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Richard Carrier: Why I Don't Buy the Resurrection Story
The most comprehensive argument I’ve read against the historical plausibility of the supposed Resurrection of Jesus.
(Source: deconversionmovement)
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Thomas had doubts
“It should not be lost on us that Thomas was depicted as no less righteous for refusing to believe so wild a claim without physical proof. We have as much right, and ought to follow his example. He got to see and feel the wounds before believing, and so should we. I haven’t, so I can’t be expected to believe it.] And this leads me to one final reason why I don’t buy the resurrection story. No wise or compassionate God would demand this from us. Such a god would not leave us so poorly informed about something so important. If we have a message for someone that is urgently vital for their survival, and we have any compassion, that compassion will compel us to communicate that message clearly and with every necessary proof—not ambiguously, not through unreliable mediaries presenting no real evidence. Conversely, if we see something incredible, we do not attack or punish audiences who don’t believe us, we don’t even expect them to believe—unless and until we can present decisive proof.
There is a heroic legend in the technology community about the man who invented elevator safety brakes. He claimed that any elevator fitted with his brakes, even if all the cables broke, would be safely and swiftly stopped by his new invention. No one trusted it. Did he get angry or indignant? No. He simply put himself in an elevator, ordered the cables cut, and proved to the world, by risking his own life, that his brakes worked. This is the very principle that has delivered us from superstition to science. Any claim can be made about a drug, but people are rightly wary of swallowing anything that hasn’t been thoroughly tested and re-tested and tested again. Since I have no such proofs regarding the resurrection story, I’m not going to swallow it, and it would be cruel, even for a god, to expect otherwise of me. So I can reason rightly that a god of all humankind would not appear in one tiny backwater of the Earth, in a backward time, revealing himself to a tiny unknown few, and then expect the billions of the rest of us to take their word for it, and not even their word, but the word of some unknown person many times removed.”
-Richard Carrier, Why I Don’t Buy The Resurrection Story
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High ResolutionHopefully
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High Resolution“I’ll give them brain, and then I’ll reward only those assholes, who will ditch it and rely on stupid faith”.
Sounds like a plan.
I think this (Jefferson’s) is a sentiment that has occurred to me since I was a small boy in church: How could The Truth be opposed to critical examination; to skepticism? I didn’t pursue my doubt until it dawned on me that I could use the Internet to find all of the arguments for and against the proposition that God exists. And while certain sub-propositions remain unsettled -like is religion inherently bad/good for humanity- the main proposition of God actually existing, I found thoroughly refuted from every possible direction. That’s when it began to annoy me when people use it as a presupposition for anything. I’m trying to look past it when I can in order to be socially tolerable.
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BBC Four: A History of Christianity - Scepticism of Christianity
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NLwWcJM9Sc (Amsterdam…)
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeLqDqreSOc (The critics…)
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAM1Bt7zHEQ (the Nazis…)
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlxS9m77228 (the killers of Christ…)Great documentary chronicling the seeds of doubt sown in Europe that lead to the erosion of the Church through the Enlightenment, French Revolution, and WWI & II.
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A Comprehensive List of Religion Debates
A very helpful resource with hundreds of debates between believers and non-believers on various topics.
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Doubts…
I’m starting to have doubts about my faith in God…
That is a very healthy mental faculty. Follow your doubt where it leads. The truth is not afraid of doubt. People who want you to find truth will encourage you to be skeptical.
May I suggest googling arguments for and against the existence of God, and there are lots of great debates on YouTube as well. Good luck.
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High ResolutionI think of free inquiry as a fundamental human right.
(Source: ummagumma-)
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High ResolutionPursue your doubts.
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Have you questioned something today?
(Source: we-are-star-stuff, via skunkitty)
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"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
- Albert Einstein (via expose-the-light) -
High ResolutionINTERVIEW - Jennifer Michael Hecht, author of Doubt: A History - November 28, 2008
Jennifer Michael Hecht is the author of award-winning books of philosophy, history, and poetry, including The End of the Soul: Scientific Modernity, Atheism and Anthropology; Doubt: A History; The Happiness Myth, and her book of poetry, Funny, which Publisher’s Weekly called one of the most original and entertaining books of the year.In this conversation with D.J. Grothe, Hecht talks about the relationship of her book Doubt: A History to the books of the New Atheists, if media reception of the New Atheists was “gendered,” and in what sense her book is “less evangelical” than theirs.
She explains what she means by the kind of doubt she believes in, how it is broader and deeper than mere disbelief, and the ways in which doubt can feed belief. She explores the implications of doubt for scientific inquiry, and how doubt should be applied to the questions and the certitude that some scientists and skeptics express. She talks about the importance of art, poetry and psychoanalysis for doubting, and how such forms of introspection and expression increase the benefits of doubt. And she reveals some her favorite doubters in history, and what she learns from them.
(MP3)
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"Those who have something to sell, those who wish to influence public opinion, those in power, a skeptic might suggest, have a vested interest in discouraging skepticism."
- Carl Sagan -
20+ Questions for Theists
A gem of honest questions. Here’s a taste:
- Why is the physical universe so unimaginably large?
- Why would God desire to create embodied moral agents, as opposed to disembodied minds (such as souls, spirits, or ghosts)? Why is the human mind dependent on the physical brain?
- Why would God use biological evolution as a method for creation? Do you have any answer that is independent of the scientific evidence for evolution?
Interesting questions.
(via skepticalavenger)
Divine Irony
is a rich archive of religious delusions, scientific truths and political implications.
"Tell people there’s an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure."
-George Carlin
“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed”.
-Albert Einstein
