*This is not actually a complete guide to atheism. It’s just a title. There’s much we didn’t talk about, many good arguments we didn’t make, many arguments we made poorly, and many theistic arguments we didn’t address or didn't address completely.
Kaden and I discuss theism. Our conversation starts with definitions of god, then moves on to the following subjects: Mormonism, believing in belief, definition of atheism, agnosticism vs Gnosticism, god's divine attributes, the problem of evil, a few reasons why the concept of hell doesn't seem to make much sense, some logical fallacies that come up in theological arguments (ambiguity, burden of proof, appeal to emotion, bandwagon, no true Scotsman, black or white, special pleading, false cause, personal incredulity, argument from ignorance, straw man, begging the question), using god as a way to not kill yourself, why people kill themselves, how being raised religiously might mess you up, religious fear-mongering, Pascal's wager, Kierkegaard's leap into faith, absurdism, meaning and empathy, the Kalam cosmological argument, Anselm's ontological argument, whether originality exists, Aquinas' unmoved mover, intelligent design and Paley's watchmaker analogy, evolution, god of the gaps, mind-body dualism, Nick Bostrom’s simulation argument, Plato’s allegory of the cave, unseen colors, quick-fire arguments: the argument from comfort, the argument from utility, the argument from tradition, using the lack of evidence as evidence, the argument from morality, the argument from improbability, the argument from miracles and the argument from scripture.
Due to not wanting to make this episode longer than 3 hours, there were a few things we didn’t get to, including the argument from desire, the argument from archaeology, the argument from historical corroboration, the argument from revelation, the argument from personal experience (which we really should've talked about as it's probably the biggest reason that most people believe), the argument from beauty, and the argument from irreducible complexity.
To see Paley’s watchmaker analogy debunked much better than we did it in this episode watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmjHMbkOUM
For those of you who are doubting your faith or just want a good chuckle, I recommend Julia Sweeney’s one-woman play Letting Go of God: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C74-f4ZV-ss&t=1s
Books worth checking out:
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
Outgrowing God by Richard Dawkins
The End of Faith by Sam Harris
Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens
The Portable Atheist by Christopher Hitchens
Breaking the Spell by Daniel Dennett
Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russel
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster by Bobby Henderson
Atheist Universe by David Mills
God: The Failed Hypothesis by Victor Strenger
Youtube channels worth checking out:
Rationality Rules: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqZMgLgGlYAWvSU8lZ9xiVg
CosmicSkeptic: https://www.youtube.com/user/alexjoconnor
Genetically Modified Skeptic: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG1uayRlzz3ahT8ISRdyw7Q
The Atheist Experience: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheAtheistExperience
