Doing a bit of vanity-surfing and just noticed I was quoted here...
(Published in Faith and Philosophy 2011. Volume 28, Issue 2, April 2011. Stephen Law. Pages 129-151) EVIDENCE, MIRACLES AND THE EXISTENCE OF JESUS Stephen Law Abstract The vast majority of Biblical historians believe there is evidence sufficient to place Jesus’ existence beyond reasonable doubt. Many believe the New Testament documents alone suffice firmly to establish Jesus as an actual, historical figure. I question these views. In particular, I argue (i) that the three most popular criteria by which various non-miraculous New Testament claims made about Jesus are supposedly corroborated are not sufficient, either singly or jointly, to place his existence beyond reasonable doubt, and (ii) that a prima facie plausible principle concerning how evidence should be assessed – a principle I call the contamination principle – entails that, given the large proportion of uncorroborated miracle claims made about Jesus in the New Testament documents, we should, in the absence of indepen
Comments
"I think the point of Dawkins writing the letter to his daughter when she was 10 is that she was old enough at that point to understand, for example, that there is no Santa Claus. Children at ages below that are hard wired (for good survival reasons) to instinctively believe whatever they are told by their parents. I see no harm in our kids believing in these things before they learn to critically evaluate things for themselves. I would be interested to know whether Dawkins feels there is any harm in children being led to believe in non-religious traditions such as the tooth fairy, easter bunny and Santa. My guess is that he would not have any objection to these traditions as long as a point came in the kids' lives where they learned that belief in anything without evidence (such as religion) is really no different than their belief in the tooth fairy during their tender years."
A nice article. It's good to see an article about 'Christmas without Christ'. Though, to tell you the truth, I'd rather see an article about 'Christmas without Turkey', as millions of turkeys are ruthlessly killed for our pleasure on a holiday about love.