TreesNightly

Not quite up for regular posting yet, but here is my take on why apologists using the "existence" immaterial concepts as rationalization for why an immaterial God is possible fails. A popular thought in religious apologetics lately is that there are examples of things that are immaterial in which atheists can't deny and that these things make an immaterial deity possible. Here's the problem: The examples of these immaterial things aren't things, they are concepts. Yes, thoughts are immaterial--they are also fundamentally different from an active agent like God. Thoughts are completely dependent on a thinker, but to call the thinker an immaterial consciousness analogous to God is just as fallacious. The prerequisite for consciousness is a brain. To say that God requires no material prerequisite is special pleading and contrary to all evidence.? I floated this take on Google+ and it spawned 100+ comments. Here's the link .

I may or may not post again over the holidays, so I thought I'd go ahead and share my favorite Christmas song with you guys. I think you'll find it atheist friendly. Have a happy holiday if that's your thing. If not, have a good week.

The following is my personal assessment of the validity of popular apologetic arguments. The list goes from most valid to least valid. The Fine Tuning of the Universe: Could be valid, currently based on assumptions. There are a vast number of physically possible universes. A universe that would be hospitable to the appearance of life must conform to some very strict conditions. Everything from the mass ratios of atomic particles and the number of dimensions of space to the cosmological parameters that rule the expansion of the universe must be just right for stable galaxies, solar systems, planets, and complex life to evolve. The percentage of possible universes that would support life is infinitesimally small (from 2). Our universe is one of those infinitesimally improbable universes. Our universe has been fine-tuned to support life (from 3 and 4). There is a Fine-Tuner (from 5). Only God could have the power and the purpose to be the Fine- Tuner. God exists. This argument, had we jus...

Where do you come down on the big questions that split atheists ? Six hundred some proofs for God that start off silly and get progressively more so. In one of my new favorite blogs, Tjaart discusses the intellectual bankruptcy of Christian apologetics . You'd think God could create the best of all possible worlds , right? There are problems with that. Personal story time from Sheldon who came out as an atheist to his sister . Theists often say infinite regression is impossible, but a single infinite deity is perfectly fine. If only we had a mathematician to weigh in... Westboro Baptist church  is going to picket  the funeral of a Christian who died leaving his own charity event. True story. R.I.P. PaulWalker.* *Is Rest In Peace a saying atheists should avoid? I mean, he isn't resting per se or at peace exactly. I guess it works metaphorically...