(June 1, 2024 at 3:53 pm)Lucian Wrote: So, it has been a pretty while since posting here but think it may be more regular coming up. Basically last time I was content to be globally agnostic about almost everything I thought I knew so wasn’t too sure that atheism was the right label for me. Since then a christian friend has been pushing me repeatedly to defend atheism, despite knowing it wasn’t a position I held. Long story short, having to repeatedly defend misrepresentations of atheism finally pushed me to accept it as my current position. Comical own goal by my christian friend there, but I have finally found a passion for reading on these issues again and willing to adopt positions again.
Currently I seem to be stuck in the weeds of moral error theory. I have a hundred or so journal articles downloaded to work through, a load of books, a bunch of phd theses and am just getting going. Reading and listening to a bunch of Graham Oppy right now as well, and very interested in getting more into philosophical works on naturalism after reading his book on it.
One thing I would appreciate is the ability to grill folk here on various potential formulations of arguments and for sources. My other christian friends have been amazingly patient with my constant questions, but I don’t want to grind them down and lose them as friends. I pretty much don’t have anyone around who shares my current interests… finally remembered this board.
So. Just an initial post, not sure whether I should just load all my questions onto this post as they come up, or do one per theme e.g. moral error theory. Thoughts would be appreciated. These aren’t going to be questions about how to deal with my friend, more just about how to think about things through the new atheist worldview
It's a huge and fascinating subject!
I wonder if it would help us get things rolling if you would write a short sample of the kind of dialogue you've been having with your friend. Just to show us examples of the kind of issues you've been discussing.
Does he assert that morals have some permanent grounding in the world? That seems to be the case among Christians. And you hold that moral statements are not true facts? Then I guess you'd have to work out where these morals (or the appearance of morals) come from.
It's a pretty basic disagreement, and I see how Christians and atheists would take different positions. Probably several people around here have worked on the problem before.
Can you give us a more specific hook or issue so that we can respond more easily? If we're lucky the conversation can expand from there.
