What is Faith? – Part 7
I’m going to take a detour and temporarily set Mr. Swinburne’s characterization of the Thomist view of faith aside. But I will continue to examine the Thomist view of faith, specifically as presented by Dr. Norman Geisler. As Jeff Lowder has recently shown, Dr. Geisler’s case for Christianity is a failure. IMHO Jeff won that … What is Faith? – Part 7
Not this Again!
John Mark Reynolds, Provost of Houston Baptist University, has posted an essay reasserting the old canard that atheism is the cause of mass murder. Reynolds commits all the usual fallacies of those who make this claim. For instance, though he notes that correlation is not the same thing as cause, here is what he says … Not this Again!
Eternal Accountability vs. Pascal’s Wager
I think I may have conceived of a novel response both to pragmatic moral arguments (such as Victor Reppert’s recent post about eternal accountability) and Pascal’s Wager, but I’m neither certain it is novel nor that it works. The basic idea is that these two arguments contradict one another. To the person who is uncertain about God’s … Eternal Accountability vs. Pascal’s Wager
Some Thoughts on Naturalism and Morality
It is supposed, by some, to be difficult for naturalism to account for moral properties (both axiological properties like goodness and badness and deontic properties like rightness and wrongness). William Lane Craig and Paul Copan, have each argued incessantly that naturalism cannot account for moral properties. Craig has offered the following argument: This argument has … Some Thoughts on Naturalism and Morality
Parody: Ben Affleck and Sam Harris Debate Scientology
In case you missed it, Goldie Hoffman and Ruven Klausner have a hilarious sketch parody out of the Ben Affleck vs. Sam Harris debate. Instead of debating Islam, however, this sketch has them debating Scientology. Enjoy. ETA: You can follow more of their work at http://goldiehoffman.com/ and http://ruvenk.com.
A Very Rough Sketch of an Objection to Quentin Smith’s Argument for Moral Realism
In his book, Ethical and Religious Thought in Analytic Philosophy of Language, Quentin Smith defends an argument for moral realism which he calls the argument from veridical seeming. In this post, I’m going to sketch a brief objection to (4) based on what I will call “naturalistic evolution.” According to this objection, naturalistic evolution furnishes naturalistic … A Very Rough Sketch of an Objection to Quentin Smith’s Argument for Moral Realism
What Explains God’s Moral Grounding Power? Part II
In an earlier article, I wrote about a question for divine command metaethics, a question that I called the Moral Grounding Question. Moral Grounding Question (MGQ): In virtue of what do God’s commands ground moral obligations? (or, in virtue of what does God have MG-power?) In that previous post, I explained the moral grounding question … What Explains God’s Moral Grounding Power? Part II
Praise from Matthew Wade Ferguson
My co-author Matthew Wade Ferguson just wrote an unexpected, very much appreciated, and very complimentary blog post about my work. LINK He also had some comments about many Christian apologists, including Norman Geisler, Frank Turek, William Lane Craig, and C.S. Lewis. Check it out! Also, if you’re not a regular reader of his blog, you … Praise from Matthew Wade Ferguson
Eternal Accountability
Vic Reppert recently posted this on his Dangerous Idea site under the title “Eternal Accountability”: “I don’t think atheists appreciate the force of the doctrine of eternal accountability in restraining evil. Unless there is eternal accountability, either of the Hindu karma-birth-rebirth kind, or accountability before a monotheistic God, if we get away with it on … Eternal Accountability
What is Faith – Part 6
I have noticed a problem of unclarity in my own thinking and writing about the Thomist view of faith. Before I go further in discussing Swinburne’s characterization of the Thomist view of faith, I want to briefly consider the point of unclarity or ambiguity in my previous discussion of this view of faith. I have … What is Faith – Part 6