Counter Apologetics

We wrap up our series on the moral argument for theism, summarize several problems with the argument famously associated with William Lane Craig, and discuss two other moral arguments for God that are not abysmal failures like the standard moral argument. Linktree

Today, we continue our series on the moral argument for theism. We discuss the Euthyphro dilemma, Hume’s Law, and explore a back-and-forth between William Lane Craig and Michael Huemer on the question, “Why obey God?” Common Mistakes about the Moral Argument | Majesty of Reason Majesty of Reason – Moral Arguments for God: An Analysis Michael Huemer – Groundless Morals (this chapter is within the volume of Erik Wielenberg vs. William Lane Craig on the moral argument) Metaethics w/ Michael Huemer | Emerson Green Is God Necessary for Morality? | William Lane Craig & Shelly Kagan Moral Objectivity Without God | Russ Shafer-Landau Post-Debate Interview with Justin Schieber of Real Atheology  Linktree

William Lane Craig, popularized the standard moral argument. The podcast challenges the idea that morality is objective only if God exists. It discusses the definition of terms, refutes apologetic canards, and explores how apologists have misrepresented the field of metaethics. The podcast also examines the distinction between moral realism and subjective morality, explores human behavior vs animal behavior, and discusses the origin of morality and the role of God in authoring moral laws.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali recently announced her conversion to Christianity. But has she only adopted a form of cultural Christianity? I examine her reasons for becoming a Christian and draw some parallels between Ayaan and another political convert: Andrew Tate. I think her reasons for adopting Christianity are quite clearly explicated, even though some Christians have been trying very hard to ignore them. She argues that Christianity can sustain the liberal values of the Enlightenment that she cherishes so deeply. Those values are under attack, she says, from Islam, Russia, China, and woke ideology. Every purely secular strategy tried in response has been insufficient. Christianity, on the other hand, could function as a far more effective weapon against her political enemies in this existential clash. But why does it matter that the west prevails over its cultural and geopolitical foes? Christianity can help with that, too – not just on a civilizational level, but individually as well. It’s the antidote to nihilism, the heart of liberalism, a panacea for wokeness and illiberalism. These considerations together lead her to adopt Christianity, even if she doesn’t think it’s actually true. Maybe in the future, she’ll affirm something more than cultural Christianity. Until then, I’m honestly inclined to see Ayaan’s “conversion” as further vindication of the death of God: even the converts don’t really believe anymore. A good deal of true believers are apparently so desperate for a morale boost, they’re willing to look past that. Ayaan’s guiding light is liberalism, the Enlightenment, and western civilization. She is a positively zealous believer in what the west represents to her, and this is absolutely crucial to understanding her conversion to Christianity. She may not believe in the literal resurrection of Jesus, but she believes in western civilization. She believes this is the best way – perhaps the only way – to save it from withering. Watch this episode on YouTube  Linktree

I recently asked for your questions, and I posted my responses on YouTube here. We touch on compatibilism, NDEs, aliens, euthanasia, abortion, death anxiety as an atheist, idealism, incest, Islam, Mormonism, subjectivism, psychophysical harmony, and more. (For those listening via podcast, I left the introduction in to preserve the timestamps for those who want to skip around to different sections.) 00:00 Intro 00:46 Atheistic platonism? 01:22 Why are you gay? 01:30 Are you still a naturalist? 05:47 What kind of compatibilist are you? 09:41 If I settle your debt with PragerU, will you become a libertarian? 10:12 What’s your biggest gripe with physicalism? 12:42 On the abortion debate, when do you think personhood / full moral status begins? 17:22 Do twinks make better philosophers? 17:56 Are you agnostic about anything in philosophy? 19:37 Why are you such a sucker for spooky stuff? 30:49 Who makes those guitar transitions? 32:34 Favorite music? 34:30 Who are some of your favorite Eastern philosophers? 35:03 Which religion would you choose to be true? 40:54 Who are your favorite theist and atheist philosophers? 42:18 Arguing for dualism from mereological nihilism? 45:48 Euthanasia? 48:43 What are your thoughts on each general era of philosophy? 55:00 Thoughts on Jordan Peterson? 58:55 Have you looked into Islam? 1:03:57 Does your mother know you spend so much time talking to strangers on the internet? 1:04:04 What is your opinion on the resurrection? 1:08:23 The best argument against veganism? 1:21:18 What is the primary goal of adopting panpsychism? 1:23:20 Best defenses of objective morality? 1:24:34 How would aliens affect theism and atheism? 1:30:53 Are you a dualist or a physicalist? 1:31:31 Isn’t solipsism simpler than panpsychism? 1:33:37 Thoughts on idealism? 1:35:41 Which political system do you think is right? 1:39:34 Thoughts on metaethical naturalism? 1:41:52 Is incest wrong? 1:45:27 When will you have some Mormons back on your show? 1:46:34 Why atheist and not agnostic? Where can I find good philrel content? 1:49:54 Would necessitarianism defeat fine-tuning and psychophysical harmony? 1:57:38 Do you accept physical causal closure? 2:00:00 How do you explain psychophysical harmony? 2:02:34 Kant’s transcendental idealism and free will? 2:07:56 Are we obligated to refute false beliefs even if they’re meaningful? 2:13:01 Is there any profound nugget of wisdom that Christianity has first or exclusive ownership of? 2:15:17 Analytic/Continental divide? 2:18:05 “Emmerson” 2:19:03 Does the phenomenal powers view weaken psychophysical harmony? 2:22:04 Is time necessary for consciousness? 2:28:49 If you did reconvert, would you be a Christian or a generic theist? 2:32:20 Finite theism? 2:36:22 Top three philosophers who are wrong about everything? 2:37:57 Moral subjectivism with normally functioning humans as the (collective) observer(s) morality is stance-dependent upon? 2:48:52 Are you afraid of death? How do you cope with death anxiety as an atheist? Linktree https://linktr.ee/emersongreen

I’m joined by Andrew Hronich, author of Once Loved, Always Loved: The Logic of Apokatastasis. We discuss universal reconciliation, eternal conscious torment, annihilationism, and much else!  Watch the interview here Linktree

Here’s my appearance on Adherent Apologetics to talk about the recent series of Counter Apologetics episodes on epistemology. Where New Atheist Epistemology Goes (Very) Wrong | @EmersonGreen | Ep. #259  5 Mistakes Atheists Make About Epistemology  4 Things I Learned About Epistemology Epistemology playlist on YouTube Linktree 

Alex Strasser (Protestant) and John Buck (Catholic) debate the merits of finite theism, the view that God is limited in power. Theistic finitism is less vulnerable to the problem of evil than perfect being theism, but are there other trade-offs that make the notion of a finite God less defensible overall? John is defending the view that strong versions of omnipotence avoid problems of vagueness, arbitrariness, ad hocness, lack of predictive power, and complexity that limited models of God suffer from. John also thinks that a new problem of evil arises that is particular only to limited views of God. Alex will give a cosmological argument and fine-tuning argument for finite theism, and further argue that omni-theism is not a fruitful research program due to serious issues with coherence and the analysis of omni-properties. Theistic finitism is rarely discussed in the philosophy of religion, and Alex wants to invite us to take finite theism more seriously and to investigate it carefully. Debate: Is God Finite? Previous limited god debate Linktree 

Dr. Michael Huemer joins me to defend interactionist substance dualism, the view that the mind and body are composed of different substances and can exert causal influence over each other. Knowledge, Reality, and Value: A Mostly Common Sense Guide to Philosophy  Linktree

Today I’m speaking with Dr. Dale Allison, historian and author of many books, including The Resurrection of Jesus, The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus, and our subject today, Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age. The subtitle of the book notwithstanding, the unusual experiences we discuss are not explicitly religious. They’re usually interpreted through a religious lens (often without any reflection), but almost all of them needn’t be, which is something we return to quite a bit. Flatly disputing the phenomenon is not the only option available to atheists. We talk about paranormal and parapsychological phenomena, and two major sources of skepticism towards things that fall into those categories. On the one hand, of course, there’s materialism, conservative naturalism, skepticism (as in, the skeptic community), etc. But Protestant Christianity, I was surprised to learn, has also been a skeptical force in history due to their drive to debunk Catholic miracle stories, or even just extraordinary events documented by the Catholic Church that explicitly or implicitly were used as evidence for Catholicism. Since we’re exploring new terrain that involves some quite unusual topics (e.g., clairvoyance, levitation, visions of dead loved ones, etc.) there’s a lot more I want to say, even in this little description box, but I’ll save it for the interview. One thing I forgot to mention during the interview: In addition to Dr. Allison’s book, there are a couple podcasts that regularly discuss cases like the ones that came up today in greater depth. “Otherworld” and “Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World” come highly recommended from me. Linktree