What do you think of William Lane Craig?

[Jehanne]

As you can see from the quote from Harris' book, he does believe that mental illness causes people to be attracted to religion.

And Harris was clearly referring to God as a psychopath in the debate.

Consequently, I don't think that WLC misrepresented Harris' position AT ALL.

It happened to me; I went through a period of depression and suicidal thoughts and I "got religion".  It took me years before coming back to my senses.  My "conversion" occurred over the period of a few minutes.  I sunk into a state of utter despair, kind of almost a manic state and I was "born again".  My detox, however, took over two years.

[God of Mr. Hanky]

I'd forgotten you were still around (would be) atheist-rocker.  Have you ever said what your mission here was?  I'd have to say you're on some self-appointed ministry.  Does that sum it up?

No mission.

I'm here for stimulating discussion of ideas. 

You?

You are completely full of shit. Just a petty, and extremely smug little liar. Lying and smugness is condemned according to all accounts of your god, and (no coincidence) it is no less by normal atheists. Normal humans (which you are most certainly not) cannot stand you, which is why you came here, trolling for people to fuck with. Now the truth on you is revealed, nobody will engage you anymore, and neither will I - nobody cares what you have to say because you can't be anything other than a smug, disingenuous, lying little cunt, and now you'll have to go find another group to try and fuck with.

B'bye!

[Huggy Bear]

[Whateverist]

As you can see from the quote from Harris' book, he does believe that mental illness causes people to be attracted to religion.

And Harris was clearly referring to God as a psychopath in the debate.

Consequently, I don't think that WLC misrepresented Harris' position AT ALL.

It happened to me; I went through a period of depression and suicidal thoughts and I "got religion".  It took me years before coming back to my senses.  My "conversion" occurred over the period of a few minutes.  I sunk into a state of utter despair, kind of almost a manic state and I was "born again".  My detox, however, took over two years.

Sorry to hear that.  When you're very depressed for the first time it is pretty overwhelming.  I remember being desperate to get out of it.  For me religion just wasn't something that felt at all hopeful or I'm sure I would have tried it.  

For me mania had preceded the depression.  So the contrast was all the more sharp.  But that was nearly forty years ago.  I believe my mania was drug and exercise induced.  The depression was probably a rebound with lots of life circumstances contributing to pull me down deeper.

Do you feel like you've evened out now?  I've never had another episode of either condition but I'd say both contributed something to who I've become.  I hope you are feeling better now.

[Jehanne]

Do you feel like you've evened out now?  I've never had another episode of either condition but I'd say both contributed something to who I've become.  I hope you are feeling better now.

Oh, yeah, definitively; religion, for me, was a coping mechanism.  Instead of a chemical fantasy, it was a mental one; I can't tell you how many people whom I encountered who "advised" me not to read certain things (such as atheistic literature).

[GrandizerII]

Do you feel like you've evened out now?  I've never had another episode of either condition but I'd say both contributed something to who I've become.  I hope you are feeling better now.

Oh, yeah, definitively; religion, for me, was a coping mechanism.  Instead of a chemical fantasy, it was a mental one; I can't tell you how many people whom I encountered who "advised" me not to read certain things (such as atheistic literature).

That's exactly what Jesus Christ used to be for me - a coping mechanism ...

[Crossless2.0]

I'm not rob.  And I haven't read any of his books.  I'm not much of a reader.  I've watched a few of his debates and read a little at his website.  How many books on Hindu spirituality have you read?

Oops. Sorry.

And none.

But then I'm not on a website calling Hindus liars, charlatans, deceivers...well, you get the idea.

But there are plenty of people here calling Craig that and worse without the benefit of actually having read any of his works.

So if I bothered to read Craig's books, would I encounter anything significantly different than the material he presents in his debates? If not, there's really no point wasting my time reading his stuff, since I've already wasted too much time watching him online. Will his 'Inner Witness of the Holy Spirit' bullshit be somehow more respectable in print than it is when presented in debate? I prefer to spend my time reading interesting and substantial stuff and am content to let you apologists muck the intellectual stalls.

Oh, and by the way, you may not explicitly call Hindus (or Muslims, orthodox Jews, Buddhists, etc.) "liars, charlatans, deceivers", etc. but as a Christian in possession of Divinely Revealed Truth you do, at the least, think they were all at some point lied to and deceived, right? It's ok to admit that you are actually on our team when it comes to all of the religions you reject out of hand. It's also ok to admit to yourself (since you certainly won't do it publicly) that you indulge in special pleading when it comes to your own religion, which is why sophists like Craig make such a nice living reassuring Christians that they really are reasonable people and that their strange fantasies aren't strange or fantastic at all.

But you think he's a significant philosopher.