Counter Apologetics

Latest Episodes:

CA129 Universalism Debate: John Buck vs. Emerson Green Jan 28, 2024

Show notes

Returning guest John Buck joins me to debate universalism, eternal conscious torment, and other topics related to hell and the afterlife.

My Playlist on Hell

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CA128 No, math does not prove God Jan 14, 2024

Show notes

I respond to the wildly popular Redeemed Zoomer video about proving God’s existence with math. To see the open hangout that took place afterwards, you can watch the original livestream (unedited with no postscript) on YouTube Linktree

CA127 What’s wrong with the moral argument? Dec 27, 2023

Show notes

We wrap up our series on the moral argument for theism, summarize several problems with the argument famously associated with William Lane Craig, and discuss two other moral arguments for God that are not abysmal failures like the standard moral argument.

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CA126 Euthyphro’s Revenge Dec 24, 2023

Show notes

Today, we continue our series on the moral argument for theism. We discuss the Euthyphro dilemma, Hume’s Law, and explore a back-and-forth between William Lane Craig and Michael Huemer on the question, “Why obey God?” Common Mistakes about the Moral Argument | Majesty of Reason Majesty of Reason – Moral Arguments for God: An Analysis Michael Huemer – Groundless Morals (this chapter is within the volume of Erik Wielenberg vs. William Lane Craig on the moral argument) Metaethics w/ Michael Huemer | Emerson Green Is God Necessary for Morality? | William Lane Craig & Shelly Kagan Moral Objectivity Without God | Russ Shafer-Landau Post-Debate Interview with Justin Schieber of Real Atheology Linktree

CA125 The Moral Argument for God Dec 19, 2023

Show notes

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And morality.

The standard moral argument popularized by William Lane Craig and others goes as follows:

(1) If God does not exist, objective moral values do not exist.

(2) Objective moral values do exist.

(3) Therefore, God exists.

Today, we cast some doubt on the idea that morality is objective only if God exists. We also define some crucial terms, refute a few apologetic canards, and discuss a few ways in which apologists have misrepresented the field of metaethics and failed the audiences that rely on them.

Here’s the overview of the whole moral argument series. Today, in part one, we’ll be covering sections (1)-(5).

(1) Introduction

(2) Defining Terms

(3) Apologetics vs. Metaethics

(4) “Humans are just animals” (Moral agents vs. patients)

(5) The Moral Law Giver

(6) Euthyphro & Intrinsic Value

(7) Hume’s Law

(8) Why Obey God?

(9) Groundless Morals

(10) Two Classes of Moral Realism

(11) God Cannot Provide the Basis for Objective Morality

(12) Good Moral Arguments

(13) What’s wrong with the moral argument?

A few resources mentioned in this episode:

Majesty of Reason – Moral Realism | Dr. Michael Huemer & Dr. Don Loeb

Is God Necessary for Morality? | William Lane Craig & Shelly Kagan

Moral Objectivity Without God | Russ Shafer-Landau

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CA124 Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Conversion to Christianity Nov 21, 2023

Show notes

Ayaan Hirsi Ali recently announced her conversion to Christianity. But has she only adopted a form of cultural Christianity? I examine her reasons for becoming a Christian and draw some parallels between Ayaan and another political convert: Andrew Tate.

I think her reasons for adopting Christianity are quite clearly explicated, even though some Christians have been trying very hard to ignore them. She argues that Christianity can sustain the liberal values of the Enlightenment that she cherishes so deeply. Those values are under attack, she says, from Islam, Russia, China, and woke ideology. Every purely secular strategy tried in response has been insufficient. Christianity, on the other hand, could function as a far more effective weapon against her political enemies in this existential clash. But why does it matter that the west prevails over its cultural and geopolitical foes? Christianity can help with that, too – not just on a civilizational level, but individually as well. It’s the antidote to nihilism, the heart of liberalism, a panacea for wokeness and illiberalism. These considerations together lead her to adopt Christianity, even if she doesn’t think it’s actually true.

Maybe in the future, she’ll affirm something more than cultural Christianity. Until then, I’m honestly inclined to see Ayaan’s “conversion” as further vindication of the death of God: even the converts don’t really believe anymore. A good deal of true believers are apparently so desperate for a morale boost, they’re willing to look past that.

Ayaan’s guiding light is liberalism, the Enlightenment, and western civilization. She is a positively zealous believer in what the west represents to her, and this is absolutely crucial to understanding her conversion to Christianity. She may not believe in the literal resurrection of Jesus, but she believes in western civilization. She believes this is the best way – perhaps the only way – to save it from withering.

Watch this episode on YouTube

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AMA Nov 19, 2023

Show notes

I recently asked for your questions, and I posted my responses on YouTube here. We touch on compatibilism, NDEs, aliens, euthanasia, abortion, death anxiety as an atheist, idealism, incest, Islam, Mormonism, subjectivism, psychophysical harmony, and more. (For those listening via podcast, I left the introduction in to preserve the timestamps for those who want to skip around to different sections.)

00:00 Intro
00:46 Atheistic platonism?
01:22 Why are you gay?
01:30 Are you still a naturalist?
05:47 What kind of compatibilist are you?
09:41 If I settle your debt with PragerU, will you become a libertarian?
10:12 What’s your biggest gripe with physicalism?
12:42 On the abortion debate, when do you think personhood / full moral status begins?
17:22 Do twinks make better philosophers?
17:56 Are you agnostic about anything in philosophy?
19:37 Why are you such a sucker for spooky stuff?
30:49 Who makes those guitar transitions?
32:34 Favorite music?
34:30 Who are some of your favorite Eastern philosophers?
35:03 Which religion would you choose to be true?
40:54 Who are your favorite theist and atheist philosophers?
42:18 Arguing for dualism from mereological nihilism?
45:48 Euthanasia?
48:43 What are your thoughts on each general era of philosophy?
55:00 Thoughts on Jordan Peterson?
58:55 Have you looked into Islam?
1:03:57 Does your mother know you spend so much time talking to strangers on the internet?
1:04:04 What is your opinion on the resurrection?
1:08:23 The best argument against veganism?
1:21:18 What is the primary goal of adopting panpsychism?
1:23:20 Best defenses of objective morality?
1:24:34 How would aliens affect theism and atheism?
1:30:53 Are you a dualist or a physicalist?
1:31:31 Isn’t solipsism simpler than panpsychism?
1:33:37 Thoughts on idealism?
1:35:41 Which political system do you think is right?
1:39:34 Thoughts on metaethical naturalism?
1:41:52 Is incest wrong?
1:45:27 When will you have some Mormons back on your show?
1:46:34 Why atheist and not agnostic? Where can I find good philrel content?
1:49:54 Would necessitarianism defeat fine-tuning and psychophysical harmony?
1:57:38 Do you accept physical causal closure?
2:00:00 How do you explain psychophysical harmony?
2:02:34 Kant’s transcendental idealism and free will?
2:07:56 Are we obligated to refute false beliefs even if they’re meaningful?
2:13:01 Is there any profound nugget of wisdom that Christianity has first or exclusive ownership of?
2:15:17 Analytic/Continental divide?
2:18:05 “Emmerson”
2:19:03 Does the phenomenal powers view weaken psychophysical harmony?
2:22:04 Is time necessary for consciousness?
2:28:49 If you did reconvert, would you be a Christian or a generic theist?
2:32:20 Finite theism?
2:36:22 Top three philosophers who are wrong about everything?
2:37:57 Moral subjectivism with normally functioning humans as the (collective) observer(s) morality is stance-dependent upon?
2:48:52 Are you afraid of death? How do you cope with death anxiety as an atheist?

Linktree https://linktr.ee/emersongreen

CA123 Christian Universalism w/ Andrew Hronich Oct 14, 2023

Show notes

I’m joined by Andrew Hronich, author of Once Loved, Always Loved: The Logic of Apokatastasis. We discuss universal reconciliation, eternal conscious torment, annihilationism, and much else!

Watch the interview here

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Where New Atheist Epistemology Goes (Very) Wrong – Interview on Adherent Apologetics Sep 05, 2023

Show notes

Here’s my appearance on Adherent Apologetics to talk about the recent series of Counter Apologetics episodes on epistemology.

Where New Atheist Epistemology Goes (Very) Wrong | @EmersonGreen | Ep. #259

5 Mistakes Atheists Make About Epistemology

4 Things I Learned About Epistemology

Epistemology playlist on YouTube

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Debate: Is God Finite? Sep 05, 2023

Show notes

Alex Strasser (Protestant) and John Buck (Catholic) debate the merits of finite theism, the view that God is limited in power. Theistic finitism is less vulnerable to the problem of evil than perfect being theism, but are there other trade-offs that make the notion of a finite God less defensible overall?

John is defending the view that strong versions of omnipotence avoid problems of vagueness, arbitrariness, ad hocness, lack of predictive power, and complexity that limited models of God suffer from. John also thinks that a new problem of evil arises that is particular only to limited views of God.

Alex will give a cosmological argument and fine-tuning argument for finite theism, and further argue that omni-theism is not a fruitful research program due to serious issues with coherence and the analysis of omni-properties. Theistic finitism is rarely discussed in the philosophy of religion, and Alex wants to invite us to take finite theism more seriously and to investigate it carefully.

Debate: Is God Finite?

Previous limited god debate

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