Bait and Switch

I have been watching a number of YouTube debates between Christians and atheists. I notice that Christian debaters are very fond of a bait and switch tactic. It goes like this. The Christian makes an argument of the form:

• The universe blows my mind. It must have had a designer.
• The universe needs a cause. The only thing that can provide a cause that does not need a cause itself (because it is magically exempt) is god.
• If there were no god, we would have no objective morality. We would be on our own to decide right and wrong just as we decide laws. That would be awful (but surely nowhere near as awful as some other facts of existence, like mosquitos). Therefore god exists.

They then declare victory in debate and grandiosely claim therefore:

• Christianity is the one true religion. The rest are false. We don’t even need to examine them to know this.
• Jesus was the son of god.
• Jesus rose from the dead.
• Prayer works reliably.

Even if you concede their arguments, their conclusions do not follow.

It seems to me possible a god could exist yet every single religion, including Christianity, badly missed the mark in describing him since he felt the universe itself was a clear enough message and any revelation would be twisted or misused to sow dissension. I see no reason to believe at least one religion had to get it right. All of their stories sound like myths, not in the least even pretending to be factual knowledge about how the world works.

There is also the matter of disproving the truth of Judaism and Islam who lay claim or the trademarked Jehovah as well. You also have the tiny matter of which flavour of Christianity is true: the Catholics, the Mormons, the Anglicans, the Baptists, the Seventh Day Adventists, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Coptics, The Greek Orthodox, the Russian Orthodox… They all claim the others are heretics.

~ Roedy (born:1948-02-04 age:68)