Category Archives: PHIL 500

Questions, questions, questions

I’m struggling to find questions for my PHIL 500 class forum. I don’t want to have the class devolve into a theological slugfest. Here are some ramblings courtesy of a medium Americano at my local Peets. If Hick is right, … Continue reading

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Darwin’s birthday and Anglican Church

Caught sight of this on the online British newspaper Times Online. It links over to the website, Theos where there are a few more links about Darwin and faith. Prominent scientists and leading religious figures have joined forces to call … Continue reading

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Falsifying the unfalsifiable

Mark Thompson writes: …science demeans itself when it used as a proof of the non-existence of god.  Science is not meant to provide unfalsifiable answers, nor is it intended to answer questions that can only admit of unfalsifiable answers.  To … Continue reading

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The folly of arguing?

Freddie DeBoer calls into question the approaches of “aggressive atheists”: I think the temptation among aggressive atheists is to think that they are just a few converts away from the great crumble, that if they could just move a few … Continue reading

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Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero

Reminder: We’ll be watching the film “Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero” next week. Please check the course website for instructions about doing the argument analysis exercise on the Mavrodes/Fankfurt articles. PS: Bring your tissues. This one is a tearjerker.

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Darwin, Lincoln, and racism

Although not entirely on the theme of religion, this, too, was in the NY Times today. It’s an article on Darwin and the abolitionist movement in Britain and the US. Darwin’s Sacred Cause: How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped Darwin’s … Continue reading

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Design arguments and Darwin

While we won’t be examining the “intelligent design” (ID) argument(s) in detail, there certainly is lot of debate on the argument. This especially is true with respect to ID and education. This NY Times review of four books caught my … Continue reading

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The Virtues of Godlessness

This article from the Chronicle of Higher Education takes a look at the connection between religious belief and non-belief in a society and that society’s well-being.

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The history of disbelief

I caught the very tail end of a KQED PBS/BBC documentary on disbelief. Wonderful stuff! The main website is here. In this first ever television history of disbelief, Jonathan Miller goes on a 3-part journey exploring the origins of his … Continue reading

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