Hi again Skepticologist. One other thing: Atheists often confuse co-positioning for causation. The brain is a simple example. Some atheists like to argue that brain disorders can be used to explain certain types of profound religious experiences in certain people (N.B. psychologists sometimes point to synesthasia, which is more likely from the point of view of a physical explanation). This makes good sense. You take someone with a certain type of brain disorder or trauma, and try to reduce the religious experience they have to this physical condition. Logically, however, the fact that a certain mental experience occurs at the same time as a physical condition does not show that the physical condition 'caused' the mental condition, it just means that they happened to be co-present at the same time or that one happened to follow the other (Hume made this point long ago). It factually proves nothing in any case because many people experience what they call a 'mystical' experience without having a brain disorder. Just because it may happen in one case does not mean that a similar effect in another case can be reduced to the same cause. Cheers and happy Easter! |