Atheism / Materialism Class Notes - 10/01/17

Atheist materialism

• Begin with prayer

1. Clarify
   1. What is a materialist? (one meaning is someone who spends a lot of time and energy acquiring more and more stuff)
   2. When we speak of atheists = materialists, that's not what we mean
   3. Instead, mean that they think there is nothing in the universe but matter & energy
   4. Claim: if you can't see, hear, smell, taste, touch, or measure with instruments, it doesn't exist

2. Is it logical?
   1. Consider: “There is nothing but matter and energy in the universe.”
   2. What is that, itself? (an idea, a proposition)
   3. Is it made of matter and / or energy?
   4. So core idea is self-contradictory.
   5. Similarly: “Only that which you can sense or measure with instruments is real.”
   6. What do you think: Is that idea / proposition real? (i.e. Does it exist, whether or not it's true?)
   7. Yet, can you measure it? Can you touch it?
   8. Yes, you can hear it when it is articulated as speech, or see it if it is written down, but the idea itself exists apart from its expression, e.g. even if you only think of it.
   9. Can also be called “naturalism” because it denies the super-natural

3. Implications
   1. Since this view is self-contradictory view – IOW since this worldview is false – it's bound to also contradict our human experience and knowledge
   2. Therefore, we need to not only defend our Christian views, but also – and perhaps first – challenge atheists and agnostics to make sense of the world and our human experience without reference to God

4. Article ...
   1. I presented the article, “How to Challenge an Atheist's Worldview,” by Kenneth Hensley, Catholic Answers Magazine, Nov-Dec 2011. Unfortunately, this article is not available online.
      However, Hensley offers an extended series of posts on challenging an atheist's worldview at his blog.
   2. Ponder this quote: “It seems to me immensely unlikely that mind is a mere by-product of matter. For if my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain I have no reason to suppose that my beliefs are true. They may be sound chemically, but that does not make them sound logically. And hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms. ”
      – J.B.S. Haldane, British geneticist and evolutionary biologist, in the essay, "When I am Dead", Possible Worlds (1927)
   3. Alternatively, try the following audio recording instead: How to Answer Atheists and Agnostics with Jim Burnham (co-author of the Beginning Apologetics booklets).