{"id":4511,"date":"2011-12-21T14:03:46","date_gmt":"2011-12-21T20:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=4511"},"modified":"2015-03-13T16:54:51","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T21:54:51","slug":"christian-philosopher-takes-on-the-new-atheists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2011\/12\/21\/christian-philosopher-takes-on-the-new-atheists\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Philosopher Takes on the New Atheists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Last week, there was a nice write up on Alvin Plantinga<\/a> in the New York Times<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0Plantinga, whom I\u2019ve long admired, has a new book out, Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0The Times<\/em> throws some well-deserved\u00a0bouquets\u00a0his way:<\/p>\n

Theism, with its vision of an orderly universe superintended by a God who created rational-minded creatures in his own image, \u201cis vastly more hospitable to science than naturalism,\u201d with its random process of natural selection, he writes. \u201cIndeed, it is theism, not naturalism, that deserves to be called \u2018the scientific worldview.\u2019\u00a0\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Plantinga readily admits that he has no proof that God exists. But he also thinks that doesn\u2019t matter. Belief in God, he argues, is what philosophers call a basic belief: It is no more in need of proof than the belief that the past exists, or that other people have minds, or that one plus one equals two.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really can\u2019t sensibly claim theistic belief is irrational without showing it isn\u2019t true,\u201d Mr. Plantinga said. And that, he argues, is simply beyond what science can do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But let me also state, for the record, that I think Plantinga\u2019s defense of Michael Behe and \u201cintelligent design\u201d in his new book is very unfortunate, and possibly undermines his argument entirely.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, there was a nice write up on Alvin Plantinga in the New York Times. \u00a0Plantinga, whom I\u2019ve long admired, has a new book out, Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism. \u00a0The Times throws some well-deserved\u00a0bouquets\u00a0his way: Theism, with its vision of an orderly universe superintended by a God who created […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-philosophy"],"yoast_head":"\nChristian Philosopher Takes on the New Atheists<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Last week, there was a nice write up on Alvin Plantinga in the New York Times. \u00a0Plantinga, whom I've long admired, has a new book out, Where the Conflict\" \/>\n<meta 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