William Grassie - Fallacies in Arguing for God?

Believers in God should be appalled when poor arguments are offered to 'prove' the existence of God. These arguments can be so bad that one might think the proponents are really atheists in disguise. It gives God no credit to defend God's existence with faulty information or fallacious arguments.



William John Grassie is an American theologian and activist who is the founding executive director of the Metanexus Institute.


Closer to Truth presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[GulfsideMinistries]

I don't think in five minutes he said very much. I hope over the course of your interview he actually got around to something meaningful.

[freemindoverleaningheart]

Too good a conversation to be so short!

[MatticusPrime]

Straw man arguments against atheists. We don’t disbelieve in specific definitions of god, we reject any assertion made without sufficient evidence ie all definitions of gods

[valveman]

Read the Bible and you too may become an Atheist...

[frd]

Most theists believe because of "experiences" they attribute to their god.

They rationalize the belief by trying desperately to provide hard arguments, but really they "feel" it's true. They WANT to believe.

Living in reality is too hard for them I guess.

[soubhikmukherjee]

I accept all the arguments except the conclusion. This shows true sign of intelligence 👌 from RLK.

[timaddison]

Grassie gets off on the wrong the foot when he says that "there's a very particular god that atheists don't believe in." He is implying that it's up to atheists to define who/what god is. On the contrary, since it is believers who assert the existence of god, it is up to them to define god. Atheists don't believe in god(s) as defined by believers. It's that simple.

[thomasridley]

When the people who say they know the truth of reality can't even agree on its details. Why should we take any of them seriously ?

[krzysztofciuba]

(Term)"God/YHWH(Exodus 3:14)" is not an object but the principle (of being. events and knowledge)like non-contradiction principle that one cannot deny in order to make an axiomatic system of anythink possible plus communication of it to another person- all in Aristotle, Isaiah II, Avicenna, Maimonides, and St.Thomas Aquinas. More. mathematicians by nature are the most religious sect because they only believe in axioms they cannot prove it like the axiom of choice.

[robroberts]

I don't think it has anything to do with any particular god or belief. But that humans are capable of thinking in such ways. No other creature has been able to do so. Makes you wonder what comes next? What exists all around that you just don't have the mind to pay attention to or even notice?

[Metacognition]

5janks closer to the truth. Your content is always wholesome and nutritious.

[juandeleon]

Interesting how he did not answer the question.

[caricue]

This guy makes a good point. I've noticed that many people who profess a belief in a deity don't really care if your deity is different and contradictory. As long as you profess belief, they consider you part of the club. In other words, if I say that your deity doesn't exist, you take offense, but if I say that I believe in a deity whose existence cancels out the existence of your deity, you don't take any offense and consider us to both be believers. I find this kind of strange, but it seems to be a feature of how the human mind works. I like Phillip K Dick's definition of existence as those things that are still there after you stop believing in them. If your God is real, it really doesn't matter at all if you or anyone else believes in him.

[jamessmith]

Robert's skeptical but he sure is fascinated with the inverse...

[drServitis]

SPOKEN LIKE A TRUE QUAKER.
UNWILLING TO TAKE A STAND OR DEFEND, JUST A MAMBY PAMBY STATEMENT THAT GOD INCLUDES ALL IDEAS OF GOD(s). Meanwhile he attempts to avoid paying federal taxes so as not to contribute to the very military which allows him to be mamby pamby in peace and stability.

[cvsree]

God is real. World is fake. We live is dream like state. Realizing God from a dream like state is not possible. We need to wake up from our illusion with practice of discipline like Yoga.

[ryans]

The person making the assertion holds the burden of detailing the characteristics of said assertion. Declaring that an agnostic or atheist only disbelieves a specific deity is deliberately confusing who should characterize what the deity is or is not. As an atheist, I go about my life unconcerned with the specific details and characteristics of the over 3000 Gods purported to exist. It is only when a believer puts forth their fantastic claims about the supernatural that I turn my focus on the details they are espousing. The only fallacy on display in this video is the way this gentleman presents his argument.

[Jalcolm]

There are not multiple meaning of Zero. It can be used variously, I suppose, mathematically. But it means Naught. Nada. etc. The question of Faith/ Belief/ etc is teleology. Either Time is organized in some way to have a meaningful outcome for Hyumans, or not. There is nothing in science which proposes the need for teleology to settle scientific questioning and investigations. Onward!

[odiupickusclone-]

If you try to imagine, as nearly as you can, what an amount of misery, pain and suffering of every kind the sun shines upon in its course, you will admit that it would be much better if, on the earth as littleas on the moon, the sun were able to call forth the phenomena of life;and if, here as there, the surface were still in a crystalline state.

Again, you may look upon life as an unprofitable episode, disturbingthe blessed calm of non-existence. And, in any case, even thoughthings have gone with you tolerably well, the longer you live the moreclearly you will feel that, on the whole, life is _a disappointment, nay, a cheat_

[setiandromeda]

Is god elohim yahweh or who? Who is god?where is god? How do we know its there or not?are there gods ad levels of superiority?yahweh is 3 person entity ruthless full of temper tantrums genocide human sacrifice et all.may be there could be a god or gods bt are they outside the ambit of the universe?how would we know?are the attributes, we assign gods delusional ad fantastical?what on earth is faith?for faith to be beneficial should it not be based on solid evidence?do we have such?does, the pope have it ad why not all of us?where is the fairness of being judged on what u dont know ad cant fathom?how is religion not synonymous with superstition? is this debate worth anything?