Posts Tagged by scientism
The Atheists and the Thought that Ends All Thought
| September 13, 2011 | Posted by Anthony under apologetics, atheism, Blog, evolution, General, scientism, Secular Humanism |
In a recent post, I talked about Richard Dawkins’ discussion in his Delusion about why children gravitate towards fantasy and myth, etc, and alluded to GK Chesterton’s arguments about the ‘thought that ends all thought.’ This sentiment emerges in Chesterton’s book Orthodoxy in a chapter appropriately called The Suicide of Thought. The previous post was…
Demanding Extraordinary Evidence for Extraordinary Claims Can Render You an Extraordinary Dupe
| March 27, 2011 | Posted by Anthony under apologetics, atheism, Blog, Creationism, evolution, politics, science, scientism, Secular Humanism |
if one applies a higher standard of inquiry against claims that they might deem extraordinary, then claims they find to be ordinary will ordinarily be accepted- without demonstration at all. Here again we see skepticism turned on its head: the skeptic is not skeptical about the things he is prepared already to believe. It is only the things he deems unlikely that he is skeptical about- God alone knows how the skeptic determined something was ‘unlikely.’
It is a fact of human nature, I think, to quickly accept things that one is already prepared to accept. If I am told tomorrow that some Democrat in high office has failed to pay his taxes- again- I will pretty much accept it as a fact because I have become accustomed to Democrats doing such things (eg here, here, here, and here). We should expect nothing less from the people who believe that we should all pay higher taxes; by ‘we all’ it is known they mean us all. I am prepared to believe it as a pretty ordinary claim in the realm of things and therefore will demand very little evidence to support it. So you see, I am not exempting myself from this human tendency.
Knights of Contention Debate: Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence?
| March 1, 2011 | Posted by Anthony under apologetics, atheism, evolution, intelligent design, Knights of Contention, philosophy, science, scientism, theology |
This ministry hosts a regular online round table discussing matters of substance and controversy. Christians and NonChristians are invited but it is not necessarily an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ debate. Past topics have included matters of controversy only amongst Christians and due to the flexibility of the discussion, topics can change on a dime. The next…
Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Bonaparte by Richard Whately against David Hume and Skepticism
| March 1, 2011 | Posted by Anthony under apologetics, atheism, Blog, Christianity and Culture, General, Jesus, literary apologetics, scientism, Secular Humanism |
Over the last three hundred years unbounded skepticism has been applied to religion and Christianity especially. Atheist philosopher David Hume was one of the prominent voices calling for stringent criteria in evaluating miracle claims, and the like. Not everyone thought very highly of this criteria. One such person was the Reverend Richard Whately, who skewers Hume’s reasoning by showing how if it were applied consistently, one could not be reasonably certain that Napoleon existed- a public figure that was said to be alive and roaming Europe even as he spoke!
This playful little book is not a treatise by any means, but it provides a glimpse into the conversations of the 1800s and challenges the ‘enlightened’ skeptics to decide: If they won’t apply their principles thoroughly and consistently, but choose only to apply them to certain claims (and how did they choose which ones?), are those principles worth their salt?
Story and Evidence, a Response
| February 25, 2011 | Posted by Anthony under apologetics, atheism, Blog, Christian Short Stories, Christianity and Culture, General, literary apologetics, Philip Pullman, philosophy, scientism, Secular Humanism |
I think it goes to my larger point. Story moves. Yes, Story can move more than evidence. And yet even if that is the case, nowhere do I suggest that I think that is good! Indeed, this whole event illustrates just how unfortunate it can be when evidence is divorced from Story. Oh yes, there is a Story here. There is a Narrative. This Narrative is one that Myers and his many fans are drenched in, so much so none of them actually need evidence to know that me and my stories are [fill in your favorite pejoratives here]. The Narrative fills in the gap. It is the skeptical storyline: Christians, dumb. Christians, blind faith. Skeptics, geniuses. Skeptics, reason and evidence. Nothing more needs to be said because everyone is already agreed on how the story ends, anyway. The ‘evidence’ ends up being just a ‘literary’ flourish that adds little to the accepted Narrative.
This Narrative appears to be driving Dave’s response, though to his credit, he is exceptionally mild and measured compared to many of the other responses I observed.
Atheists on Morality: Jumping out of the Bottomless Pit
| February 21, 2011 | Posted by Anthony under apologetics, atheism, Blog, evolution, General, morality, scientism, Secular Humanism, theism |
Atheists have a problem. Ok, they have lots of problems. But this one is a big one: how to explain morality. Now, for some reason atheists remained confused on some basic aspects of the issue. It is common to hear from their camp something to the effect, “We do not need God to be…
5 Greatest Challenges to Christianity that Apologetics Can’t Answer – Part 1
| February 1, 2011 | Posted by Anthony under apologetics, atheism, Blog, Creationism, End Times, evolution, literary apologetics, scientism, Secular Humanism |
I have been involved in apologetics for more than fifteen years, coming in almost literally the moment after Al Gore invented the Internet. The following represents some conclusions I’ve drawn during this time. To be clear, when I say the ‘Five Greatest Challenges to Christianity’ I do not mean it as, ‘here are five great challenges among others.’ What I mean is, THESE. ARE. THE. FIVE. GREATEST. CHALLENGES. I do not suggest that they are all that new. I do propose, however, that apologetics has no answer to them. Is that a surrender by a Christian apologist? Let’s find out.
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