Stupid things religious people say

[Fake Messiah]

William Lane Craig: "Or take the belief that the world was created five minutes ago; how could you prove scientifically that the world was not created five minutes ago with built-in memory traces in our brains, food in our stomachs from lunches that we never really ate, and other appearances of age?"

So science cannot disprove that the world was created five minutes ago, but using science people have discovered that the world is billions of years old. Funny how this works.

WLC: Or what about even the belief that the external word exists – how do we know that the external world is not just an illusion? There is no way to prove that there really is a spacetime world out there, scientifically.

Well, Bill, we can detect the external world with our senses and devices and even interact with it, that's called proof.

[Silver]

"...funny how that works..."

The man's a dumbass.

[Paleophyte]

Yeah, that comment from him is a good example of the tightrope that he walks. I've seen other interviews (I think Rationality Rules had a video about it) where his explanation of his concept of god and of some of the Biblical stories is unlike anything I ever heard in church or from other Christians. More like phsychiatry than religion. I think guys like him want to straddle the line; they don't want to have to earnestly defend the wackiness of the Bible, but his audience is probably mostly Christian and he doesn't want to alienate them. It reminds me of a few other conservative voices who try to never mention religion unless it's superficial.

I think the political right is coming to a crossroads with regards to Christianity. There are still a lot of Americans who are devout believers, and the GOP cannot afford to abandon that demographic (although their support for Trump makes me think that they are a lot more forgiving than might have been expected). But I think that demographic is shrinking, and if they really want to become a 'big tent' or attract more rational thinkers, they have to know that their leading voices will, eventually, be non-religious, if not outright atheist.

Peterson tries to hide the fact that he's Christian, and you're right it's a pretty odd version of Christianity, because his schtick is giving his opinions a veneer of academic and professional respectability. If he admits that he's taking a religious standpoint then the first half of "Doctor" Peterson starts dangling precariously. The sniff test is that all of his opinions seem to come straight out of the best parts of Leviticus. He also doesn't believe that atheists exist, because we have morals and those must come from some "transcendent being".

[Paleophyte]

Yeah, nah, with all due respect this does not sound like an atheist of any flavour:

[Ravenshire]

William Lane Craig: "Or take the belief that the world was created five minutes ago; how could you prove scientifically that the world was not created five minutes ago with built-in memory traces in our brains, food in our stomachs from lunches that we never really ate, and other appearances of age?"

So science cannot disprove that the world was created five minutes ago, but using science people have discovered that the world is billions of years old. Funny how this works.

WLC: Or what about even the belief that the external word exists – how do we know that the external world is not just an illusion? There is no way to prove that there really is a spacetime world out there, scientifically.

Well, Bill, we can detect the external world with our senses and devices and even interact with it, that's called proof.

(my bold)

Once again, Willie has shifted the burden off himself.

[Silver]

Hermione already blasted that illogical argument, but they still keep using it.

[Sheldon]

William Lane Craig: "Or take the belief that the world was created five minutes ago; how could you prove scientifically that the world was not created five minutes ago with built-in memory traces in our brains, food in our stomachs from lunches that we never really ate, and other appearances of age?"

William Lane Craig is bat shit crazy of course, though I'd use the word falsify, not disprove, and science certainly can falsify this bizarre notion, there is overwhelming objective evidence to establish the universe is 13.8 billion years old, to within a margin of 200 million years, and that the earth is 4.543 billion years old. If he thinks that doesn't falsify this idea, then he doesn't understand what falsify means. It's clear despite his grandiose claims to be a professional philosopher, he doesn't understand what an argumentum ad ignorantiam fallacy is, he uses them all the time in his apologetics.

[The Architect Of Fate]

William Lane Craig: "Or take the belief that the world was created five minutes ago; how could you prove scientifically that the world was not created five minutes ago with built-in memory traces in our brains, food in our stomachs from lunches that we never really ate, and other appearances of age?"

So science cannot disprove that the world was created five minutes ago, but using science people have discovered that the world is billions of years old. Funny how this works.

WLC: Or what about even the belief that the external word exists – how do we know that the external world is not just an illusion? There is no way to prove that there really is a spacetime world out there, scientifically.

Well, Bill, we can detect the external world with our senses and devices and even interact with it, that's called proof.

A more interesting question is why do we even humor such outlandish claims when there is no reason too.

[Paleophyte]

William Lane Craig: "Or take the belief that the world was created five minutes ago; how could you prove scientifically that the world was not created five minutes ago with built-in memory traces in our brains, food in our stomachs from lunches that we never really ate, and other appearances of age?"

So science cannot disprove that the world was created five minutes ago, but using science people have discovered that the world is billions of years old. Funny how this works.

WLC: Or what about even the belief that the external word exists – how do we know that the external world is not just an illusion? There is no way to prove that there really is a spacetime world out there, scientifically.

Well, Bill, we can detect the external world with our senses and devices and even interact with it, that's called proof.

(my bold)

Once again, Willie has shifted the burden off himself.

More accurately, he has no clue as to how science works. Nobody can prove that existence didn't begin five minutes ago but there's precisely zero evidence that it did. Without evidence there's no reason to entertain that notion any more than there is for pixies, dragons, or unicorns. Besides, everybody knows that the world began four minutes ago.

[The Grand Nudger]

Yeah, that comment from him is a good example of the tightrope that he walks. 

Might be a good example of the effect of monetization algorithms on content creation.  His target audience was anti-sjw - not specifically christian.  That had a hell of alot of overlap between skeptic and white supremacist content...then, and that's reflected in the narratives peterson chose to center his public persona on.  He wasn't on the christian radar at all back in 2016.  He's one of those fleas people are always talking about folks getting when they lie down with dogs.