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→Atheism, determinism and freewill
Commenting on a speech of the evolutionist and atheist [[Jerry Coyne]] Butt wrote:
Commenting on a speech of the evolutionist and atheist [[Jerry Coyne]] Butt wrote:
{{Cquote|Near the end of Coyne’s speech, he attempted to explain the benefits he sees in adopting the idea that free will does not exist (not to be tedious, but keep in mind that he does not really think you can adopt it; instead, you are forced to accept whatever your chemistry determines). He said that a benefit of denying free will is that you would have a “lack of regret for bad things that happen. It takes away a certain amount of guilt feelings from you. You don’t have to beat yourself up over, ‘I should have done this instead of that.’” There you have it. Humans, from the beginning of Creation, have looked for ways to plead “not guilty” in the face of their own sins. We have attempted to blame everyone else except ourselves for our moral failures. Humans have tried to blame God, their parents, their genes, their society, their spouses, their circumstances, and everything under the Sun for the selfish, sinful choices they have made. The next step with this approach is to say that, since we cannot choose our behavior, then “punishment is not justified for retribution (people get—or should get—what they deserve).”<ref>[http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=5339 Atheism & Free Will] by Kyle Butt, M.Div.</ref>}}
{{Cquote|Near the end of Coyne’s speech, he attempted to explain the benefits he sees in adopting the idea that free will does not exist (not to be tedious, but keep in mind that he does not really think you can adopt it; instead, you are forced to accept whatever your chemistry determines). He said that a benefit of denying free will is that you would have a “lack of regret for bad things that happen. It takes away a certain amount of guilt feelings from you. You don’t have to beat yourself up over, ‘I should have done this instead of that.’” There you have it. Humans, from the beginning of Creation, have looked for ways to plead “not guilty” in the face of their own sins. We have attempted to blame everyone else except ourselves for our moral failures. Humans have tried to blame God, their parents, their genes, their society, their spouses, their circumstances, and everything under the Sun for the selfish, sinful choices they have made. The next step with this approach is to say that, since we cannot choose our behavior, then “punishment is not justified for retribution (people get—or should get—what they deserve).”<ref>[http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=5339 Atheism & Free Will] by Kyle Butt, M.Div.</ref>}}
== C.S. Lewis's argument from reason and for the irrationality of materialism ==
== C.S. Lewis's argument from reason and for the irrationality of materialism ==