Friday, March 2, 2012

FacePalm of the Day: Debunking Christianity: Quote of the Day, by gooddogbaddog01

John Loftus has posted a quote he sees fond of on his blog.  Look at it below.

Christians think they are being rational and logical. But when they try to rationalize their faith based on evidence, they tend to resort to what is "possible", and then claim that they have won the argument because something is merely "posslble". Short of providing real evidence for the existence of the Christian God, they dive into philosophy, in order to somehow logically prove the necessity of the existence of god. To me, however this is no different than mental gymnastics, resulting in endless rabbit trails around epistemology, metaphysics and ontology. It is, simply, making stuff up.
John Loftus immediately commented:

johnwloftus
Boy, this sounds a lot like me. ;-)

I don't think this person really understand what Christianity is. I mean if you switch out his words and use opposite words, you get the following:

[Atheists] think they are being rational and logical. But when they try to rationalize their [doubts] based on evidence, they tend to resort to what is ["probable"], and then claim that they have won the argument because something is merely ["probable"]. Short of providing real evidence for the [non]existence of the Christian God, they dive into philosophy, in order to somehow logically prove the unnecessity of the existence of god. To me, however this is no different than mental gymnastics, resulting in endless rabbit trails around epistemology, metaphysics and ontology. It is, simply, making stuff up.

 Yes, indeed it does sound a lot like John Loftus. The fact that the same thing can be said, invalidates the statement against Christianity.

Should Batman Kill the Joker? Perspectives from Five Famous Philosophers

Comics Alliance has posted a great article discussing a deeply philosophical question: Should Batman Kill the Joker? It's based on a post by Tauriq Moosa, an ethicist writing for the site Big Think. In it, he argued against Batman's famed "no killing" policy. He says that Batman has a moral obligation to rid the world of the Joker. I totally disagree. Batman is a man. He has not obligation to choose who deserves to die. The article in Comics Alliance does not bring this up but I've got to wonder why is Batman obligated to do anything? But setting that aside, the Comics Alliance article does take the question Moosa asks and answers and imagines how 5 of the greatest Western philosophers might answer the same question.

1. Immanuel Kant
2. John Stuart Mill
3. Thomas Hobbes
4. John Rawls
5. Friedrich Nietzsche

This is a fun thought experiment. I think one of the defining things about Batman, one of the things that makes him a hero, is that he will not take a human life.  He refuses to cross the line that would make him not better than the evil that he fights. The article is well worth your time if you like discussing and thinking of morality.

Read More: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/03/02/batman-kill-joker-philosophy/#ixzz1nzjX2T5
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Old Errors in New Garb: Response Part 3

Here is Dr James White's third response to a video by Sam Gipp which advanced the "King James Only" ideology.




Old Errors in New Garb: Response PartThree