Thursday, August 05, 2010

The Stupid! It Burns!

Google does not disappoint!

Van Tillian Syllogisms: (thanks Phil!)
1. If no one has comprehensive knowledge of the universe, then no one has any knowledge.
2. Someone does have some knowledge.
So 3. Someone has comprehensive knowledge (and thus, God exists).

Christian Academics Cite Hostility On Campus: (via Pharyngula)
[Mike] Adams teaches criminology at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. A few years ago, he began writing strongly worded op-ed pieces expressing conservative views on religious and political issues. When he applied for promotion to full professor, his colleagues voted him down. Adams sued. He claimed, among other things, that he was rejected because of his religious speech.

Atheism is Dead:
In [atheists'] rush to glorify the pagan past, they seem to have forgotten to discover just how, well, nasty and brutish those pagans were. And in their rush to denigrate all things Christian, they seem to have forgotten to find out just what Christianity introduced to the world. Set aside the theology of Christianity--who would argue against things like hospitals, the abolition of slavery, and equal rights for all men?

The Smug World(view) of the New Atheism:
The purpose of Julian Baggini's book [Atheism: A Very Short Introduction] is to both provide an introduction to atheism and to make an argument for it; it succeeds in doing the former but not the latter. ...

It seems to me that Baggini's case for atheism is largely rhetorical rather than factual or argumentative. Throughout the book Baggini "succeeds" not really by proving anything but by the way the way he speaks. ...

When one looks beyond the posturing, the demonizing of Christianity and the rhetorical smokescreens of the New Atheists, one sees the truth: their views are not the result of science or philosophical investigation but simply flow from their smug and small worldview which really is a worldview and not simply "the truth". ...

Baggini succeeds by over and over again adopting the most superficial view of Christianity and then attacking it as being, well, superficial.

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