The God Contention - Richard Carrier

Is there any proof that God exists?

Tue, 31 May 2016 05:26:47 -0400

Answered from the perspective of multiple worldviews

Atheist - Richard Carrier
No.

All proposed evidence vanishes when investigated. It either turns out to be false, or it can't be verified, or it has obvious natural explanations and therefore is not actually evidence of anything supernatural, much less a god.

See, for example, chapter twelve of The End of Christianity. Or explore the Arguments for Atheism and the Arguments for the Existence of God sections of ...

If there is a God, but there is no evidence to be found for his existence except subjective experiences, is it not reasonable to assume that if he does exist, he does not want us to know about it?

Thu, 26 Nov 2015 07:02:25 -0500

Answered from the perspective of multiple worldviews

Atheist - Richard Carrier
That would seem to follow. And it might even entail that only atheists will go to heaven. For an exploration of this possibility, see Only Nontheists Go to Heaven. More likely, however, there just isn't any God. That's a far simpler explanation for why there isn't any evidence of one....

How do atheists explain the similarities between Christianity and Islam if they believe that there is no God?

Fri, 14 Aug 2015 17:16:39 -0400

Answered within the Atheist worldview by Richard Carrier

Islam is a sect of Christianity, historically derived from it and in response to it, the same way Christianity is a sect of Judaism....

How can chaos create order? That's impossible without intelligent direction. Atheism is emotional, not intellectual.

Fri, 14 Aug 2015 15:13:04 -0400

Answered from the perspective of multiple worldviews

Atheist - Richard Carrier
Chaos actually necessarily entails order. The larger the chaos or the longer it seethes, the probability of that chaos randomly producing order or becoming ordered approaches 100%. It would actually require intelligent interference to prevent this from happening. Not the other way around.

This can be shown mathematically. Any random chaos that is left to seethe for any given unit of time has for that unit of time a nonzero probability of becoming ordered to any degree equal to P(order). As time continues, that probability increases (just as the more often you get to roll a pair of dice, the...

What is the source of moral obligation?

Thu, 18 Dec 2014 16:17:42 -0500

Answered within the Atheist worldview by Richard Carrier

The nature of the world, human beings, and social systems, combined with the universal human desire to live a fulfilling life.

This is formally demonstrated in Richard Carrier, "Moral Facts Naturally Exist (and Science Could Find Them)," in The End of Christianity, pp. 333-64, 420-29. For further discussion, see Moral Ontology and Goal Theory Update and Richard Carrier's Sense and Goodness without God....

Why do atheists embrace the notion that non-existence can have any causal relationship with existence?

Thu, 18 Dec 2014 16:11:32 -0500

Answered within the Atheist worldview by Richard Carrier

Theists also embrace the notion that non-existence has a causal relationship with existence: at t=0, God instantly exists for no reason. If something as complex as a God can instantly exist for no reason, anything can.

In fact, almost anything else would be more likely. If there was ever a state of absolutely nothing, then by definition no laws governed what would happen to it, therefore with no constraints on what can happen, literally anything can happen. And with no laws constraining which thing will happen, every possible thing that can happen is equally likely to happen.

From this i...

Do you think that education is the solution? In other words, would people agree with your view if they just had more knowledge? Is the problem basically one of ignorance?

Sat, 29 Mar 2014 18:22:39 -0400

Answered from the perspective of multiple worldviews

Atheist - Richard Carrier
Yes. Ignorance is the problem. For most people. A few people are simply insane. No amount of knowledge will convince them to believe anything other than what they have deluded themselves into believing. They need psychological treatment before they can escape their delusion. But most people will believe what's true if they have enough information.

The required information comes in two respects: people must not only have more information, they must know how to reason from that information coherently (without fallacies or errors of thought). The latter is itself a body of information, na...

can science disprove god

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:25:57 -0400

Answered within the Atheist worldview by Richard Carrier

Well enough to warrant not believing there is one.

See Part IV of Sense and Goodness without God and the chapter "Neither Life nor the Universe Appear Intelligently Designed" in The End of Christianity....

what are your views on sexuality

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:23:51 -0400

Answered within the Atheist worldview by Richard Carrier

That question is over-broad. There are thousands of issues pertaining to sexuality. But for a start on what many naturalists and atheists think about this, see my two essays Sexy Sex Sex and Sexual Objectification: An Atheist Perspective....

Jesus is reported to have said of Peter something like you are the rock upon whom I will build my church. How does 'church' make sense to 1st century Jews? If Jesus the Jew never intended to establish a new religion, why church and not temple?

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:01:39 -0400

Answered within the Atheist worldview by Richard Carrier

The Greek word used in that passage (Matthew 16:18) is ekklÃªsia, which means simply "congregation," a term Jews often applied to their own faith communities (e.g. the word appears in reference to Jewish congregations all throughout the Greek translation of Deuteronomy, for example). That statement from Jesus, however, does only make sense if indeed Jesus intended to found a new faith community of Jews. More likely the statement was invented after the fact and only attributed to Jesus...

Given that evolution is a fact and that the evidence for it is incontrovertible, I find it very difficult to understand how religious people, mostly Christians, can deny it. Can you enlighten me?

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 17:34:25 -0400

Answered from the perspective of multiple worldviews

Atheist - Richard Carrier
The emotional need to believe prevents them from seeing facts or reason in any matter that challenges their belief....

What is complexity science and how does it change metaphysical naturalism?

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 09:18:26 -0500

Answered within the Atheist worldview by Richard Carrier

Complexity science is the science of complex systems, in particular the mathematical and computer modeling of them so as to understand and predict their behavior. Currently, all complex systems sufficiently studied have been reduced to naturalistic component parts. Nothing supernatural has been found in them. Their behavior can be understood entirely as a function of physics, chemistry, and other physical processes. Complexity science is a key component of metaphysical naturalism today....

Did Jesus preach non-violent submission?

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 06:55:44 -0500

Answered from the perspective of multiple worldviews

Atheist - Richard Carrier
The Gospels depict Jesus both doing so (Luke 6:27-36; Matthew 5:38-42) and not doing so (Luke 12:49-53, 22:35-38; Matthew 10:21-22, 34-39; John 2:14-15). Good luck figuring that out.

Jesus and Violence...

Why does religion 'permit' murder and why are people so eager to justify murders their people commited?

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:34:08 -0400

Answered from the perspective of multiple worldviews

Atheist - Richard Carrier
Killing must always be in some circumstances justified or acceptable (self defense, for example). So the question must be why do religions expand the number of "justifiable" reasons to kill, and why is it so easy for religious people to do this, and why do they do it to such shocking excess (such as killing people for speaking freely or drawing cartoons or being gay or other things that really make no sense to kill people for because they do no one any harm, not even god--who, being god, can't be harmed). Those questions are explored by the sciences of anthropology and sociology...

If God really did create everything, how would anyone know?

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:51:23 -0500

Answered from the perspective of multiple worldviews

Atheist - Richard Carrier
It would be obvious (see the following link for examples).

That it isn't obvious, that in fact the universe looks exactly like the universe would look if no God created it or anything in it, is a major reason why we don't believe in God. There is only one way to explain this massive contradiction: by claiming God deliberately created everything to look exactly like he created nothing. Which entails he is the ultimate Father of Lies. In other words, if God created this universe, then God is Satan.

But this tactic is ridiculous in any other sphere, so it's just as ridiculous...

How do you know your god is good, and is not actually a satan making us think he is good?

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Answered from the perspective of multiple worldviews

Atheist - Richard Carrier
Good question.

Since Muslims more often than not suppress freedoms, predominately define their character by violent rage, are intolerant of nonbelievers, and defend all this as righteous, it would seem that they are indeed worshiping an evil god. Muslims who reject those wicked values rarely fight or speak up against other Muslims who endorse them, and thus like Nazi sympathizers in WWII, are complicit in the evil those other Muslims serve. That leaves a very small minority of Muslims who can claim to actually be worshiping and serving a good god, and yet they have no arguments to make tha...

Is there a question to which you all would give the same - or almost the same - answer?

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 16:12:39 -0400

Answered from the perspective of multiple worldviews

Atheist - Richard Carrier
Certainly. I'll bet we all agree spring grass is usually green and a clear sky usually blue, objects fall to the earth at approximately 32 feet per second per second, and Audrey Tautou is beautiful. Just for starters.

Audrey Tautou Fan Club...

Can there be objective morality with a God? If God is the source of morality, then morality is subject to the will of God, so isn't it by definition subjective?

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 10:47:27 -0500

Answered from the perspective of multiple worldviews

Atheist - Richard Carrier
If there can be objective morality without a God (and there can), then there can be an objective morality with a God. It just wouldn't be subject to God's will. God would be subject to it.

Darla the She-Goat...

Dr. Carrier, you stated that "all numbers exist" in an infinite quantity, and that something "that has no location exists nowhere and what exists nowhere does not exist". Where exactly do numbers exist (in infinite quantity no less)?

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 18:01:08 -0500

Answered within the Atheist worldview by Richard Carrier

Everywhere.

Numbers are words that refer to quantities. Anywhere all quantities exist, all numbers exist. Any region of space-time contains all quantities (that region can be infinitely divided and paired one-to-one with every natural number, for example). Therefore anywhere where there is a region of space-time, all numbers exist. If naturalism is true, then there is at least one region of space-time. Therefore, if naturalism is true, then all numbers exist.

Conversely, to claim all numbers don't exist entails God does not know all numbers and is therefore not omniscient. Because i...

Could the past be infinite? Not necessarily our universe, but time in general.

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 08:54:41 -0500

Answered within the Atheist worldview by Richard Carrier

Yes.

First, all arguments against actual infinities commit the fallacy of applying rules of finite arithmetic (which are only logically valid for finite quantities) to transfinite quantities. All professional mathematicians agree there is nothing illogical or impossible about an actual infinity, and in fact all logic and mathematics depend on the fundamental axiom of infinite extension being true. For example, there must be a set that contains all numbers simultaneously, and that is an actually infinite quantity; and in the case of theism, all numbers must exist in the mind of God, therefor...