There has been some interesting debate in the blogosphere over Sam Harris’ contention that a divine command theory of ethics manifests “a psychopathic and psychotic moral attitude.” Randal Rauser responded to Harris’ contention noting that “if you read through the twenty traits on the Psychopath Checklist you’ll find qualities like callousness, shallow effect, grandiose sense of […]
Entries Tagged as 'Atheists'
Divine Commands and Psychopathic Tendencies
February 2nd, 2013 214 Comments
Tags: Christopher Hallquist · Divine Command Theory · Randal Rauser · Sam Harris
Contra Mundum: Dawkins and Secular Hypocrisy
July 7th, 2012 105 Comments
When I was a non-Christian I was forever hearing about how Christians are hypocrites. When I converted to Christianity at 17, one thing that struck me is how often these charges were often a case of the pot calling the kettle black. While there is undoubtedly some hypocrisy within the church, it is also pervasive […]
Tags: Contra Mundum · Investigate Magazine · Kirk Cameron · Peter Singer · Richard Dawkins · Secularism · William Lane Craig
Jerry Coyne on God and Morality Revisited
February 23rd, 2012 44 Comments
Late last year I, wrote a criticism of Jerry Coyne’s piece in USA today. Entitled, As atheists know, you can be good without God. My critique attracted some attention. Getting commentary from Mary Ann Spikes, Jason Thibodeau, Jeffery Lay Lowder, and Brian Zamulinski. Since the USA today article Coyne has written a follow up article where […]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Jerry Coyne · New Atheists · Robert Adams · William Lane Craig
Contra Mundum: When Scientists Make Bad Ethicists
October 10th, 2011 399 Comments
One thing I find particularly frustrating is reading commentary on theology and philosophy written by scientists. To be fair, some scientists I have read are informed and do offer astute and insightful comments; commonly, however, one finds a person who is undoubtedly brilliant in their own field, writing with confident gusto, articles that fail to […]
Tags: Charles Darwin · Contra Mundum · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Investigate Magazine · Jerry Coyne · Robert Adams · Science and Religion
Want to see Matthew Flannagan debate John W. Loftus in America?
October 6th, 2011 67 Comments
As you all know, Matt and I are going to the US to speak at 4 conferences in November. John W. Loftus is aware of this and in a comment on this blog has suggested a debate between himself and Matt during the 3 days we have spare between conferences – ideally for us 14 […]
Tags: Debates · John Loftus · Outsider Test for Faith
Skepticule Extra – A Podcast on the Euthyphro Dilemma Feat. Matthew Flannagan
September 16th, 2011 31 Comments
Recently Matt did a podcast on Divine Command Theory and the Euthyphro Dilemma for Skepticule Extra, aka the “Pauls to the Power of Three Podcast” hosted by Paul Baird, Paul Thompson (“Sinbad”) and Paul S. Jenkins. You can listen to that podcast here. Visit Skepticule for more listening options.
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Euthyphro Dilemma · Paul Baird · Paul Jenkins · Paul Thompson · Skepticule
Divine Commands Post 9/11
September 12th, 2011 43 Comments
The night of September 11, 2001, was a night we did not get much sleep in. By 4am September 12 (New Zealand time) our two-week old son and 14 month old daughter had woken us twice already. Frustratingly, I awoke again sometime after 4am to a different noise coming from the lounge; it turned out […]
Tags: 9/11 · Divine Command Theory · Osama Bin Laden · Raymond Bradley · Robert Adams · Terrorism
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
