Obnoxious Apologists and Those Who Counter Them

[thoughtful]

Greg Koukl is an apologist who unabashedly teaches manipulative ways to get a conversation to go the way he wants it to go. His book is even called Tactics, and he's just as slimy as Ray Comfort.

Here, Professor Plink makes his dishonesty clear:

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[thoughtful]

Here's more of Greg Koukl cheerfully explaining his dishonest manner of arguing, without a trace of guilt about it, this time urged on by Eric Hovind, and analyzed by Paulogia:

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[thoughtful]

This is a year old, but I just found it, and it made me laugh:

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[thoughtful]

If you were wondering just what is in the Prager U crap that can now be part of public school curriculum in Florida, Valkai shows some of it at the end of this video.

Warning - it's horrifying and enraging.

 

[LooseMoose]

I just found this thread and I love it. Thank you for posting all the videos. 

[thoughtful]

1 hour ago, LooseMoose said:

I just found this thread and I love it. Thank you for posting all the videos. 

You're welcome. Watching some of these folks has become a great comfort in my life, as well as teaching me so much about science, theology and lots of other things.

The current crop of skeptics and atheists on YouTube includes a lot of people who aren't just looking for "gotcha" moments of "owning" theists, but helpful, calm exchanges of ideas.

Valkai, as it happens, is a loud and proud anti-theist. I'm fine with that, as a non-believer who thinks all supernatural belief is potentially problematic.

But I also think most non-fundy believers could be comfortable listening to him, because he's such a cheerful, enthusiastic teacher, and so in love with nature and science. I think that most theists would have no problem with the video above, for example.

[thoughtful]

Logicked takes on a video that tries to defend the Tower of Babel story by comparing linguistic evolution to biological evolution, and gets everything hysterically backwards.

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[thoughtful]

This one is not countering an apologist - Harmonic Atheist's channel takes a whole other approach. He has people who have come away from religion tell their stories. Sometimes he hardly says a word himself, sometimes he asks some questions.

This one was interesting for me because it really highlighted how earnest, intense young people, who want to learn and do research, can get caught up in seeking for something that isn't there.

So many of them were not only raised with a particular dogma, but with the idea that there must be a Great Single Answer (usually supernatural). Disappointed by the religion of their upbringing for one reason or another, they keep changing their beliefs, only to find yet another thing that they think is The Way, then another, then another.

If they'd just ask the mice about Life, the Universe and Everything, they would know the answer is 42. The mice just need to know what the question is.

It was sad and maddening to listen to how he just kept seeking and seeking, declaring himself ready to go out and teach others (and doing so), then finding a flaw in his current "Truth" and moving on to yet another.

It's a real insight into how some of the super arrogant bro-dudes who know it all are created (OK, I know there are women like this, as well, but there seem to be more guys). He just happened to keep seeking and was trying to be intellectually honest, so he kept dumping his old beliefs and moving to new ones, rather than getting stuck on one dogma, as some of them do. Then he'd be as passionate about the new one, and insistent that it was The Only Way, as he was about the previous ones.

He seems less arrogant now, but at the end, he mentions that he's still holding on to a bit of woo - reincarnation.  He said he's heard of some studies, and thinks it might have  scientific merit (I don't).

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I've listened to some other Harmonic Atheist interviews, and the sense of wasted time and effort, and pain at being rejected by family, can be just heartbreaking, especially when the person telling their story just wanted to be a good person and do the right thing.

 

[thoughtful]

This one is, again, not someone countering an anti-science apologist, but I want to post it because it's so interesting.

Drew starts with a brief chat with Bart Ehrman, then interviews several Christian scholars about biblical texts on sex, gender, marriage and sexuality.

It's long, and they each get very detailed - I watched it with breaks between each interviewee. But it was really fascinating - I heard a lot that I'd never heard before, and that's getting pretty rare, at this point.

Highly recommend!

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Edited September 2, 2023 by thoughtful
riffle

[thoughtful]

Wilkerson of First Baptist Church in Hammond IN issued an apology! This is something I've been hoping an IFB leader would do for years. After all, they teach lies, abuse children and oppress women. They've done a lot for which they should apologize.

Don't get too excited, though, and don't scroll down to the comments - let Mehta guide you through just how ridiculous this is:

 

[thoughtful]

It seems a sermon is making the rounds of the dudebro preachers, trying to sound knowledgeable about and, at first, even sympathetic to, transgender young people. But it turns sickening as it goes on.

Belief it or Not does a good job of taking it down, as well as showing us how a bunch of these manly men are all copying pretty much the exact same sermon.

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by thoughtful

[thoughtful]

On 3/8/2023 at 7:20 PM, thoughtful said:

OMG! Have any of you heard of the movie Gramps Goes to College, or the mind behind it, Donald James Parker (I really want to put quotes around the words movie and mind)?

Prepare yourself, and I suggest that you find 50 minutes of your day, today or soon, to watch this video (I know, I'm on a Forrest Valkai kick, but trust me, this is gold).

Make sure you are not eating, drinking or in need of a bathroom break while watching.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

More on the ego behind this masturbatory masterpiece:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5583307/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr1

Donald may need his own thread here.

Forrest heard from the creator and star of this epic film, and invited him to discuss evolution. He just uploaded the video. I've only watched a few minutes so far, but thought I'd post it here.

I thought I had the world's worst case of MustTeachitis, but I think Forrest's got me beat.

 

Edited February 28 by thoughtful
riffle