KATHOLON
The Writings of Dawson Bethrick
E-mail: sortion@hotmail.com
General Contra-Theism
Aquinas' 'Five Ways' and the Primacy of Consciousness (14 kb) - This short essay shows how Aquinas' famous arguments for the existence of a god do not adequately deal with the issue of metaphysical primacy and can only be accepted on the basis of the primacy of consciousness view, which is false.
Christianity and Circular Reasoning (10 kb) - An open letter to the webmaster of the Who Is Jesus? website considering the essay What if Christians are guilty of circular reasoning?Hearn's "Objective Morality": A Critique (49 kb) - An interaction with Mr. Brian Hearn's essay Objective Morality, which attempts to show that Christian morality is objective.
A Response to Ron Rhodes (78 kb) - A critique of Rhodes' Strategies for Dialoguing with Atheists, which is supposed to be a kind of primer for Christians who want to reinforce their low opinion of atheists.
The Primacy of Existence: A Validation (16 kb) - A brief guided tour of the conscious experience which explains and demonstrates the truth of the primacy of existence principle. (Originally posted on the Apologetics.com Discussion Forum.)
Bahnsen's Poof (31 kb) - An examination of Greg Bahnsen's non-argument for the existence of God presented in his opening statement at his over-celebrated debate with atheist scientist Gordon Stein in February, 1985. (Originally published on the All Bahnsen List in May 2004; reproduced on Katholon in memoriam of the would-be debate on its 20th anniversary.)
The Evader (23 kb) - A short one-act play illustrating the essence of my dialogue with presuppositional apologist Paul Manata that resulted after it was pointed out to him that Bahnsen never really did put forth an argument in his debate with Dr. Gordon Stein.
The Contra-Pike Files (481 kb) - All my posts (140 pages) to Christian apologist Peter Pike's Calvin Board when he was hosting it back in the spring of 2003. The Calvin Board is no longer up, and Peter has recently confirmed to me that there is no archive of the messages that were posted to it available. But at least my work did not go into a void. (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
Reckless Apologetic Presumptuousness (43 kb) - Originally posted to my blog Incinerating Presuppositionalism on September 24, 2005, this essay details the vast differences between the Jesus of the Pauline letters and the Jesus of the gospels, and shows how even tutored Christian apologists seem completely oblivious to them. Features a list of details taken from the gospels that are nowhere even hinted at in the apostle's many letters.
Gods and Square Circles (253 kb) - My response to Jason Dulle, who sought to take me to task for comparing belief in god with belief in square circles.
Bahnsen on "Knowing the Supernatural" (424 kb) - Originally published in 18 installments on my blog, this is a comprehensive examination of the 31st chapter of Greg Bahnsen's book Always Ready, "The Problem of Knowing the 'Super-Natural'." Never again shall Christian apologists accuse non-believers of an "unjustified bias" against supernaturalism and think they can get away with it. Also available in PDF format
Stolen Concepts and Intellectual Parasitism (45 kb) - Originally published on my blog, this paper discusses the differences between the fallacy of the stolen concept and the vice of intellectual parasitism, and their twin roles in Christian theism.
Dodging the Subject-Object Relationship (33 kb) - Originally published on my blog, this paper examines how Christian theism attempts to evade the implications of the subject-object relationship which provides the foundations of human knowledge.
The Problem of Divine Lonesomeness (61 kb) - Originally published on my blog, this essay points out two fatal implications of the notion of a creator deity like that described by Christianity.
Would an Omniscient Mind Have Knowledge in Conceptual Form? (35 kb) - Originally published on my blog, this essay argues for the conclusion that an omniscient mind would not have its knowledge in the form of concepts.Pike on Concepts and Omniscience (32 kb) - Originally published on my blog, this essay is a comprehensive interaction with Peter Pike's reaction to my essay Would an Omniscient Mind Have Knowledge in Conceptual Form?.
Pike's Pique (39 kb) - Originally published on my blog, this paper interacts with another reaction by Peter Pike to my essay Would an Omniscient Mind Have Knowledge in Conceptual Form?. It just gets more embarrassing for Mr. Pike at this point.
MorePiqued Pike (32 kb) - Originally published on my blog, this paper interacts with yet another reaction by Peter Pike to my essay Would an Omniscient Mind Have Knowledge in Conceptual Form?. With this installment, Pike seemed to have learned his lesson and stopped embarrassing himself.The Role of Imagination in Christian God-Belief (35 kb) - Originally published on my blog, this essay explores the fundamental role which the believer's imagination plays in his religious experience and worldview.
The Moral Uselessness of the 10 Commandments (17 kb) - Another essay which originally appeared on my blog, showing why the 10 commandments, so often cited by Christian apologists as an example of the Christian worldview's "authority" in matters pertaining to morality, are morally useless to rational individuals.
Basic Contra-Theism (26 kb) - Also originally appearing on my blog, this is an easy-to-follow primer on fundamental reasons why it is irrational to suppose that the universe was created by a supernatural consciousness.
Could the Christian God Be Rational? (15 kb) - Originally published on my blog, this paper explores the common Christian claim that the Christian god is rational. I point out several clear reasons why this could not be the case, given the other attributes which the Christian god is said to possess.
Do Objectivists Try to "Define God Out of Existence"? (35 kb) - First published on my blog, this article interacts with the claim, repeated by a Christian apologist, that, from his point of view, Objectivists appear to be "defining" the Christian god out of existence. I explain why this is not the case, and also point out some delicious counter-points in the meantime.
The Inherent Subjectivism of Theism (66 kb) - In this paper which comes from my blog, I present a solid argument for why theism is inherently subjectivism (just as the title suggests!). I include a critique of my argument written by a Christian, as well as my rejoinder to his criticisms.
How Theism Violates the Primacy of Existence (170 kb) - First published on my blog here, this is a companion piece to The Inherent Subjectivism of Theism. This paper explains exactly how theism violates the metaphysical primacy of existence, a premise which must be assumed even in denying it. In this very sense, theism inherently rests on a fundamental instance of the stolen concept fallacy.
Does Logic Presuppose the Christian God? This five-part essay examines the presuppositional case for the view that logic presupposes the Christian god, finds that case to be insurmountably wanting, and offers four fundamental reasons why the logic could not presuppose the Christian god.
Rival Philosophies of Fact (67 kb) - Cornelius Van Til writes: "I would not talk endlessly about facts and more facts without challenging the unbeliever's philosophy of fact" (A Christian Theory of Knowledge, p. 293). In this paper I set the Christian "theory of fact" against that found in Objectivist philosophy side by side, giving both a fair hearing and determining which is the only theory which "makes sense."
The Imaginative Nature of Christian Theism (61 kb) - Known as "the Dreadful Thirteen" to Christian believers, this paper details 13 devastating reasons showing why Christian theism is inherently based on imagination.
A Critique of Sye Ten Bruggencate's www.proofthatgodexists.org (96 kb) - A brief but comprehensive examination of Christian apologist Sye Ten Bruggencate's website which seeks to prove the existence of the Christian god.
Some interactions between myself and Sye back in the fall of 2011:Bullshit
Waiting
Bothering
Dawson Takes On CARM:
CONTRA CARM (index) - Seven articles which comprehensively demolish several essays found on the Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry website.
Also see...
Incinerating Presuppositionalism: (index) Archives of my blog (in PDF format).
Dawson's Posts
(index) - Click here to read my 67 posts to the Theism vs. Atheism Web
The Cartoon Universe of Christianity (index) - Click here to read the transcripts of all 11 of my blog articles on the cartoon universe analogy.
RazorsKiss on the Christian God as the Basis of Knowledge (index) - A thorough interaction with one presuppositionalist's attempt to defend the view that the Christian god is the necessary precondition for knowledge.
Resourses on the Problem of Induction (index) - A series of articles devoted to David Hume's problem of induction, the nature of causality, and the failure of the presuppositionalist attempt to use this problem against non-Christians.
The Argument from Metaphysical Primacy: A Debate: An indepth exchange between myself and amateur apologist Paul Manata concerning an argument I presented proving that Christianity assumes subjectivism in its metaphysics. Watch as Mr. Manata tries to wriggle out of some very persistent tight spots.
The Axioms and the Primacy of Existence: A comprehensive rebuttal to amateur apologist Paul Manata who sought to employ a most perfidious disunderstanding of the relationship between the axioms and the primacy of existence principle as a means of critiquing Objectivism and its rejection of theism.
Contra Dusman: My posts to a thread in the Unchained Radio forums.
Bolt's Pile of Knapp: My interaction with Chris Bolt's reaction to my blog The Uniformity of Nature. Bolt, a presuppositionalist apologist, found it necessary to post a response to my position on the uniformity of nature because my position poses a lethal threat to the presuppositionalist tactic of challenging non-believers to "account for" the uniformity of nature in the interest of answering David Hume's "problem of induction."
Paul, the Historicity of the Gospel Jesus, and Early Non-Christian Testimony: My comments in a thread which developed in response to Bart Willruth's blog Where is the 800 pound gorilla? on Debunking Christianity in which I defend my own take on the legend theory against the challenge which early non-Christian testimony is supposed by Christians to bring against it.
A Reply to Anderson: On Realism, Conceptualism and the Objectivist Theory of Concepts: My response to James Anderson's comments which he posted to my blog Frame's Summary of Van Til's OMA. In his ignorance of the Objectivist theory of concepts, which my analysis of John Frame's summary of Cornelius Van Til's "One-Many Argument" assumes, Christian apologist James Anderson sought, unsuccessfully, to uncover a significant internal inconsistency between Objectivism's primacy of existence principle and the understanding of "universals" assumed in my blog entry.
Dustin Segers' Failed Attempt to Refute the Primacy of Existence: In late 2011, nearly six years after an extended interaction with him, Christian apologist Dustin Segers published an entry on his blog Grace in the Triad (now defunct) in which he claimed to refute the Objectivist principle of the primacy of existence. In fact, he had initially presented his would-be refutation on a podcast with the folks at Fundamentally Flawed (also since defunct). Clearly Segers had not retained anything he may or could have learned from our January 2006 conversation, for his recent attempts to refute one of Objectivism's distinctive fundamentals was so miserably disgraceful that he quickly removed his blog entry from the internet. Yes, it was that bad. You can check out all the juicy details - and see Dustin's original blog entry! - right here on Katholon.
The Transcendental Nature of Presuppositional Argument: My transcription of section 7.4 of Greg Bahnsen's Van Til's Apologetic: Readings & Analysis, pp. 496-529.
In the beginning...: Undoubtedly this picture probably best represents what happened when men began to believe in a god.
Calvinism vs. Arminianism in the New Testament: On page 19 of his book The Mind of the Bible Believer, Edmond Cohen lists 133 verses "clearly militating in favor of Calvinism" and 23 verses "clearly militating in favor of Arminianism." On this page you will find those collections of NT verses in all their glory
The "Maverick Philosopher" on Objectivism: An internet writer who calls himself "the Maverick Philosopher" wrote a series of blogs criticizing brief statements made by Ayn Rand and Leonard Peikoff. In this article, an edited version of a comment I made to this blog of mine in January 2009, I review those criticisms.
The "Hell Being Community" at Wat Phai Rong Wua: My photographic documentary of a hell "theme park" at a large temple in Suphanburi province, Thailand. These photos were taken in February of 2009. This is what "Buddhist hell" is apparently supposed to be like.
John Calvin vs. Ayn Rand Or, The Theological Theatrics of John Robbins: Journalist Jim Peron's review of John Robbins' book Without a Prayer: Ayn Rand and the Close of Her System.
Has Objectivism Been Refuted?: Philosopher Bryan Register's review of John Robbins' book Without a Prayer: Ayn Rand and the Close of Her System.
Return to: