Keith Parsons's Blog, page 56

Catalog of Bayesian Arguments in Philosophy of Religion

I've created a new page, with a permanent link near the top of the screen, to a catalog of Bayesian arguments in the philosophy of religion, including Bayesian arguments for and against God's existence. This is a work-in-progress, so please leave a comment on that page to let me know of any additions, edits, etc. I need to make.

Repost: Shameless Self-Promotion of My Debate with Phil Fernandes

This is a re-post.

Please pardon the shameless self-promotion, but the video of my 1999 debate with Phil Fernandes on naturalism vs. theism was uploaded to YouTube some time ago. If you haven't already seen it, I invite you to view it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl2lUI...

Alvin Plantinga's Turnaround Argument from Evil

LINK (HT: Victor Reppert)

What Are The Best Arguments for the Non-Existence of God?

In a recent interview with Christian philosopher and apologist Douglas Groothius, Lee Strobel asks, "What's the strongest argument in the arsenal of atheists these days? And why does it fall short?" Groothius answers:

That's a big question. Different atheists will use different arguments, but they often confront Christians with two things: (1) Darwinism has refuted the idea of Designer and so

Stephen Law's Evil-God Challenge

In his recent debate with William Lane Craig, Stephen Law presented his evil God challenge. Law had formally documented this challenge in a 2009 article in the academic journal Religious Studies. Here is the abstract:

Abstract: This paper develops a challenge to theism. The challenge is to explain why the hypothesis that there exists an omnipotent, omniscient and all-good god should be

Flanagan's Response to Me (Re: Jerry Coyne on Explaining Morality)

Matthew Flanagan has written a response (skip down to his comment dated October 20, 2011 at 12:43pm) to my post on Jerry Coyne and explaining morality. I am quoting his response in its entirety, with Flannagan's permission.

Hi Jeffery, I tried posting this on your site but couldn't, feel free to do so.

You write: "I suspect that C.S. Lewis' moral argument for God's existence is probably much

Extreme Unfriendly Theism or Abusive Theism

(This is another item in the "not new, but new for me" category. I was familiar with presuppositionalism, but not this particular presuppositionalist. Based on how radical Cheung's position is, I guess you could also place this in the "you can't make this stuff up" category.)

Vincent Cheung is a Christian apologist of the presuppositionalist variety. His website includes two articles which

Kohl Reviews Wielenberg's God and the Reach of Reason

LINK

Please Welcome Stephen Law to the Secular Outpost

I am very pleased to announce that Stephen Law has graciously agreed to join The Secular Outpost as a contributor. Stephen is the editor of the Royal Institute of Philosophy journal THINK. He has published several books and is senior lecturer in philosophy at Heythrop College, University of London.


Please join me in giving Stephen a warm welcome!

Joel Marks on Atheism, Amorality, and Animals

Philosopher Joel Marks, of "Confessions of an Ex-Moralist" Fame, recently wrote another essay for the New York Times on his amoralism and concern for the treatment of animals.

LINK