Mike

Author's details

Date registered: March 9, 2010

Latest posts

  1. Foundations of New Atheism in the Radical Enlightenment — May 19, 2012
  2. Is naturalism a type of faith? — April 25, 2012
  3. Current Thoughts on the Kalam Cosmological Argument — March 29, 2012
  4. Podcast Interview — March 25, 2012
  5. False Dilemmas — March 21, 2012

Most commented posts

  1. Is everything in the Bible true? — 80 comments
  2. Free Will and Evil — 75 comments
  3. Intention in Eden — 49 comments
  4. On Absurdity: William Lane Craig and Actual Infinites — 32 comments
  5. Gospel Truth: Important Contradictions — 28 comments

Author's posts listings

May 19

Foundations of New Atheism in the Radical Enlightenment

Categories:

General

by

Volt

If you ask an educated person to name prominent French figures of the Enlightenment, there is a pretty good chance he or she will name Voltaire and/or Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Atheists will likely view these Enlightenment figures positively, especially Voltaire, for laying the foundations for modern secular thought. In this essay, I want to discuss just …

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Apr 25

Is naturalism a type of faith?

Categories:

Philosophy, Science

by

In this essay, I’m going to take on a common claim that a form of narrow naturalism can rightly be called faith. The form of naturalism I have in mind is one that says for any given unexplained event, it is overwhelmingly likely that the real explanation will be a naturalistic one. So, for example, …

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11 comments

Mar 29

Current Thoughts on the Kalam Cosmological Argument

Categories:

Philosophy

by

I recently had a comment on one of the first posts I ever wrote. In this post, I discussed classic arguments for God, including the Cosmological Argument. This is the traditional argument that asserts that everything that exists must have a cause. The standard reply to that premise is to say that God is something …

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12 comments

Mar 25

Podcast Interview

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General

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I was interviewed on the most recent episode of the An American Atheist podcast. I discussed my recent article about speaking in tongues as a young kid at a charismatic church camp. You can choose to listen via either of these options: Streaming or iTunes. I come in around the 38:20 mark. Bookmark on Delicious …

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Mar 21

False Dilemmas

Categories:

Philosophy

by

Parabola

One of the many problems we face in arguing about gods is the danger of running into a false dilemma. I am specifically concerned with arguments for theism, which I think contain many false dilemmas, but arguments for atheism should also be wary of the problem. What we will see in many apologetic arguments in …

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4 comments

Mar 09

The first time I spoke in tongues

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General

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I attended camp every summer as a kid. Most of the time, this camp would be indistinguishable from other summer camps. My friends and I would play basketball, pass notes back and forth with girls, listen to music, etc. The rest of the time, however, the camp was quite different. You see, this was a …

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14 comments

Mar 06

New Philosophy of Physics Blog

Categories:

Philosophy, Science

by

There is a new blog that I recommend you follow, if you’re interested in the philosophy of physics. http://philocosmology.wordpress.com/ I’m personally excited about this prospect because there should be top-notch philosophers involved, and I expect the discussion to reflect that. This means it offers an excellent learning opportunity within a very difficult subject. Physics rears …

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Mar 02

On Framing an Opponent’s Argument

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General

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It is generally considered good practice to frame your opponent’s argument in the best possible light–to try and explain it charitably and discuss your own assumptions in addressing it. The practice is a good one for more than just the sake of manners. It helps your audience to evaluate the arguments more objectively and enables …

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10 comments

Feb 21

The Greatest Possible World: Comments on Leibniz, Voltaire, and Skeptical Theism

Categories:

Philosophy

by

One can extract the following argument from Gottfried Leibniz in the Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence: (1) Acts of God cannot contain a flaw. (2) The creation of the world was an act of God. (3) Therefore, the world is without flaw. This view was in response to certain aspects of Isaac Newton’s mechanical philosophy published mainly in …

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4 comments

Feb 18

New Article for An American Atheist

Categories:

General

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I have a new article on the website An American Atheist. I make the case that too many arguments about First Amendment cases are built on a fallacious foundation. If you’re interested, check it out here: Appealing to Tradition is Still a Fallacy.   Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via …

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