114
votes
Accepted
Fundamental idea on proving God's existence with science
I think part of the problem is: Science doesn't prove anything. Science, at its core, is simply a method of generating testable hypothesis that explain events, which are valued because of their use ...
- 1,204
103
votes
Why is faith seen as a sign of weakness, instead of an unexplored land/opportunity?
I will be writing this answer from the frank, blunt perspective of someone who is inclusive and accepting of all peoples and belief systems, but who tries to analyze my own personal pattern-matching.
...
- 1,319
81
votes
Accepted
Why is faith seen as a sign of weakness, instead of an unexplored land/opportunity?
There are already some excellent answers which cover most of what I want to say, but I can't resist jumping in as well...
I'm going to refer to "me" as an (hopefully) relevant example of someone with ...
- 1,527
65
votes
Are we all ‘atheist’ or 'agnostic in a pandemic'?
I think you have a false premise.
Your premise seems to be "Devout believers/adherents of the religion Islam believe that humans need not make any effort in their survival in the natural world." I ...
- 566
61
votes
Why are believers criticized so much for being anti-science when so many scientists are ... believers?
There is a difference between belief and theism
I am more familiar with Hitchens's views and arguments than with Harris's ditto, so I will answer from that perspective only.
Hitchens differed ...
- 5,036
57
votes
Accepted
What fallacy in Pascal's Wager allows replacing God with the devil?
This is not the only issue with Pascal's Wager, but what is described in the question is called the fallacy of proving too much. It happens when an argument is structured in such a way that the ...
- 42.5k
51
votes
Accepted
Should I respect other people's religions?
But I barely heard:
We don't need to respect other people's religion but just respect people
There is a whole movement called the New Atheists, who have a similar view to this (Richard Dawkins is ...
- 27.1k
46
votes
Accepted
Is it a fallacy, and if so which, to believe we are special because our existence on Earth seems improbable?
I believe you're thinking of the anthropic principle. There are actually two variations:
The strong anthropic principle says that the universe was made the way it is so that humans could exist.
The ...
- 816
42
votes
Is Christianity testable?
Is John Lennox's defense of the testability of Christianity sound?
No. It's true that Christianity as a religion contains some testable claims, but the implication – that therefore Christianity is ...
- 640
38
votes
Is it a fallacy, and if so which, to believe we are special because our existence on Earth seems improbable?
The underlying problem (and fallacy) with this argument is sometimes referred to as the 'Texas Sharpshooter' fallacy.
One is standing from a position of a known situation and asking what are the odds ...
- 381
38
votes
Why is faith seen as a sign of weakness, instead of an unexplored land/opportunity?
I should know better than to jump into this fray. But I can't help myself since this is something I've wondered about myself. Here are the reasons I've collected over the years. Often times I don't ...
- 807
38
votes
Is religion necessary for the good life?
From a Deontological point of view, I think that ethics are naturally approximated by virtue of reason alone, that is : There is something in us humans that belongs to our nature, and that has this ...
- 2,369
38
votes
Isn't the existence of Hell inherently evil, and isn't God therefore evil in allowing Hell to exist?
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and
the blessed is called "hell."
and
The chief punishment of hell is ...
- 481
34
votes
Accepted
How can one rebut the argument that atheism is inherently immoral?
The argument you want to rebut seems to come in two parts, the second of which doesn't get much attention from your idealised religious person:
morality requires a "fixed moral center"
religious ...
- 706
34
votes
Is Andalusi/Rasmussen's proof for the existence of God correct?
As the argument is presented here, as a proof for the existence of God, the possible fallacies are:
Begging the question - assuming the conclusion
When one of the premises is "God is unlimited&...
- 5,580
33
votes
How can one rebut the argument that atheism is inherently immoral?
I would argue that only an atheist can be moral.
Imagine two men in a convenience store: one walks to the counter, makes a purchase, and leaves. Another has a knife in his pocket and intends to rob ...
- 1,585
31
votes
Are we all ‘atheist’ or 'agnostic in a pandemic'?
There's a good joke about this.
The Mississippi floods, but this guy stays put and says "God will save me". A policeman comes past and says "Better be going" but our guy says "God will save me". The ...
- 1,728
30
votes
Accepted
What is the name behind the concept of believing in God based on this logical deduction?
Sounds like one version of Pascal's Wager, which the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article labels as The Argument From Superdominance, giving this quote from Pascal:
“God is, or He is not.” But ...
- 2,837
27
votes
Accepted
Is Christianity testable?
TL;DR Testable claims are testable, untestable claims are not testable, and it's easy to confuse the two when they appear to be one package.
People who study comparative religion tend to distinguish ...
- 474
26
votes
Why is faith seen as a sign of weakness, instead of an unexplored land/opportunity?
The problem with the most literal meaning of 'faith': "belief in something without proof" with respect to religion is that it's a philosophical dodge. For example if you (as a religious person) are ...
- 633
26
votes
Is Christianity testable?
We have to start from the neutral observation that while Lennox is deliberately using scientific terminology, and explicitly placing it in a scientific context, he is NOT using the term with the same ...
- 27.1k
25
votes
Should I respect other people's religions?
I want to add something to the answer of @AlexanderSKing:
The question may be reformulated as "Should I be dogmatic?".
Dogmatism can be understood as stating a "truth" and not only defending it (by ...
- 13.5k
23
votes
Why is faith seen as a sign of weakness, instead of an unexplored land/opportunity?
Because we live in an age in which science, which can be defined as a reason-based epistemic framework that relies on testing and evidence, is, at an unprecedented speed, closing the gap of knowledge ...
- 1,438
21
votes
How can one rebut the argument that atheism is inherently immoral?
As a religious person, the way I usually hear this argument presented is a little different:
Either morality is objective or subjective.
Certainly, many common conclusions of subjective morality make ...
- 5,929
19
votes
Are we all ‘atheist’ or 'agnostic in a pandemic'?
There are some religious groups --I'm thinking here of "prosperity" churches --that promote the message that nothing but good things will ever happen to the truly faithful. But these are definitely ...
- 27.1k
19
votes
Is Andalusi/Rasmussen's proof for the existence of God correct?
I would submit the broad, provocative claim that no logical proof of existence can be convincing, because "proof" assumes logic, but logic does not in and of itself talk about what actually ...
- 2,402
18
votes
Can belief in science be considered a form of theism?
Answer: No, but not for lack of trying.
The many efforts to conflate scientific and religious belief are, in my view, quite shallow. Mere vandalizing of an important distinction. Both may be ...
- 13.3k
17
votes
Accepted
Are there any counter arguments to the claim God does not exist because there is evil in the world?
What you describe is called in theology and philosophy of religion "The problem of evil" and has been discussed by many theologians. A counter argument to the problem of evil is called a Theodicy. ...
- 27.1k
17
votes
Fundamental idea on proving God's existence with science
Attempts to show that God exists by looking at nature such as the Kalam Cosmological Argument can only assert "generic theism", as you rightly point out. If the argument holds, then how ...
- 4,063
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