In a previous post, Divine Commands and Pyschopathic Tendancies, I said I would look in more detail at Sam Harris’ charge that Divine Command Theories (“DCT”) of meta-ethics are psychopathic. In this, and in several forthcoming posts, I will attempt to deliver on that promise. In Harris’ debate with William Lane Craig at Notre Dame, transcript […]
Entries Tagged as 'Bad Reasoning'
Sam Harris on Divine Commands: Part I
May 24th, 2013 7 Comments
Tags: Debates · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Is the Foundation of Morality Natural or Supernatural? · Religion and Violence · Sam Harris · 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
More Mistakes: A Rejoinder to Randal Rauser
December 3rd, 2011 158 Comments
For those who aren’t aware, there has been something of a “debate”, but what I’d prefer to refer to as an “in house discussion” between Randal Rauser (Professor of Historical Theology at Taylor Seminary) and myself. The discussion so far can be found here: My initial article was Randal Rauser’s Mistake: A Defense of Calvin’s Doctrine […]
Tags: Arminianism · Calvinism · Circular Reasoning · Divine Justice · Divine Love · Fallacies · Justice · Limited Atonement · omnibenevolence · Question begging · Randal Rauser · Sin · Soteriology · Systematic theology · Total Depravity · Unlimited Atonement
Hear Matthew Flannagan speak on Moral Relativism, Get a Feed and Watch the All Blacks take on Argentina this Sunday
October 5th, 2011 7 Comments
Matt will be speaking on Moral Relativism this Sunday as part of Massey Presbyterian Church’s (“MPC”) night service. His talk will look at what it is, what reasons people have for adopting it and why we should be concerned about its pervasiveness in society. The style of talk is interactive so bring your questions. After the service, […]
Tags: All Blacks · Events · Massey Presbyterian Church · Relativism · Rugby
Hector Avalos and Careful, Non-Selective Citation of Sources
June 30th, 2011 163 Comments
On Debunking Christianity, Hector Avalos has posted a response to my critique of his post A Reply to Hector Avalos’ “Why Flannagan Fails History”. His latest post is entitled Flannagan Versus Westbrook: Understanding the Problem; it pretty much repeats points I have addressed in my critique, basically Avalos pretends I did not answer them. In […]
Tags: Hector Avalos · Is God a Moral Monster? · John Loftus · Paul Copan · The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails
A Reply to Hector Avalos’ “Why Flannagan Fails History”
June 28th, 2011 49 Comments
It seems my recent Philosophia Christi review of John W. Loftus’ The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails has hit something of a nerve. Professor Hector Avalos, who wrote “Yahweh is a Moral Monster” in The Christian Delusion, has written a response entitled “Why Dr. Flannagan Fails History, Dr. Hector Avalos Responds”. Avalos raises several points which I cannot […]
Tags: Hector Avalos · John Loftus · Paul Copan · Raymond Westbrook · The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails · Yahweh is a Moral Monster
Religion, Science, 9/11 and the Moon: Dawkins’ Response to Copan
March 9th, 2011 107 Comments
Parchment and Pen, has an audio of a brief exchange between Paul Copan and Richard Dawkins who was speaking in Ft. Lauderdale at Nova Southeastern University on “The Fact of Evolution.” (The following week, Paul Copan spoke on “The Fact of God” at Nova Southeastern and gave a direct response to Dawkins.) This MP3 of Paul Copan and […]
Tags: Atheism · Bad Reasoning · Paul Copan · Richard Dawkins · Science and Religion
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.
