Richard Carrier

Richard Carrier

Richard Carrier (born 1969), M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. History, is an advocate of metaphysical naturalism. He has written a book, Sense and Goodness without God (see also: Good without God). He is a prominent atheist in the atheist community in the US.

Carrier advocates the notion that Jesus likely never existed which is an extreme minority position among historians and contrary to the historical evidence pointing to Jesus being a historical figure (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, a parcel of the propaganda of the atheistic, communist Soviet Union, is the only encyclopedia to ever advocate the Christ myth. See also: Historicity of Jesus).

After Richard Carrier completed his PhD in ancient history at Columbia University in 2008, he decided against attempting to find an academic post and is now a blogger. According to Carrier, "The US economy had just collapsed, and humanities departments had put a freeze on hires,” he explains. “I had also soured on the life of a professor by then, having seen it from the inside.”

Carrier is a veteran of the United States Coast Guard.

Richard Carrier, adultery, divorce and polyamory

See also: Richard Carrier, adultery, divorce and polyamory and Atheism, polyamory and other immoral relationships

The atheist Richard Carrier divorced his wife and now practices polyamory. Before divorcing his wife, he was involved in adulterous affairs.

The Christian apologist Jason Engwar at the Christian blog Triablogue wrote:

“

Richard Carrier has a post up announcing that he's "polyamorous", which he calls his "sexual orientation". He's been adulterous in his relationship with his wife after cheating on her, and they decided to get a divorce after having tried polyamory for a while. In the thread, he refers to how he has "sympathy for people who cheat on their spouses", how he's come across "many" polyamorists, and how he's become more convinced that "monogamy is the actual problem". So far, most of the responses at his blog are positive.

”

See also:

• Atheism, polyamory and other immoral relationships

• Richard Carrier, adultery, divorce and polyamory

• Atheist marriages

• Atheism and marriage

Ricard Carrier, Amanda Metskas and polyamory

Camp Quest is the first residential summer camp in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Norway designed specifically for the children of atheists/agnostics/secular humanists and others who hold a naturalistic worldview.

Richard Carrier reported in 2016 that Amanda Metskas, the national Executive Director of Camp Quest, are dating and "she and her husband, August Brunsman, are publicly polyamorous."

August Brunsman, her polyamorous husband, is the Executive Director of the Secular Student Alliance. Carrier was a speaker for the Secular Student Alliance when he was accused of sexual harassment.

Richard Carrier on atheist events and sexual activity

Richard Carrier wrote in a blog post entitled Our Mythical Campaign against Sex:

“

Polyamory and swinging and even the attending of orgies requires more ethical behavior and more careful attention to boundaries and consent than traditional sexual relationships do. And people who are ethical enough to be accepted in those communities are the very people who get Atheism+ and why it is needed. The bottom line is, we are already enthusiastically in favor of people pursuing all kinds of sexual activities, even at atheist events. Many of our most avid supports are wholeheartedly doing this. The only thing we are concerned about is that people do this ethically, that people don’t use their sex drives as an excuse to harass, harm, or cross boundaries.

”

Richard Carrier and the the Atheism plus movement

Richard Carrier at the launch of the Atheism plus movement wrote: "I am fully on board. I will provide any intellectual artillery they need to expand this cause and make it successful."

In October 2014, the popular YouTube atheist Thunderf00t commented on how Jen McCreight, the founder of the atheist feminist movement Atheism plus abandoned her movement within two weeks. Thunderfoot also commented on how Richard Carrier "the intellectual artillery" of the movement, quit promoting the movement within a month.

Damion Reinhardt wrote about Carrier and Atheism plus movement:

“

About the only thing he did spectacularly wrong (from an atheist movement perspective) was turning Atheism Plus into an “us vs. them” festival of denunciation and excommunication, but that was arguably bound to happen. Possibly he should be credited with speeding up the inevitable collapse.

”

Richard Carrier and Antony Flew's Conversion to theism/deism

Athanatos Christian Ministries wrote concerning the book A Defense of the Integrity of Antony Flew's "There is a God" From His Own Letters by Anthony Horvath:

“

Famed atheist Antony Flew stunned the world with his repudiation of atheism in favor of deism about 2004 but the reasons for his change were unclear. Finally, in 2007, Flew released his book There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind in an attempt to set the record straight.” It was immediately challenged by hostile atheists on a number of grounds, not all of them very charitable. One of the challenges was put forth most prominently by PZ Myers and Richard Carrier: Flew had lost his mind; the arguments weren’t his at all, but rather were the product of manipulating Christian apologists. There is just one teensy-weensy problem with this line of attack. In 2006, before it was even known to the world that Antony Flew would be releasing a book, a Christian apologist and author by the name of Anthony Horvath (Athanatos Christian Ministries) was in correspondence with Dr. Flew. Horvath wrote Flew specifically to ask him to commit his current positions and arguments to written form because even then there was much speculation. The answer was that the book was already in the works! The correspondence was brief but turns out to be decisive against those claiming that “There is a God” did not reflect Flew’s actual positions. In this e-book, Horvath releases copies of the original letters along with his lengthy rebuttal to Richard Carrier’s assertions. To date, though Carrier has been made aware of that rebuttal, no answer has been received. And no wonder: these letters settle the matter once and for all. For those interested in the best evidence and primary sources in coming to their conclusions, these letters by Flew will be instrumental.

”

Richard Carrier on Scotch and drinking heavily

See also: Richard Carrier on Scotch and drinking heavily

In a blog post devoted to his favorite Scotch, Richard Carrier writes:

“

I often philosophize about the excellence of Scotch… Indeed, the taste and feel of good liquor is the only reason to drink it. Getting tipsy or blasted drunk is just a bonus... Anytime you spend the night drinking heavily, chug a tall glass of water before going to bed. Literally, chug the whole thing. Tall glass. Top to bottom... Be excellent to each other. And party on. Smartly.

”

From his website from the page “Booking Dr. Carrier”, Carrier wrote:

“

You will have to board me for those extra nights, and I charge only $50 for each additional debate or speaking engagement, but informal events are free (e.g. dinner parties, meet-and-greets, etc.). Just feed me copious amounts of alcohol.

”

In a blog post about a trip to Portland Carrier writes:

“

Then Saturday (February 28) I will be speaking on “Historical Method and What Makes for a Good Historian” (and saying a lot about Bayesian reasoning!) for the PDX Skeptics in the Pub at the Lucky Lab Pub on Killingsworth (1700 North Killingsworth, Portland) at 7pm. (Much drinking will ensue.)

”

Education

Carrier has a B.A. in History, with a minor in Classical Civilization, from the University of California at Berkeley (1997), an M.A. in Ancient History from Columbia University (1998), an M.Phil. in Ancient History, from Columbia University (2000), and a Ph.D. in Ancient History from Columbia University (2008).

External links

• Richard Carrier's "Why I Don't Buy the Resurrection Story" -- A Refutation by JP Holding
• Review of Carrier's book Good 'n' Senseless Without God
• Richard Carrier’s latest smears are poorly researched, insulting to women activists, and defamatory by Michael Nugent
• Richard Carrier vs. William Lane Craig debate, Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? 2009 - Part one
• Richard Carrier vs. William Lane Craig debate, Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? 2009 - Part two

Richard Carrier and polyamory:

• Polyamory Gone Wild
• Along Came Poly, Christian apologist Nick Peters on Richard Carrier's adulterous affairs, adultery and polyamory

• Atheist Richard Carrier is a polyamorous dog by Ken Ammi

• A portrait in petty atheism

• The Decline and Fall of Richard Carrier