Please note that this post has been moved to True Freethinker where it was posted at this link
Thursday, October 30, 2008
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Quote to Note:
>“Individuals are free to choose, within the limits of humanistic morality.”
—Dan Barker
Purpose of this blog
This blog, “Dan Barker - One of America's Leading Atheists,” has as its express purpose to consider and respond to various statements made by Dan Barker. This blog was established in Jan. 2008.
We consider various aspects of Dan Barker’s assertions from his views on human dignity to ethics and from his activism for Freethought to his besmirching of the Bible.
Dan Barker appears to base many of his arguments on his supposed authority as an ex-preacher turned atheist. These arguments from authority may go quite a ways towards convincing the uninformed that the Bible is not to be trusted. However, as we chronicle in this blog Dan Barker’s attempts to discredit the Bible only end up discrediting him as every attempt he makes exposes is own lack of knowledge of the Bible. Ex-preacher or not, Dan Barker may be popular but falls into various fallacies in his zeal as an activist for his worldview.
We consider various aspects of Dan Barker’s assertions from his views on human dignity to ethics and from his activism for Freethought to his besmirching of the Bible.
Dan Barker appears to base many of his arguments on his supposed authority as an ex-preacher turned atheist. These arguments from authority may go quite a ways towards convincing the uninformed that the Bible is not to be trusted. However, as we chronicle in this blog Dan Barker’s attempts to discredit the Bible only end up discrediting him as every attempt he makes exposes is own lack of knowledge of the Bible. Ex-preacher or not, Dan Barker may be popular but falls into various fallacies in his zeal as an activist for his worldview.
I don't know what it is with you and your fascination with child-face cannibalism but...
ReplyDelete“Uuuuuuummmmmmmmm, yeeeeaaaaah, I’m gonna base my ethics upon the real world and leave you to you sci-fi contemplations of alien rape voyeurs. Rape has always been, is now, and will always be absolutely immoral!”
Emotionally charged outburst may be exciting useful for inciting those who already agree with you but they are not the stuff of logical debate.
Thanks for the comment.
ReplyDeleteWhat would impress me is if you could muster the ability to write at least one sentence condemning Barker’s assertion that rape is not absolutely immoral.
I am not sure that I would designate my statement as emotional but as pure and utter flabbergastion.
aDios,
Mariano
Mariano, I love how you are dissecting the leading atheists of the day. Barker does allow for some crazy exceptions. I think it would have been interesting if the questioner would have replied: "I know some aliens too. They also want to destroy the planet, but instead of requiring a rape, they want you, Dan Barker, to cannibalize your family while they are still alive. Would you do it?" I wonder what his answer would have been... BTW, to the poster, this is the tried and true technique of argumentum ad absurdum (showing the falsity of an argument by stretching it to the point of absurdity).
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, I think kuhlmann has a point. In Barker's example the rape is the lesser of evils (however he defines evil in his worldview), and is therefore not good in of itself. Since he defines evil as unkindness, rape qualifies as evil by being at the very least, unkind. We, of course, would seek to mitigate the evil by asking for a volunteer victim (a martyr) who would choose to suffer in order to save the world. Logically, Barker cannot have any sort of moral system since it would commit the is/ought fallacy.
Keep up the great work! Dios te bendiga, Rick
Rick W,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment.
On May 2nd at Atheism is Dead (the contra atheism blog which I still maintain) I will post the last part of a series on rape in the Bible which will feature atheist’s opinions about rape—where Barker is quoted as per the above statement—disturbing.
aDios,
Mariano