Russ chimed in on my Why I Am An Atheist post, in response to Randal Rauser’s request for a paragraph or two on my reasons for my worldview.
Johno, does Rauser think he is going to refute all the “Why I Am An Atheist(or not a Christian)” paragraphs that you and the others wrote?
If he thinks he can do that why does he not just produce evidence which supports his claim that his god exists while it also refutes other’s claims, ancient or contemporary, that their god exists? In comments on Debunking Christianity Rauser has stated that he has evidence of answered prayers, for instance. But, his evidence does not even convince Jews or Muslims that Jesus was what is claimed for him. Rauser has a PhD in Jesus-ness, but it buys him nothing but his own personal opinions, which even the other Abrahamic types are unimpressed by, dismissing them out of hand.
I am an atheist, including not a Christian, because it is obvious that even the elites among religious thinkers do not know what they are talking about. I know this because they do not agree among themselves, either within or between major religious group names. They even contradict themselves as they change their minds about their gods. Rauser is a great example of this.
For much of his life, Rauser thought(believed?) that the theologically correct conception of Bible-god included the idea that it would torture transgressors forever. In recent years he has changed his mind, and, along with it his definition of his god, so, now, he imagines(believes?) that his god does not torture transgressors forever. At one time, Rauser would have rhapsodically effused about how his loving god burns it’s problem children forever, but, today, he will effuse, undoubtedly just as rhapsodically, about how his god doesn’t hand down sentences of eternal torment. Rauser is himself all the evidence we need to reject Christianity. That he can so freely and comfortably change his mind and his definition of his god tells us that his ideas are merely intellectual playthings that he unabashedly tinkers with to achieve ad hoc intellectual playtime objectives.
Why am I an atheist, including not a Christian?: because I refuse to claim to believe ideas that are incoherent, inconsistent, mutually contradictory, and observably wrong.
Good stuff.
I love the idea of Christians who internally shift theology to a huge degree seem to swing from indubitably believing one doctirne to shifting to indubitably believing another. Of course, more rationally they should doubt the whole shebang,
