Counter Apologetics

We discuss the relationship between atheism, consciousness, and materialism after debunking arguments from consciousness formulated by Peter Kreeft and William Lane Craig. We also discuss why it’s important for naturalists to think carefully about these issues. I suspect that seemingly unrelated problems arise from our lack of a convincing story about consciousness. Consciousness and related phenomena, like morality and meaning, seem to be a major source of resistance to physicalism, naturalism, and atheism.

[Edit] Based on some of the feedback I’ve received, I feel the need to reiterate a major thesis of this episode: there is no incompatibility between atheism and any explanation of consciousness on offer. Atheism is not mutually exclusive to materialism, idealism, dualism, panpsychism, or any other solution to the mind-body problem. There is nothing one could say about the mind-body problem or the hard problem of consciousness that would count as a strike against atheism.

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. . . . . 

Alvin Plantinga – Against Materialism [PDF]

William Lane Craig – Argument from Intentionality [Reasonable Faith]5

Does consciousness point to God? – Unbelievable [YouTube]

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Ben Shapiro [YouTube]

Thomas Nagel – Mind and Cosmos [Amazon]

Arguments from Consciousness [wiki]

Here are modern atheist philosophers who hold very different views on consciousness:

Martine Nida-Rümelin, Atheist and Substance Dualist

Galen Strawson, Atheist and Panpsychist

Dan Dennett, Atheist and Materialist

Thomas Nagel, Atheist and Neutral Monist

(Young) Bertrand Russell, Atheist and Idealist

…

Keith Ward, Christian Idealist

Sharon Dirckx, Christian Substance Dualist

Peter van Inwagen, Christian Materialist

Ben Watkins joins me to discuss the moral argument for god’s existence, objective moral truth, the is/ought gap, meta-ethics, and other related topics.

You can listen to Ben’s podcast, Real Atheology, here

Moral Non-Naturalism [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]

Listen to The Bible Says What!? here

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This Halloween, we’ll be discussing the life and work of the great horror author, H.P. Lovecraft. 

Lovecraft’s atheism 00:00 – 07:38

Biography 07:39 – 12:50

Lovecraft’s reanimation and influence on culture 12:51 – 18:02

Lovecraft and the unknown 18:03 – 20:22

Forbidden knowledge and a New Dark Age 20:23 – 26:14

Fast zombies 26:15 – 27:27

More on the Lovecraftian mythos 27:28 – 29:13

Lovecraft’s writing style 29:14 – 38:54

Lovecraft’s racism 38:55 – 43:19

Art and the Old Church Lady 43:20 – 45:46

Horror and its critics 45:47 – 48:20

. . . . .

The Call of Cthulhu – HP Lovecraft [YouTube]

Criticism/Praise for Lovecraft [The Guardian]

Patton Oswalt [HP Podcraft]

Patton Oswalt with Chapo Trap House [Patreon]

Chapo Trap House – H.P. Lovecraft [YouTube]

. . . . . 

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Why is the demand for exorcism on the rise? We discuss the belief in demonic possession, the concurrent rise of anti-science attitudes, the cultural role of religious psychology, and the evolutionary origins of demons. 

Tracie Harris of The Atheist Experience – Exorcisms and Anthropology [YouTube]

Vatican to hold exorcist training course after ‘rise in possessions’ [The Guardian] 

Exorcisms are on the rise [Atlantic] 

A man drowned his 6-year-old son while trying to cast out a demon, police say [Washington Post]

‘Like being raped’: three claims of coerced exorcism in the UK [The Guardian] 

Demonic Possessions – Here and How Podcast [Stitchr] 

. . . . . 

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Slavery, the practice of owning people as property, is never condemned in the Holy Bible. In fact, it’s endorsed by God personally in Leviticus 25. We discuss the character of Biblical slavery, and respond to seven common apologetics in defense of the slavery in the Bible. 

Nonstampcollector – Context [YouTube]

Matt Dillahunty – Biblical Slavery [YouTube]

Sam Harris and Ben Shapiro [YouTube] 

Christopher Hitchens and Alister McGrath [YouTube]

Rationality Rules – Biblical Slavery [YouTube]

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We discuss relativism, Kierkegaard’s “leap of faith,” the argument from personal experience, certainty, and how it all relates to Plantinga’s Reformed epistemology. 

To those of you who may be wondering why we’re covering Reformed epistemology: Alvin Plantinga is one of the most respected Christian philosophers alive. He once served as the president of the American Philosophical Association, and he’s been awarded the Templeton Prize. Notre Dame’s Center for Philosophy of Religion renamed its Distinguished Scholar Fellowship the Alvin Plantinga Fellowship. And in 2012, the University of Pittsburgh’s Philosophy Department, History and Philosophy of Science Department, and the Center for the History and Philosophy of Science co-awarded Plantinga the Nicholas Rescher Prize for Systematic Philosophy. William Lane Craig has described Reformed epistemology as “one of the most significant developments in contemporary religious epistemology.” 

What I’m trying to convey is that Plantinga is a Sophisticated Apologist and is taken very seriously by the religious and non-religious alike. According to many apologists and theologians, he’s the best they have. We should take the time to attempt to debunk their best offerings. Even though these two episodes have been comparatively dense to the usual CA episode, I think they were undoubtedly worth it. If for no other reason than to see how underwhelming the best they have turns out to be. As Jerry Coyne put it, “I’m starting to realize that there is no sophisticated theology; there are merely evasions and fancy language to get around the problematic lack of evidence for God and the palpably immoral statements in scripture.”

. . . . . 

Atheism: A Philosophical Justification – Michael Martin (pgs. 266-278) [Amazon]

Tyler McNabb vs. Stephen Law on Reformed Epistemology [Unbelievable?] 

William “In my heart” Craig [YouTube] 

Daniel Hill on Reformed Epistemology [Panpsycast]

Alvin Plantinga – Is Belief in God Properly Basic? [PDF] 

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To those of you who may be wondering why we’re covering Reformed epistemology: Alvin Plantinga is one of the most respected Christian philosophers alive. William Lane Craig described Reformed epistemology as “one of the most significant developments in contemporary religious epistemology.” Plantinga once served as the president of the American Philosophical Association. In 2017, he was awarded the Templeton Prize. The University of Notre Dame’s Center for Philosophy of Religion renamed its Distinguished Scholar Fellowship as the Alvin Plantinga Fellowship. In 2012, the University of Pittsburgh’s Philosophy Department, History and Philosophy of Science Department, and the Center for the History and Philosophy of Science co-awarded Plantinga the Nicholas Rescher Prize for Systematic Philosophy. 

I’m trying to convey that Plantinga is a Sophisticated Apologist and is taken very seriously by the religious and non-religious alike. According to many apologists and theologians, he’s the best they have. We should take the time to attempt to debunk their best offerings. Even though these two episodes have been comparatively dense to the usual CA episode, I think it was worthwhile for many reasons. To quote Jerry Coyne, “I’m starting to realize that there is no sophisticated theology; there are merely evasions and fancy language to get around the problematic lack of evidence for God and the palpably immoral statements in scripture.”

Does Christianity, and religion generally, naturally lead to skepticism and apathy towards climate change? We discuss the apocalypticism, otherworldliness, and the just-world belief of Christianity, and their effects on our priorities and beliefs. 

Blinded by Eschatological Light – William Bradford Nichols [Humanist]

Climate Change and Religion (Special Issue) – Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture [PDF]

Climate Change Skepticism and Denial – Riley Dunlap [PDF]

​​The Politics of Climate Change in the U.S. [Pew Research] 

GOP rep: If climate change is real, God will ‘take care of it’ [TheHill]

Jesus Christ’s Return to Earth [Pew Research]

Predictions and claims for the Second Coming of Christ [wiki]

Trump will start the end of the world, claim Evangelicals who support him [Newsweek] 

Charles MacKay – Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds [PDF]

Nietzsche and the Other World [YouTube] 

Philosophize This – Nietzsche and Otherworldliness [YouTube]

Potholer54 – Climate Change Playlist [YouTube]

. . . . . 

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Check out the movie First Reformed

. . . . . 

Though this episode focuses on the religious contribution to climate denial, that focus shouldn’t obscure the political and economic causes. My position is that Christianity, by its very nature, is fertile soil for climate denial, and that it makes the potential destruction of human life on earth seem like no big deal. The religion, by its various doctrines and dogmas, naturally leads to apathy, and to disbelief towards anything like climate change. However, I think climate change and our insane reaction to it so far is first and foremost a result of our political and economic system. You can’t disentangle religion from our political and economic system, and it deserves to be singled out because it does play a consequential role in the story that’s too often overlooked. If we weren’t so religious, I think we would be in significantly better shape regarding climate change. 

“Dark Money” Funds Climate Change Denial Effort [ScientificAmerican]

Following the Money that Undermines Climate Science [NYT] 

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