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Does the Bible say in the fourteenth Psalm that atheists are fools? And what about Paul’s critiques of the Gentiles in Romans and Ephesians – do these teach that atheism is caused, in all cases, by willful rejection of God, preferring sin to acknowledging him? In this interview we continue discussing themes from Dr. Spiegel’s The Making of an Atheist: How Immorality Leads to Unbelief (kindle), focusing more on the biblical texts he discusses there.
We also hear about
- the seriousness of unbelief as a sin
- whether or not atheism implies that nothing is (objectively) right or wrong
- how Dr. Spiegel became a Christian
- his advice to open-minded unbelievers
- how belief in God has some important cognitive benefits, as illustrated in some famous Psalms
- why do even atheists seem to complain to God, or to feel thankful towards him (or towards the universe, or towards someone)?
This episode is a continuation of podcast 105, which focuses on the main thesis of his book.
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Links for this episode:
- Dr. Spiegel’s home page
- Dr. Spiegel’s page at Taylor University
- Wisdom & Folly blog
- The Making of an Atheist: How Immorality Leads to Unbelief (kindle)
- themakingofanatheist.com – where you can download the table of contents and introduction to the book
- scriptures discussed in this episode
- the ethical philosophies of Aristotle, J.S. Mill, Immanuel Kant
- John Hare, The Moral Gap (kindle)
- Is Goodness without God Enough? (kindle)
- Dr. T. J. Mawson‘s article “Praying to stop being an atheist” (blog post, podcast interview)
- Some previous trinities podcast interviews mentioned in the review quoted at the beginning:
- This week’s thinking music is “Golden” by Little Glass Men.
Is it just me, or do other folks think Dr. Spiegel looks like Donnie Wahlberg?
~Sean
I think Dale’s point about the kid growing up in Sweden was a good one, at that point it’s no longer a philosophical/theological debate it has to go into scriptural exegesis.
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