That belief in God is on par with belief in fairy tales is a fairly common charge levelled at Christianity. Highly regarded atheist Philosopher Michael Tooley argues, If there is no evidence in support of the existence of God, then it is reasonable to believe that God does not exist. The essential line of thought [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Michael Tooley'
Contra Mundum: Secularism and Public Life
June 1st, 2010 59 Comments
Legal scholar Stephen Carter stated, One good way to end a conversation – or start an argument – is to tell a group of well educated professionals that you hold a political position (preferably a controversial one such as being against abortion or pornography) because it is required by your understanding of God’s will. In [...]
Tags: Christopher Eberle · Contra Mundum · Doctrine of Religious Restraint · Investigate Magazine · Michael Tooley · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Philip Quinn · Religion and Public Life · Richard Rorty · Robert Audi · Stephen Carter · Terence Cuneo
William Lane Craig and his Debate with Michael Tooley
April 7th, 2010 15 Comments
“Is God Real?” was the subject of the recent debate between William Lane Craig and Michael Tooley at the University of North Caroline on 24 March 2010. Whilst it is not available for free anywhere online, you can purchase it here, find reviews here, a pre-debate radio interview between the two here and of course [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Debates · Michael Tooley · Problem · William Lane Craig
Sunday Study: Two Forms of Inerrancy
February 8th, 2010 6 Comments
The discussion arising in response to my recent post Inerrancy and Biblical Authority, both on this blog and on some of the blogs that linked to it, got me thinking a bit more about this topic. I was reminded of an interesting comment made by Alan Rhoda regarding the doctrinal statement of the Evangelical Philosophical [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Inerrancy · Michael Tooley · William Lane Craig
Sunday Study: Inerrancy and Biblical Authority
January 18th, 2010 44 Comments
Recently Glenn Peoples and Dominic Bnonn Tennant had an interesting exchange over the issue of biblical inerrancy, the doctrine, that the bible contains no errors. In his post, Errantly Assuming Inerrancy in History, Peoples makes this interesting comment, While there has always been a clear expression of the view that what Scripture teaches is correct, [...]
Tags: David Brink · Dominic Bnonn Tennant · Glenn Peoples · Inerrancy · Michael Tooley · Sunday Study
Van Inwagen, Divine Duties and the Deontological Argument from Evil
January 9th, 2010 1 Comment
In Tooley, Plantinga and the Deontological Argument from Evil Part I and Part II, I discussed Michael Tooley’s deontological argument from evil. In The Problem of Evil Peter Van Inwagen makes a reference to the type of argument I proposed. In this post I intend to make some critical commentary on Van Inwagen’s comments. Tooley [...]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Michael Tooley · Peter Van Inwagen · Problem of Evil
Tooley, Plantinga and the Deontological Argument from Evil Part II
May 27th, 2009 3 Comments
In my last post, Tooley, Plantinga and the Deontological Argument from Evil Part I, I sketched Tooley’s distinction between a deontological and an axiological argument from evil and argued that Tooley rejects the axiological version because it rests on controversial ethical claims that are likely to be rejected by many theists. I outlined Tooley’s deontological [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Atheism · Divine Command Theory · Michael Tooley · Philosophy of Religion · Problem of Evil · William Alston
Tooley, Plantinga and the Deontological Argument from Evil Part I
May 13th, 2009 2 Comments
This two-part series criticises the deontological argument from evil proposed by Micheal Tooley in The Knowledge of God, the print debate between him and Alvin Plantinga.1 My critique proceeds in four parts. Initially I will sketch Tooley’s distinction between a deontological and an axiological argument from evil and will argue that Tooley rejects the axiological [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Atheism · Divine Command Theory · Michael Tooley · Philosophy of Religion · Problem of Evil · William Alston
Sentience Part 1
November 1st, 2008 No Comments
Following on from my series on the illiberality of Abortion, discussion in the comments section turned to the issue of sentience. Commenters asked whether perhaps sentience is the property that a newborn possesses and a fetus does not that warrants such unequal application of the non-initiation of force principle by liberals. Is sentience the property [...]
Tags: Abortion · Bonnie Steinbock · Feticide · Harry Gensler · Michael Tooley · Sentience
Is Abortion Liberal? Part 2
October 27th, 2008 26 Comments
In my previous post, Is Abortion Liberal? Part 1, I argued that liberals who support the non-initiation of force principle can support abortion only on two grounds; (a) the fetus is a person but its existence inside the mother without her consent constitutes a form aggression, and hence, the mother’s action of killing it is [...]
Tags: Abortion · Classical Liberalism · David Boonin · Feticide · Francis Beckwith · Liberalism · Libertarianism · Michael Tooley · Peter Cresswell · Rodney Hide
