This blog’s Matthew Flannagan will be speaking at Massey Presbytarian Church’s Night Church Service on the topic “Is it Narrow-Minded to Think Jesus is the Only Way?“ Details are: 7:00pm (come at 6:30pm to grab a meal from the Night Church cafe) Sunday 29 September 2013 Massey Presbyterian Church 510 Don Buck Road, Auckland, New Zealand […]
Entries Tagged as 'Philosophy of Religion'
Hear Matt at MPC on: “Is it Narrow-Minded to Think Jesus is the Only Way?”
September 13th, 2013 1 Comment
Tags: Apologetics · Massey Presbyterian Church · Relativism
There Probably are no Duties. Now Stop Worrying and Enjoy Your Life!
September 10th, 2013 91 Comments
Some atheists offer moral critiques of theism; their claim is not just that belief in God is false or unjustified, it is that such irrational beliefs are intricately linked with immoral and oppressive practices. Moral outrage often motivates the critiques offered – one only needs to read the condemnation of religious wars, religiously motivated terrorism, […]
Tags: God and Morality · Humour · New Atheists · Richard Dawkins
Published in Philo: Is Ethical Naturalism more Plausible than Supernaturalism? A Reply to Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
July 11th, 2013 13 Comments
Jeffery Jay Lowder has informed me that my article “Is Ethical Naturalism more Plausible than Supernaturalism? A Reply to Walter Sinnott-Armstrong” was published in the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of Philo. The abstract is below: “In many of his addresses and debates, William Lane Craig has defended a Divine Command Theory of moral obligation (DCT). In a […]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Publications · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong · William Lane Craig
Is a Divine Command Theory Pscyopathic? Sam Harris on Divine Commands: Part II
June 25th, 2013 11 Comments
In my last post, Sam Harris on Divine Commands: Part I, I criticised Sam Harris’ characterisation of divine command meta-ethics. In this post I want to turn to his second line of criticism of a Divine Command Theory. In Harris’ debate with William Lane Craig at Notre Dame, transcript here, Harris stated: “I’m glad he raised the […]
Tags: Debates · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Is the Foundation of Morality Natural or Supernatural? · Religion and Violence · Sam Harris · William Lane Craig
Sam Harris on Divine Commands: Part I
May 24th, 2013 7 Comments
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 […]
Tags: Debates · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Is the Foundation of Morality Natural or Supernatural? · Religion and Violence · Sam Harris · William Lane Craig
Divine Commands and Psychopathic Tendencies
February 2nd, 2013 214 Comments
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 […]
Tags: Christopher Hallquist · Divine Command Theory · Randal Rauser · Sam Harris
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.
Yet Another Lawyer Agrees: Marriage Amendment Act Bill is an Affront to Freedom of Religion and Belief
March 13th, 2013 22 Comments
Barrister Ian Bassett has given another opinion describing the risks to freedom of religion and belief of Louisa Wall’s Marriage Amendment Act Bill if it is enacted in its presently proposed form, which would include this amendment: “Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), no celebrant who is a minister of religion recognised by a religious […]
Tags: Freedom of Religion · Gay Marriage · Grant Illingworth · Ian Bassett · Louisa Wall · Marriage Amendment Act Bill · Marriage Equality · Paul Rishworth · Rachael Wong · Same Sex Marriage