This past Wednesday, I gave an hour-long talk to the weekly Navigator's meeting at the University of Cincinnati. The topic was "Responding to the New Atheists."

What a treat.

It was a real pleasure to interact with young adults who are serious about wanting to understand the faith they claim and who want to pursue the truth. They seemed to enjoy the content and asked some great questions both in the Q&A session immediately afterward, and via email in the days that followed.

Talking about all the various serious (and ridiculous) claims of the so-called "New Atheists" is impossible in a one-hour presentation but I did my best by using the summarization that Greg Koukl offers about how to approach their arguments. The new atheists believe that reason, science and morality are on their side. But it turns out that none of the three pan out.

They talk trash and engage in lousy logic. Ad hominem attacks on the character and intelligence of theists do nothing to disprove their actual beliefs. The new atheists give answers that do not apply to the questions that are being asked. Their conclusions don't follow from the evidence and premises they offer.

They claim that science has "disproved God." Not only is that an impossible task (science is a materialistic enterprise that cannot, even in principle, rule out the existence of an immaterial being), but the actual scientific evidence is far more consistent with theism than atheism. Not only that, but the scientism in which they engage disallows theistic implications before they even analyze their data.

Finally, they claim that the existence of evil in general renders the existence of a good God an impossibility, while the existence of religious evil delegitimizes the morality theists claim and is the "greatest source of evil in the world." But when we examine the evidence, it turns out that the reality of evil is one of the strongest arguments for the existence of God, while the claim that religious evil is the greatest evil in the world is demonstrably false.

I just want to thank the leadership of the UC Navigators for their willingness to have me visit. I sincerely appreciate the risk they took in having me come in and speak and the fact that they are serious about encouraging the students at UC to know and embrace their faith for themselves -- to not just know that they believe, but why. I hope to do more of this kind of thing in the future and, if this experience is any indication, I will thoroughly enjoy myself.