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Greg Krehbiel

“‘The God Delusion’ made me ashamed to be an atheist,” says Ruse

by Greg Krehbiel on 3 November 2009

Don’t take it so personally, Michael. Just because Dawkins has decided to play far above his intellectual talents doesn’t mean that all atheists are dolts.

See Dawkins et al bring us into disrepute

Thus, like a first-year undergraduate, [Dawkins] can happily go around asking loudly, “What caused God?” as though he had made some momentous philosophical discovery.

Next Dawkins will think he has uncovered a huge problem with the Bible by asking “where did Cain find his wife?”

HT Mark Shea.

2009-11-03  »  Greg Krehbiel

Talkback x 2

  1. JohnK
    3 November 2009 @ 3:27 pm

    From Jerry Coyne’s blog, reviewing Ruse:

    The assertion that “God exists necessarily” is not a satisfactory answer to critiques of First Cause arguments. As Dawkins and many REAL PHILOSOPHERS have pointed out, one could equally well say that the Universe exists necessarily. It is not fatuous to ask “What caused God?” — not a bit. What was God doing before he created the Universe? Yes, there are a lot of very bright Christian theologians, but I haven’t seen any of them make a satisfactory argument for why God exists. Theology is the business of turning empirical necessities into religious virtues.

    IOW, just because somebody has come up with an excuse to hide behind does not give that excuse merit.

    There are contradictions, and people have found ways to overlook them. Pointing them out doesn’t help much, and the defenses are just as tired as the arguments themselves.

  2. Greg Krehbiel
    3 November 2009 @ 3:57 pm

    One could say that turkey sandwiches exist necessarily, but there has to be some explanation for that. IOW, it has to make sense in a larger context.

    There’s far more to the argument, and caricaturing it as “hiding behind an excuse” doesn’t do justice to the enormous amount of serious work that’s been done on this issue.

    Any argument can be picked at or made to look stupid.

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