I have lately had the unenviable task of trying to explain Anselm’s ontological arguments to undergraduates. Over the years I have read many expositions of ontological arguments and many critiques. However, I had never sat down and gone through Anslem’s arguments line-by-line. Now I have done so in an effort to make a hand-out that … Anselm for Undergrads

This paper interacts with (and appears to defend) Paul Draper’s version of the evidential argument from evil, the argument from the biological role of pain and pleasure. From the introduction:  It is a truism that the influence of Darwin’s work on evolution is profound and ubiquitous. Thus, it should come as no surprise that the … Eric Russert Kraemer’s Darwin’s Doubts and the Problem of Animal Pain

HT: Tris Stock

(redated post from March 26, 2006) Jim Still’s recent entry on this blog, “Everything is Permitted Under God,” reminded me of a Larry King interview of Benjamin Netanyahu from several years ago (2001?), in which Netanyahu made a very interesting comparison of the behavior of atheistic communists vs. the behavior of theistic terrorists. Ever since … Benjamin Netanyahu on Communists vs. Theistic Terrorists

thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/08/08/655951/bryan-fischer-children-of-same-sex-couples-must-be-saved-through-underground-railroad-kidnapping/ How about an underground railroad to remove innocent children from the homes of fundamentalist morons?

Among nonbelievers on the Internet, there has recently been some discussion about whether the more prominent public speakers and debaters for fundamentalist religious beliefs are honestly self deluded or are intentionally misrepresenting what they claim to be the truth about reality. I am in no position to definitively assess, one way or another, which of … Whatever The Motive, Human Ego Can Be An Understandable Component Of The Apologist’s Public Outreach

What follows is a cautionary bit of fiction, inspired by C.S. Lewis’s fiction The Screwtape Letters, Letters from a Senior to a Junior Devil, which are fantastically entertaining and often very insightful. I don’t claim my mirror letters are as good as Lewis’s, but they are offered in the same cautionary spirit. 9,000 words, This … The Tapescrew Letters

“Theism and the Genetic Fallacy, Part II” by Keith Parsons Parsons turns the tables on Alvin Plantinga and argues that the non-existence of a sensus divinitatis is evidence for the non-existence of God. “An Empirical Test of the Existence of Sensus Divintatus in Atheists” by Jim Lippard If there is really an innate universal belief … Two Old Posts about the Sensus Divinitatis

There’s a petition to the White House, to “Call upon the Indonesian government to respect the freedom and dignity of all its citizens and to free Alexander Aan.” Aan is the Indonesian currently imprisoned because of announcing he is an atheist on Facebook. If you haven’t signed it yet, what are you waiting for? There … Aan petition

According to FOX News, “Supporters Vow to Keep California Veterans Tribute Despite Court Ruling.”