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Atheism/Questions Answered by Expert Jeffrey Eldred
| Subject | Date Asked |
| God, goodness, perished nations | 1/21/2012 |
| Q: as an atheist i'd like to discuss a thing in Abrahamic religions. The Bible and the Quran tell us ... A: this is a reductio ad absurdum argument[1] that I often think in debates about God. Because this ... | |
| Here is Wisdom - God is Logic | 1/11/2012 |
| Q: As i see from your previous topics that you are well versed in the both arguments of God. ... A: You've got a lot to talk about so I've tried to condense my main thoughts and reactions into a ... | |
| the greatest of them all. | 12/1/2011 |
| Q: i believe at the end of time, when judgement day comes, which tests all that should be tested, who ... A: Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, I have been having technical problems with my email. ... | |
| Silence | 9/17/2011 |
| Q: Ave Maria! People who go deep into silence say that they can hear something that could be described ... A: Introduction: You present two concepts here: God as a divine silence and God as a the Word (1 John ... | |
| Atheist - Personality Traits ? | 9/7/2011 |
| Q: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism I want to Know the Human Behavior Characteristics and ... A: Introduction: Very good question. Some of the generalizations that have said about atheists are ... | |
| Hell: fair punishement? | 8/16/2011 |
| Q: Some religions consider that wrongdoers deserve an infinite punishement after their death, because ... A: You bring up an important objection to the argument - God is only as harmed or humiliated as he ... | |
| antony flew | 8/15/2011 |
| Q: i would like to know your view about antony flew and about his believe in a higher intelligent ... A: There seems to be an implicit argument from authority that evangelical Christians and deists like to ... | |
| Questions of Meaning, Purpose and Destiny | 8/9/2011 |
| Q: On the topic of ultimate questions of origins and identity based on religion, science, philosophy ... A: A big question gets a big answer! Although I cannot claim to have the ultimate, uniquely, correct ... | |
| evolution vs adaptation | 6/30/2011 |
| Q: Scenario 1: Recent studies in various cities have discovered that songbirds are changing the way ... A: Definitions: Part of your confusion might be resulting from the fact that there are actually two ... | |
| strange theodicy | 3/22/2011 |
| Q: after the horrible disaster that happenned in Japan, i remember an old debate with a theist about ... A: The Ownership Theodicy: Arguments that argue that the existence of evil is incompatible with God are ... | |
| Do Atheists Exist? | 3/2/2011 |
| Q: I have had the honor of discussing the existence of God with many, many, many people in the past few ... A: Most of your question is explained in my answer to a previous question[1] and I recommend first ... | |
| Theodicy from endurance | 2/16/2011 |
| Q: It's known that getting through WHATEVER hardship we have (even the hardest) by staying mentally ... A: For the benefit of anyone else reading this page I'm going to go ahead and keep linking things that ... | |
| Scientific epistemology | 2/4/2011 |
| Q: What we call as science is essentially stuff that can be independently verified and repeatable ... A: Problem of Induction: What repeatability really depends on inductive reasoning: Something that has ... | |
| What is the perfect religion to join where it's alot of Singing and less praying? | 11/29/2010 |
| Q: What is the perfect religion to join where it's alot of Singing and less praying? I'm at a loss of ... A: I would recommend looking up your local Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church[1]. I have know many open ... | |
| Predestination VS free will | 11/1/2010 |
| Q: Let's imagine I decide to go in the future, in year 2035 more precisely. and I write down in a book ... A: Introduction: I'm not quite sure why this is an atheism question and not a philosophy question but I ... | |
| Christianity Questioned | 9/22/2010 |
| Q: I am Zachary Carter, a student at Peachgrove Intermediate, New Zealand. I am doing a school project ... A: I won't be able to Skype for a variety of reasons. I hope that my answer here is comprehensive and ... | |
| evidence in nature | 9/10/2010 |
| Q: I believe that as a hypothesis, a designer can not be ruled out. My view of God is akin to the ... A: "1. Life on Earth. Our planet is at the perfect distance from the sun to support life on our planet. ... | |
| science and civilisation, and their impacts on religion | 9/8/2010 |
| Q: Will the development of science eventually leave no room for faith and the belief in the unproven? ... A: My answer to all of these questions is "yes and no" - I hope that talking about what I think can be ... | |
| atheism | 9/2/2010 |
| Q: Do atheists in general like buddhism since it is a religion that often speaks about atheistic views ... A: Generally yes. But it depends on the Buddhism. To see what I mean, compare the following three ... | |
| soul-making theodicy (follow-up) | 8/30/2010 |
| Q: I heard about a theodicy stating that "evil (here i only consider natural evil -distaters, ... A: If I am not mistaken, this is the maximum number of follow-ups that AllExperts allows for one ... | |
| soul-making theodicy (follow-up) | 8/30/2010 |
| Q: I heard about a theodicy stating that "evil (here i only consider natural evil -distaters, ... A: "It's easy to notice that those calamities aren't right distributed: for instance some people lived ... | |
| "Soul"-making theodicy | 8/28/2010 |
| Q: I heard about a theodicy stating that "evil (here i only consider natural evil -distaters, ... A: I can't remember if I've linked this one yet, but I do an overview of the Problem of Evil here[1] ... | |
| Kalam argument | 8/19/2010 |
| Q: The theist philosopher William Lane Craig make up the famous Kalam Argument: (1) Anything that ... A: Yes, I think this is a very big problem for Craig's conception of God. To me the only truly ... | |
| Kalam argument | 8/14/2010 |
| Q: The theist philosopher William Lane Craig make up the famous Kalam Argument: (1) Anything that ... A: (EDIT: more strange science on time here: http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jun/in-no-time/ ) Here ... | |
| Monotheism VS polytheism | 8/8/2010 |
| Q: First, thank you for your last answer. This time, let's SUPPOSE that it's certain the Universe is ... A: "But what do you mean by 'arbitrary' about gods of polytheism?": I see now that your home country is ... | |
| Monotheism VS polytheism | 8/7/2010 |
| Q: First, thank you for your last answer. This time, let's SUPPOSE that it's certain the Universe is ... A: Applying Ockham's Razor: Ockham's Razor is best for eliminating the number of rules and assumptions ... | |
| Paradox of Design Argument? | 8/4/2010 |
| Q: we often weaken "God" explanation for the apparent design of this Universe by stating that He has to ... A: It seems to me that Platinga and Swineburne argument from this redefined complexity is nothing more ... | |
| dream | 7/17/2010 |
| Q: "Hi, I am an atheist and I have no faith in any supernatural and non-materialistic forces or ... A: Introduction: I believe that I can answer this question just by introducing you to general tools of ... | |
| Thinking about God | 5/27/2010 |
| Q: What I know of "Atheism" is denial in the existence of God. As a beginner in Philosophy, I get ... A: Intro: First off, I do not take any offense to this question. This is a surprisingly common question ... | |
| Greek definition of atheism | 3/16/2010 |
| Q: The first mention of Atheism, is by the Greeks in the term atheos, which is in reference to Greek ... A: I have to say that I do not have the training in philosophy to fully appreciate your references to ... | |
| Atheism | 3/9/2010 |
| Q: Do atheists Beleive in Satan? A: This is an easyNo. Atheists do not believe in Satan. As far as we are concerned worshiping Satan is ... | |
| inimitability of the Quran | 2/25/2010 |
| Q: The Quran itself claims to be absolutely inimitable (and unsurpassable) in arabic language. muslim ... A: The answer to your question is: -I don't think extraordinary works imply supernatural influence -I ... | |
| nature of atheism | 12/30/2009 |
| Q: What does the atheist claim? I understand this will vary from one individual to another. But in ... A: I did have a good vacation. I'm sorry I left so abruptly, I usually don't get enough hits on my ... | |
| Response to Testimony | 12/21/2009 |
| Q: Without delving too deeply (for now) into the specifics of some of my objections to your atheistic ... A: Alright, so you are looking for a response to your description of the testimony (passion, prestige, ... | |
| nature of atheism | 12/18/2009 |
| Q: What does the atheist claim? I understand this will vary from one individual to another. But in ... A: Well I do feel like Christopher Hitchens goes too far in attributing too much of the crimes of the ... | |
| nature of atheism | 12/18/2009 |
| Q: What does the atheist claim? I understand this will vary from one individual to another. But in ... A: My links are clickable when I go to "view published answer" or "view past answers" but not when I am ... | |
| nature of atheism | 12/17/2009 |
| Q: What does the atheist claim? I understand this will vary from one individual to another. But in ... A: Well David you may happy to know that atheists take the reasonable position that you describe: "It ... | |
| Best of the best for you. | 12/14/2009 |
| Q: What is your best argument, or point, for there not being a Creator? ANSWER: Only One! I guess I ... A: Introduction: Well there is certainly a lot more that has been said (and counter-said) about the ... | |
| Best of the best for you. | 12/10/2009 |
| Q: What is your best argument, or point, for there not being a Creator? A: Only One! I guess I will have to go with the Problem of Evil. Introduction: This is so hard ... | |
| Afraid to own up | 10/21/2009 |
| Q: I have moved from the UK to Barbados, I am married to a bajan man and although he is a believer in ... A: Freedom: This is about human freedom, plain and simple. You lose time, energy, money, and influence ... | |
| living things and non living things | 10/4/2009 |
| Q: Sir, Why there are two kind of things in this world -living things and non-living things. When ... A: "as the science believe that the life has come out of non living things? How did that actually ... | |
| living things and non living things | 10/3/2009 |
| Q: Sir, Why there are two kind of things in this world -living things and non-living things. When ... A: (Links are denoted by [x] in the text and are a reference to the URLs at the bottom of the page). ... | |
| Why is their anything at all? | 9/18/2009 |
| Q: I am not religious at all. I am not an athiest but I am just curious why is their something rather ... A: Note: ([x] is a reference to the links listed at the bottom) EDIT: Lawrence Krauss gave a very good ... | |
| Religion | 8/29/2009 |
| Q: 1. Can you tell the lists of all religions out there? 2. How do emails all experts at once? 3. How ... A: 1. No. I cannot list all religions of the world- no one can. The estimated number of religions ... | |
| Solar eclipse | 7/18/2009 |
| Q: In some religions watrching sun during solar eclispse is considered a sin. To accentuate their claim ... A: OVERVIEW: There is a real danger from goes blind from staring at a partial eclipse, but it tends to ... | |
| intuition and predictions | 7/12/2009 |
| Q: Does science believe in intuition and predictions. Can a person foresee or predict ones future in a ... A: This Egyptian women sounds like a cold reader to me. I've included more links to cold reading ... | |
| intuition and predictions | 7/9/2009 |
| Q: Does science believe in intuition and predictions. Can a person foresee or predict ones ... A: Note: Numbers in square brackets refer to links at the bottom of the page. OVERVIEW: There is a ... | |
| Atheism and Evolution | 7/3/2009 |
| Q: Do you know of any atheists or atheist organizations that are against the theory of evolution and/or ... A: The answer depends on what you mean by the term "atheist", but by conventional usage, the answer is ... | |
Atheism
Answers by Expert:
Jeffrey Eldred
Top Expert on this page
Expertise
I am well versed on the arguments for both sides about the existence of God and am especially aware of the philosophical ramifications and psychological reactions to atheism. Also, if you have a question about atheism as that pertains to Science or Skepticism, I may be an especially good pick. However my knowledge of non-Judeo-Christian religions and Biblical archaeology is generally limited to knowledge about directions to more informative resources.
Experience
I've been an atheist for 10 years now, open about it for 5 years after being raised in a Roman Catholic family. In that time I have held many different philosophical perspective on the subject and had different emotional and psychological reactions to atheism. I have absorbed many internet articles, video debates, atheist publications, and secular podcasts in my process of understanding and supporting the atheist movement. I routinely hold conversations on the subject.
Organizations
William & Mary Students for Science & Secularism, an affiliate of Secular Student Coalition and Center for Inquiry. Essentially this is a small campus group for nontheists and skeptics, in which I meet others like myself, pick their brains on the subject, and work to achieve secular values.
Publications
One article in If Journal, an interfaith publication.
Education/Credentials
I have a BS in Physics and Mathematics from the College of William & Mary
I have very little formal training in philosophy or sociology.
I am pursuing my Ph.D in Physics at Indiana University at Bloomington.
Awards and Honors
I was president of the William & Mary Students for Science & Secularism before graduating.
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