I took a Christian class about atheism. It was worse than I expected.

Stand to Reason University, a Christian apologetics organization, just released the course “Atheism: Bumping Into Reality,” and I decided to take it. The class instructor, Greg Koukl, taught several misconceptions about atheists like “Atheists believe everything came from nothing,” “atheists can’t explain morality,” and “atheism leads to hopelessness and despair.” He also argued for God’s existence using the Kalam cosmological argument, an argument from morality, and an argument involving the soul.

Commiserate with me as I take on STRU’s claims!

Check out my video addressing William Lane Craig saying atheism leads to despair:
“It’s impossible for atheists to do this!” …but It’s Not

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Physicists and philosophers disagree that science has shown the universe had an absolute beginning:

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This video contains 100% therapeutic grade skepticism.*

*This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA

[psychedelicfungi]

The fact that he speaks of "tactics" says it all. He's not interested in having a discussion; he just wants to "win".

[biggiechungus]

"Atheists don't even try to explain the cause of the universe"
The entire field of cosmology: "Am I a joke to you?"

[GodOfBrevity]

Thank you for explaining how “I don’t know” is such a valid and important part of scientific methodology. “I don’t know but I want to study it” launched more ships than virtually any other thought.

[SHCVoodoo]

"If some rocks fall off of a mountain... did they just fall? No, there has to be a faller. Rocks don't just *fall* off mountains. If a gust of wind blows, did it just blow from natural causes? No! There has to be someone there with a hair dryer or really, really big lungs! There has to be a blower!"

[saniwa]

As a European, born and raised in a country with a big, deep historical and cultural background in Christianity yet where sciences are studied without any problem from any religious group, I'm baffled by how a lot of religious people in the US still treat religion and science like before the Enlightenment, or worse before the XVI century.

[Voobit]

I have aphantasia, which means that I lack a minds eye. I can’t picture things in my head. I also can’t hear things, feel things, and smell things that I imagine. In Greg’s world, that means that I wouldn’t have a soul.

[calculated-_-]

That line when he said, “You’re not just a piece of meat floating through the universe!” Oh man, how I would love to say to that man that yes, yes I am just a floating piece of meat that is almost completely insignificant, and I’m happy, I accept my insignificance and live happily anyway

[Cajek]

9:32 "Hey Atheist: Explain all of existence or I win."

[wolfgangbrooks]

You ask, how could he be in Christian apologetics for so long without being able to address the most basic counter-argument. It's easy, his target audience isn't atheists, Christians pay the man to reassure themselves. He doesn't NEED a coherent logical argument.

[Ari]

“Think of the most morally grotesque thing you can think of”

Hmmm, how about telling children they’re going to burn in hell for eternity if they don’t believe in Jesus? That’s sounds pretty morally reprehensible to me.

[MaximilliansHammer]

I think the reason Christian Apologists are so confident is because they've won EVERY SINGLE argument they've ever had with the hypothetical atheists they make up in their heads. An impressive 100% win rate.

[DeveloperChris]

Never ask a christian to prove God exists. instead ask them to prove their version of god exists and enjoy the confusion that follows.

[murderduck]

“Atheists are making a case”

Normally we’re just trying to live and enjoy life, we don’t want to convince you of anything

[javieradorno]

This guy’s argument can be summed up to this:
“The bible story sounds pretty to me. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. There’s no way it can’t be true.”

[ascender]

I'm a Christian myself, so I don't agree with all of your views, but I DO agree with each and every one of your objections to Koukl's invalid and disrespectful approach. I have been trying to communicate to fellow Christians for years that we cannot set up straw men to knock down and then feel like we have "won" something. I am very ashamed of the way many Christians approach conversations with those who disagree, using words like "tactical" and "this is the trick they will try", as though conversations with unbelievers are akin to war and that genuine disagreements are mere "tricks". I do not think that anyone who is not willing to consider that it is in fact THEY who are wrong has any business suggestion that the OTHER is wrong. Great video.

[torrom]

“Tactics” aren’t to be used in a discussion, they are used when you want to “win” and not learn. The ideal outcome from a discussion or argument is both parties learning something and furthering their understandings

[rossgalbraith]

I like what Matt Dillahunty says about the "explanatory" power of theism: you can't explain a mystery by appealing to a larger mystery.

[lesh]

Decades ago I was being preached at by an American colleague. I told them I was an atheist. They than asked me "How do you not kill other people if you don't beleive in god" !

I was shocked by this question and asked them "is the only thing stopping you from killing people your belief in god ?"".

They replied "what else would there be".

I asked them if they knew what empathy was (for starters).

A very worrying conversation. I always think about it when I see these mass shootings in America on the news.

[J.M.A.I]

"This is why you can gas termites but not je-..."

He went all in with that one

[iambuhlockay]

Atheist: “What’s 100, 567 x 6789?”

Christian: “I couldn’t answer that off the top of my head”

Atheist: “Well, I think the answer is 2.”

Christian: “That’s definitely not true.”

Atheist: “But you couldn’t even answer the question, and I could. So I’m right.”

Christian: “But that’s not how math works. Multiplying two positive numbers will always give you a number greater than the two numbers being multiplied.”

Atheist: “Oh, so even though you couldn’t answer the question, you can still use logic to rule out other false answers?”

Christians: “…”