Many atheists say that all arguments for the existence of God are just fallacious “God-of-the-gaps” reasoning. They claim that any evidence offered for the existence of God, such as the beginning, contingency, and fine-tuning of the universe, are nothing more than appeals to ignorance. These arguments are supposedly on par with primitive explanations of natural events (such as lightning) that erroneously included God as a direct cause. Modern arguments for theism are likewise lampooned as...
In this post I want to ask the question, is atheism a religion?
Traditionally, atheism has been defined as, ”the position that affirms the non-existence of God. [Which] proposes positive disbelief rather than mere suspension of belief” [1].
Today’s atheists often claim the exact opposite. Atheism, they say, is not a positive proposition, but rather, a suspension of belief. Though atheists are, of course, free to adopt any ...
How should one respond to the old schoolboy retort, “If everything needs a cause, who caused God?”
First, philosophers and theologians do not maintain that whatever exists needs a cause. Instead, they propose that certain things need causes, such as things that have a beginning or things that don’t have to exist.
If something came into existence at a certain point in time—that is, if it had a beginning—then there needs to be a cause, an explanation, for why it came to be. But...
On a recent CNN iReport, a user named TXBlue08 provides seven reasons why she chooses to raise her children without belief in God. In the past two weeks her essay has been viewed 750,000 times. I suspect this essay is becoming less a mere defense of godless parenting and more a straight-up atheistic evangelization effort. Let's examine her seven reasons to "let God go" and see if the deconversions should commence.
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I was recently asked to name the most common argument made by atheists today. I have to say, the atheists I’m in dialog with tend not to make arguments for atheism. Rather, they appear preoccupied with redefining their terms, maintaining that atheism is not a claim to knowledge but merely a suspension of belief.
This is incorrect. The way the term atheist is normally used, it refers to a person who...
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