Dr. Richard Carrier has a PhD in ancient history from Columbia University, but he might be best known for his zealous evangelism for atheism. Dr. Carrier is a historian, not a scientist, yet he is unafraid to wander away from the focus of his professional training to offer opinions on diverse subjects ranging from theology to cosmology and the origin of the universe, or his apparently uninformed thoughts on the chemistry necessary for the origin of life. In a relatively short (11+ minute) video seen by clicking on this link, Dr. Carrier enumerates the following four points to explain why he's not a Christian. His reasons are: God is silent. According to Richard Carrier, God doesn't exist because no messages from this deity have been universally communicated so that every human on earth has a fundamental understanding of what God wants and doesn't want us to do. Dr. Carrier says, "In every culture everywhere, God's gospel would have been preached to them by God Himself, he wouldn't need intermediaries. So we'd be able to confirm, yes, there's this guy called God somewhere, who's giving us all the same information, and we we would what that information is, and we would all still have the freedom to reject that message, or not care about it or whatever, but we would all agree on what that message was, there wouldn't be disagreements on it." Obviously, Dr. Carrier rejects the Bible as being the word of God, in spite of the fact there are (allegedly) 300 specific Old Testament prophesies that were reportedly fulfilled by the life, crucifixion, and resurrection … [Read more...]
Begging for money
Richard Carrier holds a PhD from Columbia University in ancient history. He is a prolific author -- his work includes books with provocative titles such as On the Historicity of Jesus, Proving History, Sense and Goodness without God, Not the Impossible Faith, Why I Am Not a Christian, and Hitler Homer Bible Christ. According to his website, Dr. Carrier is also a very busy and highly sought "world-renowned author and speaker." So naturally I became curious: why is this guy practically panhandling for money on his website that has not one or two, but six different ways you can "Help Support Dr. Carrier?" Seriously? Exactly how many mouths does this man have to feed? Admittedly, the first option we're offered seems reasonable enough -- Dr. Carrier wants you to buy one of his books. As a fellow author with my own books and novels promoted here on this very website, it would be rather hypocritical of me to criticize another author for trying to market his own work. So no problems with option #1. Visitors to his website are also offered a second option, which is buying a book recommended by Dr. Carrier through a link provided. He apparently earns a small percentage of the sale. That also sounds like a fairly decent way to bolster one's income -- something I admit that I wouldn't mind learning how to do myself. The third option we're offered is where things begin to get sketchy -- we are invited to send "Dr. Carrier" a donation via Paypal, ostensibly just because he's a swell guy and needs the money more than we do. But why? For what? Apparently, as we'll … [Read more...]
