Category Archives: News

William Lane Craig debates Austin Dacey: Does God Exist?

Here is the video and summary of a debate between Christian theist William Lane Craig and Austin Dacey at Purdue University in 2004 about the existence of God.

The debaters:

The video: (2 hours)

The video shows the speakers and powerpoint slides of their arguments. Austin Dacey is one of the top atheist debaters, and I would put him second to Peter Millican alone, with Walter Sinnott-Armstrong in third place. This is the debate to show people who are new to apologetics. The debate with Peter Millican is better for advanced students, and that’s no surprise since he teaches at Oxford University and is familiar with all of Dr. Craig’s work. The Craig-Dacey debate is the one that I give to my co-workers.

By the way, you can get the DVDs and CDs for the first Craig-Dacey debate and the second Craig-Dacey debate and the second Craig-Sinnott-Armstrong debate. The Peter Millican debate is not available on DVD, but the link above (Peter Millican) has the video and my summary.

Dr. Dacey’s 5 arguments below are all good arguments that you find in the academic literature. He is also an effective and engaging speaker, This is a great debate to watch!

SUMMARY of the opening speeches:

Dr. Craig’s opening statement:

Dr. Craig will present six reasons why God exists:

  1. (Contingency argument) God is the best explanation of why something exists rather than nothing
  2. (Cosmological argument)  God’s existence is implied by the origin of the universe
  3. (Fine-tuning argument) The fine-tuning of the universe for intelligent life points to a designer of the cosmos
  4. (Moral argument) God is the best explanation for the existence of objective moral values and objective moral duties
  5. (Miracles argument) The historical facts surrounding the life, death and resurrection of Jesus
  6. (Religious experience) God’s existence is directly knowable even apart from arguments

Dr. Dacey’s opening argument:

There are two ways to disprove God’s existence, by showing that the concept of God is self-contradictory, or by showing that certain facts about ourselves and the world are incompatible with what we would expect to be true if God did exist. Dr. Dacey will focus on the second kind of argument.

  1. The hiddenness of God
  2. The success of science in explaining nature without needing a supernatural agency
  3. The dependence of mind on physical processes in the brain
  4. Naturalistic evolution
  5. The existence of gratuitous / pointless evil and suffering

One final point:

One thing that I have to point out is that Dr. Dacey quotes Brian Greene during the debate to counter Dr. Craig’s cosmological argument. Dr. Craig could not respond because he can’t see the context of the quote. However, Dr. Craig had a rematch with Dr. Dacey where was able to read the context of the quote and defuse Dr. Dacey’s objection. This is what he wrote in his August 2005 newsletter after the re-match:

The following week, I was off an another three-day trip, this time to California State University at Fresno. As part of a week of campus outreach the Veritas Forum scheduled a debate on the existence of God between me and Austin Dacey, whom I had debated last spring at Purdue University. In preparation for the rematch I adopted two strategies: (1) Since Dacey had come to the Purdue debate with prepared speeches, I decided to throw him for a loop by offering a different set of arguments for God, so that his canned objections wouldn’t apply. I chose to focus on the cosmological argument, giving four separate arguments for the beginning of the universe, and on the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection. (2) I reviewed our previous debate carefully, preparing critiques of his five atheistic arguments. In the process I found that he had seriously misunderstood or misrepresented a statement by a scientist on the Big Bang; so I brought along the book itself in case Dacey quoted this source again. I figured he might change his arguments just as I was doing; but I wanted to be ready in case he used his old arguments again.

[…]The auditorium was packed that night for the debate, and I later learned that there were overflow rooms, too. To my surprise Dr. Dacey gave the very same case he had presented at Purdue; so he really got clobbered on those arguments. Because he wasn’t prepared for my new arguments, he didn’t even respond to two of my arguments for the beginning of the universe, though he did a credible job responding to the others. I was pleased when he attacked the Big Bang by quoting the same scientist as before, because I then held up the book, specified the page number, and proceeded to quote the context to show what the scientist really meant.

Dr. Craig is always prepared!

New York Democrats admit they covered up 15,000 deaths caused by their decisions

You might remember that during the first year of the Wuh4n Virus, the mainstream media loved to contrast the sensible, effective lockdown policies of New York Governor Cuom0 with the stupid, ineffective stay-open policies of Florida Governor DeSantis. DeSantis actually had much better numbers, but that didn’t stop the media from praising their allies in the Dem0crat party.

Well, well, guess what the truth was?

New York Post reports:

Gov. Andrew Cuom0’s top aide privately apologized to Dem0cratic lawmakers for withholding the state’s nursing home death toll from COV1D-19 — telling them “we froze” out of fear that the true numbers would “be used against us” by federal prosecutors, The Post has learned.

The stunning admission of a coverup was made by secretary to the governor Melissa DeR0sa during a video conference call with state Dem0cratic leaders in which she said the Cuom0 administration had rebuffed a legislative request for the tally in August because “right around the same time, [then-President Donald Trump] turns this into a giant political football,” according to an audio recording of the two-hour-plus meeting.

“He starts tweeting that we killed everyone in nursing homes,” DeR0sa said. “He starts going after [New Jersey Gov. Phil] Murphy, starts going after [California Gov. Gavin] News0m, starts going after [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Wh1tmer.”

In addition to attacking Cuom0’s fellow Dem0cratic governors, DeR0sa said, Trump “directs the Department of Justice to do an investigation into us.”

“And basically, we froze,” she told the lawmakers on the call.

“Because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation.”

THIS WAS NOT AN APOLOGY TO THE VICTIMS OR THEIR FAMILIES:

But instead of a mea culpa to the grieving family members of more than 13,000 dead seniors or the critics who say the Health Department spread COV1D-19 in the care facilities with a March 25 state Health Department directive that nursing homes admit infected patients, DeR0sa tried to make amends with the fellow Dem0crats for the political inconvenience it caused them.

“So we do apologize,” she said. “I do understand the position that you were put in. I know that it is not fair. It was not our intention to put you in that political position with the Republicans.”

The Dem0crats were not concerned with the voters, they were concerned with those evil Republicans. The goal is not to govern well, the goal is to cover-up your mistakes so you stay in power.

Remember when Andrew Cuom0 said “Who cares?” when asked about the people his decisions had killed?

In addition to stonewalling lawmakers on the total number of nursing home residents killed by COV1D-19, Cuom0’s administration refused requests from the news media — including The Post — and fought a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by the Empire Center on Public Policy.

Instead, it only disclosed data on the numbers of residents who died in their nursing homes.

But after state Attorney General Letitia James last month released a damning report that estimated the deaths of nursing home residents in hospitals would boost the grim tally by more than 50 percent, Health Commissioner Howard Zucker finally released figures showing the combined total was 12,743 as of Jan. 19.

Just a day earlier, the DOH was only publicly acknowledging 8,711 deaths in nursing homes.

In a Wednesday letter to lawmakers, Zucker said the total number of nursing home residents killed by COV1D-19 had increased to 13,297. That number jumps to 15,049 when assisted living/adult care facilities are factored in.

The controversy generated by James’ report led to an infamous news conference at which Cuom0 callously dismissed the matter of where nursing home fatalities actually took place.

“Who cares [if they] died in the hospital, died in a nursing home? They died,” he said.

There’s some high-quality atheist morality right there for you. But this is what the people who live in New York wanted, when they elected someone with no demonstrated abilities and no achievements in the areas related to his job. He presented himself a certain way to voters, they found his appearance appealing. They voted for him because they saw elections as a popularity contest. A chance to feel good about themselves, and present themselves a certain way to their peers. This wasn’t like buying a computer. You didn’t need to look at specifications or read reviews. Just choose the one that made you feel good. They paid with their lives.

I expect the same from the decisions of those who voted for Biden / Harris. They don’t see themselves as having to be faithful. They wanted power, and the threat to that power (Republicans) is the only reason why they are in office. If they are incompetent and make mistakes, they won’t do the right thing. They’ll cover it up. Because their real job is staying in power, not serving you.

What’s more important to woke Christians than opposing genocide?

So, by now you have probably heard about how D1sney fired actress Gina Caran0 for disagreeing with people who are intolerant of conservatives. It’s a serious concern. We’ve been seeing a huge increase in progressive insults, silencing, firing, vandalism, violence, attempting murder (e.g. – attack on Steve Sca1ise) and actual domestic terrorism by gay activists (e.g. – F1oyd Lee Corkins). Not to even mention 6LM and Ant1fa domestic terrorism going on for MONTHS AND MONTHS, supported by Democrat politicians.

So, this morning, I asked a Christian friend who is obsessed with Star Wars and supports Democrats what he thought of the canceling of Gina Caran0. He gave D1sney a pass and blamed her for being unwise with her words.

So what did Caran0 say to get herself fired by D1sney?

Newsbusters explains:

It looks like woke Hollywood cancel culture has claimed another victim. Controversial The Mandalorian actress Gina Caran0 has been officially fired from the series according to a recent statement by Lucasfi1m.

[…]On February 10, Lucasfi1m put out word that Caran0 is “not currently employed by Lucasfi1m and there are no plans for her to be in the future.” The statement makes no secret as to the reason behind this decision by noting, “Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.” Shortly after this announcement, the agency UTA also announced that it would officially drop her as a client.

This clearly follows the latest Twitter round of #FireGinaCaran0 after the actress shared an Instagram post on Wednesday likening current political discourse with Naz1 Germany that read:

“J3ws were beaten in the streets, not by Naz1 soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children. Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Naz1 soldiers could easily round up thousands of J3ws, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being J3ws. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”

Keep in mind that D1sney does business with Ch1na. A country that operates concentration camps for about 1 million U1ghur prisoners (ethnic minority). Inside the camps, you have things like forced labor, forced abortion, sexual assault, rape, and indoctrination in communism. They are replacing the U1ghur culture with Ch1nese Communist culture at gunpoint. None of this is a problem for D1sney, though. They do business with Ch1na and thank Ch1na for their help.

Life News explains:

The entire ordeal is hypocritical given D1sney’s filming in communist Ch1na, home to decades of pro-abortion population control.

At the end of Mulan, filmmakers thanked Ch1nese government agencies connected to massive human rights abuses, including forced abortions, in the Xinj1ang province.

These agencies have been linked to a “mass genocide” against the minority U1ghur population. Experts estimate more than 1 million U1ghur Mus1ims have been imprisoned in concentration camps, and an unknown number of mothers have been forced to abort their unborn babies through all nine months of pregnancy.

“D1sney, in other words, worked with regions where genocide is occurring, and thanked government departments that are helping to carry it out,” Isaac Stone Fish wrote in a column at the Washington Post.

D1sney’s thanks included to the “publicity department of CPC Xinj1ang U1ghur Autonomy Region Committee,” which is the Xinj1ang propaganda arm of the Ch1nese Communist Party, the Guardian reports. It also thanked the Public Security Bureau of Turpan, a city in the province where experts say more than a dozen concentration camps are located.

Parts of “Mulan” also were filmed in Xinj1ang in 2018, “the same year Ch1na’s ‘strike hard’ campaign in Xinj1ang ramped up with the construction” of the “re-education,” or concentration, camps, according to the reports.

Now, given a conflict between Gina’s tolerance of conservatives and Disney’s doing business with GENOCIDAL MANIACS WHO RUN COMMUNIST CONCENTRATION CAMPS, you would expect that a “Christian” would side with the person who promotes tolerance. But you’d be wrong.

Regarding politics, you would think that Christians would vote for a president who supported religious liberty and the rights of unborn children. But you’d be wrong about that too. Many low-information Christians spend their time reading low-information charismatic teachers who focus more on life-enhancement than Biblical worldview. They are often more concerned with Trump’s mean tweets than by Biden making deals with 1RAN and CH1NA – human rights violators.

Look:

And that’s the point I wanted to make. I am surrounded by low-information Christians who shovel their money at entertainers who oppose the Christian worldview. Authentic Christians should support free speech, freedom of religion and right to live. Even for Muslim minorities in Ch1na! Even for Mus1ims in 1ran! I disagree with Is1amic doctrines but they shouldn’t be treated like that. We should oppose forced abortion, rape, forced detainment, forced labor, communist indoctrination. We should study economics and support economic systems that lead to free speech, religious liberty and right to life.

Entertainment-obsessed Christians today are so focused on clown-level “Christianity” and charismatic leaders that they have no discernment about policy or stewardship. Faced with a conflict between their own entertainment and basic human rights, they choose their own entertainment EVERY SINGLE TIME. I am sick and tired of being told by Christian idiots with worldly success that my concern for apologetics, history, economics, policy, politics, etc. is a “hobby”. No, that’s what Bible-believing God-fearing Christians read about and care about.

If you know more about Star Wars than you know about politics and policy, may I suggest that you are not good at being a Christian. If you consider apologetics to be a “hobby” on the same level as knowing Star Wars lore, then may I suggest that you are not good at being a Christian. You may be very good at your education. You may be very good at your job. You may be very good at making money. You may be very good at marrying. You may be very good at making children (to be handed off to day care and public schools). BUT YOU ARE NOT GOOD AT CHRISTIANITY. And that’s more important than knowing Star Wars, NBA, NFL, Netflix, etc.