How Do You Decide What to Believe?

 JANUARY 25, 2019 BY BOB SEIDENSTICKER For a clear and succinct discussion of what evidence is enough to support a claim, one good source is the observations of German philosopher Gotthold Lessing (1729–81). Lessing was a Christian, but he argued that history is insufficient support for religious truths. He distinguished between the strength of the evidence […]

The Modal Ontological Argument? It Needs a Good Thrashing. (2 of 2)

JANUARY 23, 2019 BY BOB SEIDENSTICKER We’re halfway through our analysis of the modal ontological argument, an apologetic argument that’s not accurate and useful so much as weighty. Those of us who are outsiders to philosophy have probably found it to be ponderous and counterintuitive. I certainly did. In part 1, we saw that premise 1 seemed reasonable […]

The Modal Ontological Argument? It Needs a Good Thrashing.

JANUARY 22, 2019 BY BOB SEIDENSTICKER This Christian apologetic argument is the one that I most often see put forward as the one that will put cocky atheists in their place. And for you Christians, once you’ve gotten past the beginner arguments like the Design, Cosmological, and Moral arguments and then master intermediate ones like the Fine-Tuning, Transcendental, and Ontological arguments, it’s time for […]

Should Polygamy Be De-criminalized?

 JANUARY 21, 2022 BY ROGER E. OLSON *Note to would-be commenters: Don’t expect your comment to be published here if it is argumentative or hostile. Keep it calm and dialogical—open to discussion as opposed to argument* Should Polygamy Be De-criminalized? This morning I watched a documentary on Youtube about a teenage boy who fled his family, […]