Quiz For Fantasyland Report

Here are some questions from our presentation.

1.What is the premise of this book?
2.What is one of the two events that helped "crystalize" the ideas in this book?
3.When did Andersen initially believe this phenomenon began?
4.What is one statistic you found interesting?
5. What was one of the modern tipping points?
6. What was one of the "revolutionary ideas" from Martin Luther's thesis that Andersen mentions?

These questions are only from the first two chapters so Ashley may add some additional questions later for more base points. :)

Introduction to Fantasyland by: Kurt Anderson (Kathryn and Ashley's Report)

Hello Everyone!

Ashley and I will be introducing Kurt Anderson's Fantasyland on Tuesday. If you would like to read along, we will be going over chapters 1-4. However, if you do not have access to the book, our questions will come from our PowerPoint presentation. I do recommend the book to any interested parties. It is very interesting so far. We will make another post before class with the questions.

Here's the Google preview...

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Alt questions from A&A Brewster (11-15).

1.       What was the significant discovery that David made about the first eleven chapters of Genesis? (114).

2.       What were Ethan Sahker’s six issues that must be met for a long-term relationship to work? (122).

3.       What common distaste did Ethan share with May? (125).

4.       What documentary did Kristen “Sen” Rurouni watch that crushed her and made her husband angry? (127-8).

5.       According to Matt Hart, “no amount of praying for health allows a family to escape what? (133).

6.       In the United States, what influences the values and beliefs that children will adopt and carry with them into adulthood. (137).

7.       According to Ronnelle Adams, who remains the “highest-valued targets of religious indoctrination.” (147).

 Alternative discussion questions.

1.       How has social media helped or harmed relationship forming between non-religious and religious individuals?

2.       Consider what Kira’s parents most feared and how does that relate to the experiences described by James Mouritsen and Cora Judd?

3.       Discuss some of techniques used to indoctrinate or brainwash children into following a certain faith and what can be done to intervene?

Skye & Don's Mid-Term Rpt Quiz questions

Questions:

1.    Name one type of logical fallacy mentioned.

2.    What Hindu God has the power of invisibility and could be hiding in your backyard?

3.    What is the difference between science and religion?

4.    Name one religion that shares a similarity to Christianity.

5.    What school did Guy Harrison graduate from?

6.    Name one scientist that Don mentioned who believed in the existence of God.

7.    Name one scientist that Don mentioned who did not believe in the existence of God.

8.    Don asked you to imagine a universe that had no what?

9.    Don’s experience can best be described by which of the three reasons he and Skye focused on?

 

Skye’s summary of arguments used during the debate:

Reasons Why God Exists:

1.         Someone I Trust Told Me He Exists:

a.         Scientist

b.         Scholars

2.         Nobody Has Ever Disproved the Existence of My God

a.         Science cannot prove everything

b.         That feeling of “little more” inside of us

3.         Science Can’t Explain Everything

a.         That comforting feeling in a hospital

b.         The desire to help other people

 

Reasons God Does Not Exist/ Responses to Don:

I.          Logical Fallacies

a.         Whose job is it to prove a claim?

b.         Does Absence of Evidence trump logic?

II.         Science and Religion are Inherently Different

a.         Science is based in fact

b.         Religion based in faith

III.        How Do You Know Your God is the one?

a.         4,200 religions

b.         Many before Christianity

c.         Many share beliefs with Christianity.

So much deeper than football

My son shared this with me.

Even before the Philadelphia Eagles won the NFC East, the NFC Championship, and finally the Super Bowl, there was a story that you may not have heard about. The Eagles's starting quarterback, Carson Wentz, who would later be injured and not be able to play the last few games of the regular season, the playoffs, and the Super Bowl, shared a simple thought worth remembering even when we watch a football game or any game. Some things are "so much deeper than football, so much more than a game."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxvc4JFQrNA

Quizzes Feb 13, 15

AA 11-15

1. How did Billy Graham scare David?

2. What feelings did David often have in response to conversations with classmates at his small Christian college?

3.What was David's reaction to listening to Julia Sweeney?

4. What struck David as ridiculous, barbaric, and petty?

5. What do some studies show about marital satisfaction among the religious?

6. What was more important to Ethan than finding an atheist partner?

7. What calculation led Ethan to consider his chances of finding love bleak?

8. Does Ethan say he was raised atheist?

9. What did Sen question about her brother's fate?

10. What was Ronnelle's mother reaction to his coming out?

Post yours...

DQ

• Have you ever been to an evangelical crusade? Was it scary?
• Have you had supportive conversations on matters of (un)belief with peers? How'd they make you feel?
• Have you seen/heard Letting Go of God? What was your favorite or most relatable part?
• Do you consider the universe "miraculous" (116) and natural? 
• Can you generalize about couples you know and their religion or irreligion?
• What's the difference between your beliefs and your "worldview"?
• Was Ethan too rigid? 122
• Is atheism an effective form of "armor" against excessive piety? 125
• Are you surprised that some Russians consider atheism "physically impossible"?129
• Is it easier fort theists to remember to be grateful? 133
• Why do you think "very smart people believe such obvious untruths"? 134
• Is there a meaningful distinction between "magic" and divine "power"?
• Yours please

Quiz Feb 15, AA 16-20

1. By what early teachings did Kevin consider himself "infected"?

2. Who coined the term "atheophobia"?

3. How do most theists deal with distasteful bible verses?

4. What does Kevin consider his parental responsibility with regard to religion?

5. Which of Dan Barker's principles does Kevin prefer to the ten commandments?

6. What ultimately made Amy an atheist?

7. What saddens Adrienne about her sisters?

8. To what stage of a relationship is agnosticism analogous?

9. What language did Justus find "stilted"?

10. What podcast helped Justus become more comfortable with his loss of faith?

DQ

• What do you recall of your earliest religious instruction, and your earliest curiosity?
• Have you encountered atheophobia personally?
• Is it intellectually acceptable to cherry-pick bible verses, ignoring some and extolling others?
• Are the ten commandments admirable?
• If you're not now a parent, do you expect parenting to make you more conservative? 158
• How would you react to your family "praying in tongues for your godless marriage"?
• Does it bother you to have loved ones who are sure you're to hell? 166
• Is it honorable to be an atheist? 167
• How do you respond to people who consider evolution a dirty word? 168
• Have you attended a Unitarian or Sunday Assembly service?
• Does it feel like the Twilight Zone to you when you speak to theists who don't believe you're on the highway to hell?
• 
  

Mid-term report Skye and Don

Atheism & Philosophy

PHIL 3310-001

Dr. James P. Oliver

Our fellow classmates in case you did not receive the handout, here is the complete list and Skye and Don focused on three reasons - # 37, 41,& 44. You are welcome to select others for any comments or discussions, but their quiz will be taken from those three and any part of their presentation. Quiz questions will be presented in a separate post.

For their mid-term report they addressed in a modified debate format a presentation on the question of the existence of God.

Don will represent the affirmative and will present an argument from one or more of the reasons below that people give for believing in god, modified or expanded at his discretion.  Skye will represent the negative and present a rebuttal to his argument.

They chose Guy P. Harrison’s book, 50 reasons people give for believing in a god.

1.       My god is obvious.

2.       Almost everybody on Earth is religious.

3.       Faith is a good thing.

4.       Archaeological discoveries prove that my god exists.

5.       Only my god can make me feel significant.

6.       Atheism is just another religion.

7.       Evolution is bad.

8.       Our world is too beautiful to be an accident.

9.       My god created the universe.

10.   Believing in my god make me happy.

11.   Better safe than sorry.

12.   A sacred book proves my god is real.

13.   Divine justice proves my god is real.

14.   My god answers prayers.

15.   I would rather worship my god than the devil.

16.   My god heals sick people.

17.   Anything is better than being an atheist.

18.   My god made the human body.

19.   My god sacrificed his only son for me.

20.   Atheists are jerks who think they know everything.

21.   I don’t lose anything by believing in my god.

22.   I didn’t come from a monkey.

23.   I don’t want to go to hell.

24.   I feel my god when I pray.

25.   I need my god to protect me.

26.   I want eternal life.

27.   Without my god we would have no sense of right and wrong.

28.   My god makes me feel like I am part of something bigger than myself.

29.   My religion makes more sense than all the others.

30.   My god changes lives.

31.   Intelligent design proves my god is real.

32.   Millions of people can’t be wrong about my religion.

33.   Miracles prove my god is real.

34.   Religion is beautiful.

35.   Some very smart people believe in god.

36.   Ancient prophecies prove my god exists.

37.   No one has ever disproved the existence of my god.

38.   People have gone to heaven and returned.

39.   Religion brings people together.

40.   My god inspires people.

41.   Science can’t explain everything.

42.   Society would fall apart without religion.

43.   My religion is so old, it must be true.

44.   Someone I trust told me that my god is real.

45.   Atheism is a negative and empty philosophy.

46.   Believing in a god doesn’t hurt anyone.

47.   The earth is perfectly tuned to support life.

48.   Believing is natural so my god must be real.

49.   The end is near.

50.   I am afraid of not believing.

Your task will be to write a short essay to objectively evaluate both the affirmative and negative arguments indicating parts that you believe were strong and those that were weak and comment on whether you gained any additional knowledge that you can use in future discussions in or beyond the classroom.

Devin Syke Irish

Don Enss