The Perfection of Narcissism | William Lane Craig's Epistemic Standard is Absurd!

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Synopsis:

Recently, William Lane Craig gave some advice to a fellow Christian, and in doing so spoke transparently about his epistemology, which deserves a response,

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References:

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#williamlanecraig #christianity

[rationalityrules]

The Reasonable Faith Podcast has issued a response (well, kind of) to criticisms similar to mine here. Rather than admitting that Craig misspoke, and issuing a correction or clarification, in typical Craigian fashion apparently it’s everyone else who's at fault.


Craig and his team make no direct reference to the original post, nor any of the YouTube videos, but we can reasonably infer that they’re referring to Kyle’s question.

As we’ve just seen, in his response to Kyle, Craig made no mention of Reformed Epistemology or basic beliefs. No, he spoke of probability (one in a million), which is typically an inference based on evidence (so not a basic belief) – and if he was issuing a probabilistic basic belief then he in no way made this clear. What’s more, Craig spoke of the emotional rewards of Christianity, including God’s love and eternal life, and then stated that he lowered his epistemic standard due to how “wonderful” and “fantastic” Chrstianity is. Again, there’s no obvious statement (or event hint) of Reformed Epistemology here.

No one is perfect, of course, and this includes Craig, but for him and his team to admit no fault while condescending projecting all blame onto others strikes me as both disappointing and extremely unchristian. It would’ve been nice to see him take some ownership, but at this point I’ve got a properly basic belief that if there’s corrective responsibility to be had, Craig ain’t having it.

[timothymulholland]

He finally confessed that his “inner witness of the Holy Spirit” was just a vague “assurance”. His house of card came tumbling down to a weak Pascal’s Wager! Jesus!

[pedrosigwald]

I like this take. It clearly shows that the only way to sustain god is to believe in it even if that means to deny reality. There's nothing more intellectually dishonest than that.

[Keira_Blackstone]

this is painful to hear. Because I went through the same challenge as Kyle here. Though instead of finding WLC, I found, well. you. and that opened up a much more honest and internally consistent chapter of my life.

[payamhassani]

i love what you do brother, thank you for doing it, being an atheist is hard, when you live in a country like IRAN and you warmth my heart😍

[Faint]

When I was in high school and first starting to come into my deep atheistic beliefs I was initially intimidated by the likes of William Lane Craig. I’d heard so much about these amazingly intelligent theist scholars who studied Christianity for their whole life and must have some good reason for maintaining their belief. I did as much learning as I could about arguments for god and critical thinking skills before delving into their content so I could be properly equipped to understand and dissect the information they present. Then I clicked on a video featuring Craig and… found him just as intellectually bankrupt as the worst creationist. I, a high school kid, was able to find numerous unfounded claims and logical fallacies in every single argument they put forward. I started to wonder if they really didn’t see the flaws in what they said or if they didn’t care and were intentionally dishonest. Watching Paulogia’s interaction with them is what really drove the nail in the coffin for me. They’re so intimidated by this layman ex-creationist YouTuber who did even the most cursory amount of fact checking on them that they have to lie about him, slander him, and constantly misrepresent what he says in order to maintain their arguments. What right does William Lane Craig have to say he’ll only debate atheists with PhDs when he can’t even hold his own against a 16 year old outcast from Mormon Utah?

[stevenbarton]

When I first saw Paulogia's take on this clip, my jaw hit the floor. I couldn't believe he said the quiet part out loud and that he means it! Thanks for your input here RR

[ojsoxpw]

If there's even 1 in a million chance that a new Rationality Rules video will be interesting, it's worth watching.

[mrcnub]

Love how Craig basically says flat out that if Kyle gives up his faith that he was never a true Scotsman, I mean Christian.

Just laying the fallacies bare for the world to see. He's doing more for the cause of religious deconversion than any atheist could hope to. 😆

[kimanaphy]

It's kind of incredible how much the emotional indoctrination still affects me. Listening to Craig talk about how he lowered his standard because of how wonderful God is elicited that trained emotional response in me. You're supposed to hold God above all else, so the implication here is that if you don't lower your standard, then you are not giving God the glory he (supposedly) deserves. That makes you a bad Christian and a sinful person. Sadly, it still almost feels like a good response. I was trained to just shut off all thinking or anything that could oppose or distract myself from holding God as the number one priority.

I remember being told as a Christian that being an atheist entails that you hold something higher than God (which is sinful and apparently makes you deserving of eternal torment). It turns out I do hold something higher: the truth.

[Belinor]

So basically his tough process is: " If you refuse to look at the evidence, they can not contradict you "
This has the same energy as the kids that cover themselves with the blanket because "monsters don't exist if I don't see them" and I find that adorable and clinically concerning at the same time

[esamullajee]

Whenever a discussion like this occurs I'm always reminded of that little book Kierkegaard wrote, "Either/Or" and I'm reminded that as thinkers, we really ought to be more humble. Kyle, I feel you bro, I received a similar bs answer when I began to doubt Islam and here I am 5 years later, a person who doesn't think I should murder my nephew for liking men.

Leaving the faith isn't all bad

[shadowwolf]

Craig really shows us how useless his arguments are. After the point where he admits his epistemology is twisted based on whether or not he wants to believe something; it exposes that nothing Craig has to say, is useful in any way. He has reduced his arguments to the lowest possible denominator; it's all about how it makes him feel, nothing more.

I always thought of Craig, as a used car salesman for god. He Knows his arguments are garbage, he just continues to say he believes and sells books on his empty values to people that aren't able to see his arguments are garbage.

[zacharylehocki]

I am still sort of recovering from the shock of hearing DR. Craig say all this. Not only is he letting down a fellow Christian Kyle in his crisis of faith, he is letting down many of his Christian fans and even his many Atheist critics who think of Craig as being a worthy opponent. That he would say something like this, WTF! Craig

[michaelreindel]

I’ve said it before but, yeah, the Venn diagram of theism (“I’m special!”) and narcissism (“I’m special!”) is almost a single circle… ⭕️

[jljslu]

Craig simply “Said the quiet part out loud.” But as a former Christian, this is of no surprise.

[skidderskunk]

It’s hard to put myself in Kyle’s shoes since I’ve never been religious, but WLC’s response to that question would have infuriated me had I been the one to propose it

[fettbub]

I was in Kyle's position when I was a teenager, and the response to my questions about finding concrete evidence or logical reasoning for my beliefs was similar. I then sought answers in the bible, reading front to back. I lost my faith in the Abrahamic god, and christianity, soon after.

[Sovvyy]

I suspect this is more common than we think. I had a similiar experience growing up talking to a pastor. Great video!

[CyaNinja]

I have watched a handful of videos going over this, and I think I have enjoyed your take the most. I was looking for the "no true Scottsman" fallacy to be called out a bit more explicitly, but how you did it works very well. Bravo!