benefits of religion

God, Guns, and School Shootings

Ten dead and ten injured in a high school shooting, but Texas Governor Greg Abbott believes “the problem is not guns, it’s hearts without God.” The problem with Governor Abbott’s theory is that it doesn’t fit the facts. For example, California has a larger population (39.5 million) than Texas does (28.3 million), so one would God, Guns, and School Shootings

Podcast 5: How Should We Evaluate the Christian Worldview?

In Podcast 5, I briefly review some key points from Podcast 3 and Podcast 4, and then I discuss how to evaluate the Christian worldview: http://thinkingcriticallyabout.podbean.com/e/podcast-5-how-should-we-evaluate-the-truth-of-the-christian-worldview/ Some key points in Podcast 5: There is a PowerPoint (in a PDF) available with the content of the podcast: http://thinkingcriticallyabout.podbean.com/e/powerpoint-for-podcast-5-pdf/ My previous podcasts are available here: Thinking Critically About: Is Christianity Podcast 5: How Should We Evaluate the Christian Worldview?

One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 4

In A Companion to Philosophy of Religion, there is an article by Jeffrey Jordan on “Pragmatic Arguments”, that covers Pascal’s Wager. According to Jordan, there are at least three versions of Pascal’s Wager. In this post I will examine one of the three versions, which goes something like this: 1. Either God exists or it One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 4

One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 2

Here is another argument for God, based on answered prayers: 1. If God exists, then it is very likely that prayers to God for healing from injury or disease would usually be immediately followed by instantaneous and complete healing, except when the injury or disease was the result of self-destructive, foolish, or morally wrong actions One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 2

One Man’s Modus Ponens…

Here is an argument for the existence of God: 1. If there is a God, then it is very likely that there is a book that was written many centuries ago that is purported to be a divine revelation, and that is widely known about, and that is filled with nothing but true facts and One Man’s Modus Ponens…

Arrogant Atheists?

This is more than two months old, but I still think this is interesting. What’s interesting to me is that, according to these survey results, there is a certain symmetry between, on the one hand, theistic stereotypes about atheists, and, on the other hand, atheistic stereotypes about theists.   Dominant Theistic View Dominant Atheistic View Arrogant Atheists?

The Alpha course vs. Philosophy

Extract from my OUP book Humanism: A Very Short Introduction, which references the Alpha Course (it’s from chpt 7) Religion vs. shallow, selfish individualism   Let’s now turn to religious practice. Setting aside the issue of whether God exists, perhaps it might still be argued that religious reflection or observance is required if our lives The Alpha course vs. Philosophy