I love the great atheism resource that is www.commonsenseatheism.org. LukeProg does an immense amount of excellent work asking the top philosophers difficult questions about atheism and philosophy. You should especially check out the catalog of 500 atheism/theism debates.
Anyway, I would like to share a great blog post from the Luke entitled, Why atheists lose debates. I think I mostly agree with him, although I really chalk it up to William Lane Craig being a one-man debate wrecking crew. He wins a lot of debates, but I also think that theists like Dinesh D’Souza, Matt Slick, Frank Turek, and David Wholpe get “clowned” (yeah, I used a word an “urban dictionary” word-deal with it!) in debates as well.
I really see this blog as a call to us as atheists to “do our homework” before we enter the realm of arguing with theists. We may be right, but knowing and giving careful consideration to the other side’s arguments is important as well. You do not go from understanding why you don’t believe in god, to being able to understand and refute most theist argument like Richard Carrier, or Dan Barker or Matt Dillahunty, overnight.
Also, just like everything else in life, it is OK to admit when you don’t know something. If a theist brings you an argument you do not know how to refute, give it a fair shot and research it. I have done this with all the arguments I have encountered, and I am still an atheist. Being humble enough to consider another person’s argument, even if it turns out to be a wrong one is fully within the spirit of philosophy which is, after all “the love of wisdom.”
