(August 30, 2012 at 6:15 pm)Minimalist Wrote:Quote:The goal is for atheists to have a good working grasp of the problem of evil
I never knew that WE had a problem with it. Without a sky-daddy the issue is very simple. Shit happens and it happens because a lot of people are no-good scumbags.
Its the jesus freaks who have the problem explaining how, if their god created everything and pronounced it "good" that he can still be a god and not merely an incredible fuck up for not anticipating the problem of evil.
Personally, I enjoy watching them twist their scrotums into knots trying to get out of that one....and always failing.
You'll be surprised at how well-plausible this sky-daddy is for philosophers, even philosophers who have a strong background in science. Logically and rationally, Philosophy of Religion, Science, Time, Mind have all currently led us to a place where metaphysically and scientifically (oh, youse gonna get mad at dis I can feel its!!!) the case for God is a very plausible possibility.
You might think I'm joking but I mean it 100%. Science doesn't traverse the borders of naturalism. Most philosophers of mind all but recognizes that unless you are willing to tie yourself into an epistemic pretzel trying to justify a purely physicalist worldview (it's not easy, trust me), you have to concede that there is more than the material world out there. Because while science and math can measure and calculate and predict consciousness, they cannot explain consciousness.
Even David Chalmers, our favorite hippie philosopher and atheist is a dualist because of this problem of science.
And this is precisely the metaphysical move that opens up rational space for the possibility of Godlike being in the actual world.
So tldr: You're partly right. The fundie Christians heads are spinning the moment you mention anything other than John 3:16, but there are very knowledgeable and intelligent Christians out there too whose beliefs happen to be supported by reality, if not science.
We need to be able to grapple with their claims and we need to be able to put more of our people in school to fight these ideas. The faster we do this, the faster we realize that we can't just say "science did it". We need to open ourselves up to metaphysics.
The answer is in understanding metaphysics.
