Arkady

Firstly, even if divinity is not a matter for the natural sciences, it doesn't follow that they idea can't be at all critiqued by empirical investigat...

His beliefs as expressed in his writings do not support the contention that he believes that persons are nothing but the expression of genes. From The...

Yes, I am aware of that view. How does it follow that Dawkins (or scientists generally) believes that persons are nothing but the expression of genes?

I am inclined to agree. However, the non-utilitarian criterion would rule out, for instance, architecture as art (at least as it pertains to the overa...

I'm not sure how my view is simplistic. My worldview distinguishes between "art" and "non-art." Yours claims that virtually everything is art, and is ...

Argument by assertion. You claimed that plumbers were artists, and that this view was generally accepted (which is entailed by the dictionary definiti...

I've already answered: a personal God is a being with mental states, desires, intentions, and one is capable of hearing intercessory prayers and inter...

Nonsense.

You appealed to the "general acceptance" of the dictionary definition, which I had contested. I didn't ask whether plumbers are proud of their work: I...

I didn't argue that the election wasn't "valid." I asked you if you were bothered by the fact that Russia likely interfered in the U.S. presidential e...

Do you believe that it is generally accepted that plumbers qua plumbers are artists when they exercise creativity?

You do realize that there's a difference between "optimality" and "accuracy", correct? You asked for concrete examples, and I gave them. I'm sorry the...

In other words you keep moving the goalposts. Creationists aren't "real Christians," Plantinga isn't the right sort of Christian, etc. Sounds like No ...

You have written an essay to explain it for my benefit? I must have missed that. Could you point it out to me? I am open to it. I even proposed some c...

Why ask Dawkins? You can ask some Christian philosophers, starting with Alvin Plantinga who I quoted earlier in this thread (he is not the "right" sor...

Yes, I recall you saying that. That right there is worrisome, as your entire motivation for joining is tainted by a negative goal, defining yourself b...

Wow, that is a colossal non-sequitur, and once again needlessly impugns my motives by insinuating that I've been posting in bad faith. Whom have I "ba...

Nice try, but we're not going all the way back to the video. I didn't watch the video, but nor did I comment on it, much less condemn it.

Then art describes anything and everything humans do, there can be no distinction between art and non-art, which makes the term useless.

What's the "mark"? A painting or drawing of the Statue of Liberty which adequately resembles the Statue of Liberty is an "accurate" representation of ...

If pointing out obvious differences between radically different spheres of human activity is "petty," then I'm guilty as charged. Then, again, virtual...

Well, there you go. Perhaps Dawkins could likewise claim that the "tenets and main arguments of the classical theists can be adequately communicated i...

I see. So, in other words, you haven't even read the Book of British Birds.

All I can say is, if science qualifies as "art", then virtually any human endeavor so qualifies. A plumber who devises a creative solution to stem a l...

If my understanding is lacking, perhaps it's because my interlocutors' position has not been explained very well. Of course a composer strives to choo...

I asked you if you were bothered by the fact that Russia likely interfered in the U.S. election. Evidently not, as you give the Trumpian response that...

I'm talking about "using" art: i'm talking about creating art. Beethoven didn't have to worry about producing or replicating a particular note: he wor...

I don't know that my definition of art is overly restrictive: in fact I offered no such definition (nor do I plan to, as such a quest can only be doom...

I see. So you will happily quote scathing reviews of a book when said reviews comport with your views on religion and the "New Atheists," but you decl...

Everything is subjective to some degree. Even when scientists verify each others' observations, they do so by means of experiencing the requisite qual...

So you're not bothered by the fact that a foreign power (one run by an authoritarian quasi-dictator, no less, one who seems to enjoy a chummy relation...

The premise of The God Delusion is that God probably doesn't exist. The fact you are speaking of "disproof" shows that you don't even understand the n...

If the Congressional Budget Office is "obscure," then it is so only because of the ignorance of the American public. The CBO is as close as an objecti...

@Wafarer From the supposed neo-Darwinian fanatic Jerry Coyne, I give you his review of the book A Natural History of Rape by Thornhill and Palmer. One...

So strange, some of terms you take offense to, especially given that you seem to have fairly thick skin in general. I recall once, in the old place, I...

Trump "tells it like it is?" If by "telling it like it is," you mean serially lies, misleads, and bullshits, then I agree.

Trump knows what shit looks like, but only against the backdrop of a solid-gold toilet, which probably leads to optical distortions. You know, like th...

This was quite clearly lifted from the underside of a Gatorade cap. Attribution, please.

So, by the Western canon, you are including secular works, both literary and philosophical, I presume? Hmm...the universe as being the sign of a highe...

As I indicated above, even if morality requires an external force to impose it upon us (who, then, imposes it upon the imposers, I wonder?), ceding th...

I don't regard self-directed actions to be particularly morally relevant. I will leave that to those who obsess over squelching the scourge of masturb...

Christianity has a spotty moral record at best, and the Old Testament is likewise extremely morally spotty. I don't know why you would cede the entire...

Please don't tell me you are ceding the entirety of civilized ethics to Christianity? Give me a break. While Christianity has done immense good in the...

Argument by assertion and begging the question. And, as I stated, if God has interacted with the world, there should be signatures of his handiwork. T...

I don't see how Peter Higgs's views are relevant. This doesn't even rise to the level of a fallacious appeal to authority, as Higgs is no more an auth...

I regard this as a gross false equivalency, to regard Dawkins as a fundamentalist on par with the likes of Ken Ham. I don't know why you would regard ...

Yea. There's tons of great stuff about him on YouTube, including book readings, radio interviews, debates etc.

No. It was called Did Jesus Exist?. I agree, though, that Misquoting Jesus was a good book (as are all of Ehrman's books which I've read, which admitt...

Thanks (I think), but for the record, I don't consider us to be adversaries. Sure. But would you not agree that accepting some version of the Trinity ...