Religion

Religion and the Verdict of History [Theist vs. Atheist series]

[This column is a part of the Theist vs. Atheist series debate between Stephen Hicks and John C. Wright. This is Hicks’s response to Wright’s column. Here are the links to other columns in the series.] To evaluate religion’s track record we need to specify our evaluative benchmarks and identify whether we are evaluating religion generically […]

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Is Political Evil Built into Religion? [Theist vs. Atheist series]

[This essay is a part of the Theist vs. Atheist debate series between Stephen Hicks and John C. Wright. Here Hicks responds to Wright’s previous column. Here are the links to other essays in the series.] We live in good times for religion and politics. The great majority of us are free to practice or not

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A religião é boa ou má para a política? [Católico vs. Ateu, Parte 6, Portuguese translation]

[This is a Portuguese translation of Part 6 of the Theist vs. Atheist debate series between Stephen Hicks and John Wright, originally published in English at EveryJoe.] A religião é boa ou má para a política? Por John C. Wright Tradução de Matheus Pacini Revisão de Mateus Bernardino A questão dessa semana é se a

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The Watch and Watchmaker analogy for the existence of a god

[The text of William Paley’s famous analogy is below (and here is a PDF version). Here is my video-lecture discussion of the traditional Argument from Design. And my article-length discussion of the argument is posted here.] William Paley The Watch and the Watchmaker [From Natural Theology, or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the

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Making Life Meaningful without Religion [Theist vs. Atheist series]

[This column is a part of the Theist vs. Atheist debate series between Stephen Hicks and John C. Wright. Here Hicks responds to Wright’s article. And here are the links to other columns in the series.] The quest for a meaningful life comes naturally to us. As infants we delight in exploring the world and developing

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On Natural Morality and Religious Amoralism [Theist vs. Atheist series]

[This column is a part of the Theist vs. Atheist debate series between Stephen Hicks and John C. Wright. Here Hicks responds to Wright’s column about whether religion is essential to ethics.] In my judgment, issues of morality are the most difficult in philosophy. They are intellectually challenging, as everything about the human condition is

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No Reformation for Islam, Please [Good Life series]

[Originally published at EveryJoe.com.] Many smart people — including Thomas Friedman in The New York Times, Naser Khader in Newsweek, John Lloyd in The Jerusalem Post, Ayaan Hirsi Ali in The Wall Street Journal — are hoping that the Reformation will come to Islam. Some are calling for an Islamic Martin Luther. Sorry, but no.

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On the Proofs of God’s Existence [Theist vs. Atheist series]

[This column is a part of the Theist vs. Atheist debate series between Stephen Hicks and John C. Wright. Here Hicks responds to Wright’s arguments for the existence of God. And here are the links to other columns in the series.] As we enter the third round of our debate series, our first major point of

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