the question of why we should be moral, we also should look to what the ancient Chinese had to say on the matter. Not because it is any more likely to be correct than Western answers; but because ancient...

Koons Cosmology vs. The Problem with Nothing

Recently on The Canadian Catholic Show I debated the cosmological argument with theologian Robert Koons, under the title “Does the Contingency Argument Succeed?” Koons took the position he has formally articulated in two articles, “A New Look at the...

A Primer on Christian Anti-Intellectualism

I noted this month in my series on Justin Brierley’s book Unbelievable that rather than teaching its faithful how to think reliably, “Christianity teaches against any sound epistemology, even critical thinking.” In fact, “Christianity’s sacred...

The False Trichotomy of Lord, Liar, or Lunatic

C.S. Lewis may have been the worst philosopher of the twentieth century. Worse even than his contemporary Ayn Rand. And that’s saying something; because she was pretty bad at it. Weirdly, he was an even worse historian. As Bart Ehrman put it, “The problem...

Appearing in Tampa Tomorrow

Very rare event! Unofficial but actual: I will be hanging out in person at The Pub in Tampa, Florida on Monday, May 23. Strictly 7pm to 9. I will have a limited selection of books, if you want to buy one personally signed. Stop by and say hi! I’ll chat on all...

Justin Brierley and the Folly of Christianity

This is the final entry in my series on Justin Brierley’s book Unbelievable? Why After Ten Years of Talking with Atheists, I’m Still a Christian. You can read my general summary of this book; where also at the bottom is a TOC linking to all the follow-ups, in...

Justin Brierley on Jesus

Justin Brierley starts his discussion of the historical facts of Jesus by quoting H.G. Wells (p. 94), someone who had no degrees in history, and only remarked upon the historical effect on Well’s era of the literary character of Jesus, and merely presuming the...

Justin Brierley on the Science of Existence

Does science prove God? It is painfully ironic that Justin Brierley opens his chapter on this topic with a false quote from a scientist (p. 22). This common Christian failure to do the work to ascertain what scientists have actually said about these subjects explains...

Justin Brierley on Moral Knowledge & the Problem of Evil

“But why exactly do we believe that human life should be valued?” Justin Brierley asks (p. 52). Nowhere in his quest for an answer does he ever resort to asking experts in moral psychology or sociology what science has found the answer to this question...

Justin Brierley and the Meaning of Life

“These are the reasons,” Justin Brierley says, “that I believe God is the best explanation of human existence, value and purpose” (p. 93). What reasons does he mean? Really, nothing more than a repeated confusion between the obvious natural...

Unbelievable: Justin Brierley’s Epistemic Failure

Justin Brierley is an excellent host in Christian broadcasting. I’ve been on his show several times, including in person, when ironically I was an American visiting Brierley’s studio in London discussing the historicity of Jesus on a call with Mark...

An Anatomy of Contemporary Right-Wing Delusions

I recently analyzed for a client the crazy rant of Chilean conservative thinktanker Axel Kaiser in “This Could End in Civil War” and realized this is a paradigmatic model of all contemporary right-wing delusionality and I should blog it. I covered a different...

On Jonathan McLatchie’s Objections to Jesus Mythicism

Last week I addressed a lame Christian apologist’s travesty of an attempt to denounce and villify doubts that Jesus existed (On Paul Krause’s Objections to Jesus Mythicism). This week I will address a more competent attempt, by another Christian apologist,...

On Paul Krause’s Objections to Jesus Mythicism

An interesting exchange just occurred at MerionWest. Peter Clarke wrote a decent essay on why it is becoming more acceptable to doubt the historicity of Jesus than scholars tend to let on, which Paul Krause answered with “In Reply to ‘Jesus Mythicism Is...