Michael Huemer, philosopher at U.C. Boulder, joins me for a wide-ranging discussion of arguments for and against the existence of God, with special focus on his new argument for atheism: the impossibility of an infinite God. Check out Mike’s book, Knowledge, Value, and Reality: A Mostly Common Sense Guide to Philosophy.

Video of this interview is available on YouTube.

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EPISODE CHAPTERS:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:42 Huemer’s research on consciousness

00:05:42 Could LLMs be conscious?

00:08:11 Physicalism and consciousness

00:14:36 Why physicalism became so popular

00:17:16 Metaphysics and scientific evidence

00:21:01 Could God be empirically detected?

00:23:37 Why Huemer is agnostic

00:25:48 Philip Goff’s limited God

00:27:23 Can a limited God explain evil?

00:36:03 Divine psychology and skeptical theism

00:38:37 Can theism make predictions?

00:46:54 Scientific confirmation and theistic arguments

00:51:59 Which theistic arguments fail?

00:53:14 The ontological argument

00:58:06 The modal ontological argument

01:01:03 Necessary beings and modal intuitions

01:07:23 The Kalam cosmological argument

01:08:54 Could time have a beginning?

01:12:22 Can God create time?

01:18:22 Cosmology and the Big Bang

01:23:48 Actual and potential infinities

01:26:00 Huemer’s new argument for atheism

01:29:28 Divine infinity and omniscience

Is it even possible to have empirical evidence for God's existence? What if the stars realigned to spell out "I exist! Sincerely, God." Wouldn't THAT count as evidence for God? It seems that the answer is yes. But then, various objections to arguments for God seem to imply that even this extravagant, awesome evidence for God would not be any evidence whatsoever for theism. To many philosophers, that implication implies that these objections prove too much, and must therefore fail. In this debate, eight philosophers go head-to-head over these fascinating questions.

Video of this interview is available on YouTube.

To support the channel, do please oh please consider donating, either via PayPal or Buy Me a Coffee.

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EPISODE CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Introduction

00:02:10 Miles Donahue’s opening statement

00:07:46 Brian Cutter’s opening statement

00:13:16 Noah McKay’s opening statement

00:18:30 Travis Dumsday’s opening statement

00:23:30 Paul Draper’s opening statement

00:29:15 Alex Malpass’s opening statement

00:35:18 Nathan Bray’s opening statement

00:40:41 Kevin Scharp’s opening statement

00:47:15 Miles Donahue’s cross-examination

01:03:22 Alex Malpass’s cross-examination

01:20:15 Brian Cutter’s cross-examination

01:33:41 Nathan Bray’s cross-examination

01:49:03 Paul Draper’s cross-examination

02:01:21 Travis Dumsday’s cross-examination

02:10:54 Kevin Scharp’s cross-examination

02:24:49 Noah McKay’s cross-examination

Matthew Vines, author of God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships, joins me to discuss the revised version of this now classic texts. Has Matt has changed his mind on any major issues? What, in the end, would Matt conclude if he determined that the Bible did prohibit same-sex relationships? Listen to find out!

Video of this interview is available on YouTube.

To support the channel, do please oh please consider donating, either via PayPal or Buy Me a Coffee.

Follow me on X because you’re awesome.

EPISODE CHAPTERS:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:00:05 What changed in God and the Gay Christian

00:03:28 Endnotes, footnotes, and writing for different audiences

00:05:02 How Matthew Vines’s views have changed

00:05:51 Romans 1 and female same-sex relations

00:07:48 Arsenokoitai, Malakoi, and Paul’s meaning

00:10:22 Same-sex marriage in the biblical world

00:13:45 To whom is the book written?

00:15:06 Expressive individualism and affirming theology

00:19:37 How the American church has changed

00:20:23 Affirming churches without guardrails

00:25:45 Conservative backlash and slippery slopes

00:27:55 Being between Christian and queer spaces

00:29:11 Queer theory, polyamory, and sexual orientation

00:30:55 Transgender Christians and biblical interpretation

00:34:48 Gender dysphoria, transition, and Christian ethics

00:39:08 What if the Bible prohibited same-sex marriage?

00:49:44 Moral intuition, inerrancy, and Jesus

01:00:05 Biblical authority, inspiration, and inerrancy

01:08:21 Where evangelical churches may be headed