Comments on: The Argument to the Ontological Whatsit (and the Foolery of Frank Turek & Tricia Scribner)

By: Richard Carrier

Richard Carrier — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 15:19:04 +0000

In reply to James White. Although my impression is similar, most readers can't trust such a globally harsh assessment unevidenced. So please, if you have links to several articles where Turek is exposed in the ways you describe, please assemble and submit them here.

By: James White

James White — Sat, 15 Jun 2024 16:37:35 +0000

Absolutely love this article and love Richard Carrier. Turek is nothing but a lying scamming grifter for his white christian audience. His presentations and “arguments” are usually nothing but a house of cards and extremely easy to debunk. He is, however, a master at straw man and non sequitor. When you know that, you can pull him out of rambling non sensical verbal diarrhea and nail him. Every. Time.

By: Richard Carrier

Richard Carrier — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 00:38:13 +0000

In reply to Vinny. Hello! Sorry. I have been behind in updating my Patreon white list (and my comments queue!). I have added your email address to it now though so your comments will post immediately from here on. Thank you for your support!

By: Richard Carrier

Richard Carrier — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 00:35:27 +0000

In reply to ciro222. This isn't very relevant to the present article. But (a) Luke is getting this from Mark; (b) there is no reference to astrology, "secrets of the stars," the Age of Pisces, or the Age of Aquarius in any of the Gospels (not even the Gospel of Thomas); and (c) The Age of Aquarius would not occur for thousands of years after that text was written, so when it says the Disciples should follow a water-bearer to a room for the Last Supper, in no way can that have meant some event thousands of years later. Whatever symbolism it intended, it would have related to contemporary concepts and a looming end-times the Gospels all anticipated, not some obscure event thousands of years hence.

By: Richard Carrier

Richard Carrier — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 00:13:26 +0000

In reply to Alif. I fail to see what relevance this comment has to anything here. But that agricultural societies like agricultural questions and metaphors is not a revelation.

By: Alif

Alif — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 16:21:36 +0000

The seed seems a major preoccupation in religious texts eg Quran 56:

See ye the seed that Ye sow in the ground ?
Is it ye that cause it To grow, or are We The Cause ?

By: ciro222

ciro222 — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 12:41:36 +0000

Hi Richard, I am a guy who has followed you for a long time and I respect you very much, I appreciate the work you are doing. I would like to ask you who are an expert what do you think of those who believe that Jesus spoke to his disciples referring to the Age of Pisces and its transition into the Age of Aquarius. They use Luke 22:10 and the verse in which Thomas says that Jesus taught them the secrets of the stars and said that in the Age of Aquarius they would discover that death does not exist (sorry if I don’t remember the verse of Thomas I wrote what I remembered of the verse). Why do we talk about the eras in these passages? Was astrology really part of Jesus’ teaching? Thanks in advance for your reply Paul

By: Vinny

Vinny — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 00:27:56 +0000

Now that I’m a patron i feel good about commenting. I love the creative vitriol with which you disarm, dismantle and disrespect the apologists’ arguments. I laugh out loud at some of your turns of phrase. And how they deserve it! Thank you.

By: clubschadenfreude

clubschadenfreude — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 21:07:23 +0000

Turek is a special kind of nitwit. He needs to say anything to pretend some magical being agrees with him.

“biological processes demonstrate purpose; they don’t create purpose.”” Really? So since the trachea is close to the esophagus, and this arrangement kills thousand, there might be a purpose, but the entity is a moron.

By: Fred Christie

Fred Christie — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 17:47:18 +0000

To be fair to people like Turek, what they mean by “purpose” is some metaphysical essence. Because they think that because they can feel that some things have purpose or meaning that that must be somehow a property of the universe and not a property of their subjective brain. This is why confronting these ideas is so important: many religious beliefs are the result of staggeringly simple-minded viewpoints, and holding onto them arrests personal development.