Psychology of Atheism part 2 of 2 apologetics

a lecture by N.Y.U. psychology proffesor Paul Vitz showing how the argument that religion is caused only by psychological factors is actually a 2 edged sword which can easily be applied to atheism , better than to religion

1). here is a link to the Veritas forum web page with hundreds of free audio and video of christian proffesors defending christianity . outstanding resource in my
opinion.

http://www.veritas.org/media/

2).Here is the Amazon dot com link to Paul Vitz book FAITH OF THE FATHERLESS.

http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Fatherless-Psychology-Paul-Vitz/dp/1890626252/ref...

4). Here is a related topic , showing another factor predicting atheism/agnosticism is Aspergers sydrome here is a 2011 pyschology journal article showing this, many of us in the apologetics community reliazed this pattern long ago. atheists would like you to think the link is stronger between intelligence and atheism rather than psychological abnormality and atheism but that now remains unproven.

http://csjarchive.cogsci.rpi.edu/proceedings/2011/papers/0782/paper0782.pdf




5). Here is a recent paper by Oxford university researchers showing children are born with a belief in God not atheism, as weak or negative atheists try to assert to make their position look rational.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/3512686/Children-are-born...

Here is my own personal web page with many apologetics Links.

http://www.freewebs.com/grandconjunct/

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[blaziermissy]

Watch "why we believe in gods" by Dr. Andy Tompson. It concerns the latest research in neuroscience.

This man is religious, and hasn't applied the scientific method to his analogies. Obvious Pseudoscience.

[grandconjunct]

Yes Tompson is a devout religious Atheist who has not truly applied the scientific method to his theory I agree!

To Bad secularist neuroscientists are terrified to do major studies scanning atheist brains ? could it be they know Atheism is a brain defect ?

He does not show why God is irrational , He assumes it is then fallaciously looks for a brain scan to "explain" why the religious hold "irrational views like god "

Neuroatheism the mapping of the atheists fallacies onto the frontal cortex!

[parafleet]

religions are a great way for haters to hate.

religions are a great way for lovers to love.

have you ever known a person who hated, based on rules from their religion? have you ever known a person who loved, based on rules from their religion? what are..a hating atheist and a hating member of a religion? they are haters. what are..a loving atheist and a loving member of a religion? they are believers.

[grandconjunct]

1 cor 13:13

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 john 4:7-8

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Christ does not Cause Hate, but love. whoever continues to hate does not know God. so relgion is no more dangerous than computers or any other powerfull tool, religion doesnt kill or hate, people do

[entheogensmurf]

How many well known theists had the same psychological profile in respect to their fathers?

It comes more down to humans and more directly males easily fail to be a parent in more positive aspects than negative.

Tis a decent lecture thought.

[grandconjunct]

Vitz compares Most famous christian intellectuals and there parental situation also in his book FAITH OF THE FATHERLESS. and uses controls. The conclusion no matter how you cut it is Atheists tend to generally have father issues, while Christians are far less likely, this has born true in my experience and I could list many well known atheists here on youtube who have similar situations

But It would be a low blow for me to list there names here so I will refrain from doing so in Public.

[psusac]

2 issues:

1) He doesn't look at how the father relationships of atheists compare statistically to the father relationships of theists. He is only looking at specific case studies, of a handful of specific atheists.

2) "Rejecting god" is a bullshit assumption. All children are born atheists and are taught to become believers.  This fact is simply not addressed by the speaker.

[CAndiron]

This point cannot be overstated. The easiest, laziest attack in the world is the ad hominem, speculating about what 'really' motivates the other side, rather than addressing their points.

In the Episcopal Church, liberals (almost exclusively) use this 'argument' to support their nonsensical claims.

[gasmbay]

bulshit!

[sandbar3000]

awesome video!

[agnostaxian]

Ty, so do you think atheists accept atheism for rational reasons and theist accept their view for irrational ones?

[typwachter]

""Watch "why we believe in gods" by Dr. Andy Tompson. It concerns the latest research in neuroscience.""

Thanks, blaziermissy. That is very interesting, and precisely the sort of material I was looking for.

It strikes me that understanding why we might, or might not, believe in religion is not completely irrelevant to the question of whether or not any particular deity, amongst the tens of thousands, exists.

I'm still intrigued by why not. Perhaps he'll get to that.

[psusac]

Interesting. I bet there is a bell-shaped curve showing the variance of religiosity, and that atheists are at one end.  Still, culture has to determine WHICH god you worship. Clearly belief in Christ or Mohammad is not inborn.

[elroy2112]

2 issues with your 2 issues,

1). He actually does use scientific controls of comparing atheists with theist fathers in his book.

2). Actually Children are born religious not atheists, psychological studies have shown this, in fact a few days ago the Oxford University Center for Anthropology and Mind released another study showing even if you put children on an island they will usually come to believe in God. see link #5 in the box to the right of the video above. atheists need to read more.

[elroy2112]

pretend theirs no rewards and punishments no matter if you work or not, will atheists still get up in morning, work overtime ? Get rid of prisons and penalties for tax fraud, are atheists so pure they will never cheat? even in atheist "paradises like sweden"? Utopia is a myth we don't need to pretend this world with competing moralities and visions of utopia is the only reality, and if we slaved in a factory our whole life that is the only heaven or meaning we will ever know,lets not pretend

[Alex06CoSonic]

Why do we have to use the excuse of being happy and full of joy in the afterlife? Pretend that doesn't exist? Why not now, why not when we need it? Why does it have to wait to this "afterlife" we can only suppose exists? Let's end it with all the excuses already, and start making the world a better place RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW. :P

THIS is what truly matters after all.

Yeah, I know, I just keep on listening and making up comments, kind of counter-arguments for what the man in the video says.