Preface
There is lots of (metaphorically speaking) "treasure" on YouTube to support the League of Reason, and also to promote the atheist, secular, humanist, naturalist, etc... "world-views" there. I am sure all of you will be well aware of this fact, and this forum could well be considered a fairly good list of these sorts of materials. However, this thread will serve simply as a short summary, if an essence, and what I deem the juiciest bits of the lot. Of course, the standards of work are not always Triple-A Hollywood Standard Special Effects, and often contain opinions mixed with facts, and possible half-truths. However, it gives an example of a lively discourse. I don't pay much attention to the tubes, myself. BUT: if you are looking for accessible material to support your views in an argument or just you happen to be interested in what's going on, you will find plenty of stuff on YouTube, so that's why I felt that this may be a good idea.
I will attempt to give a quick overview of what the videos are about. This is far from a comprehensive list, but a starting point, rather, for anyone new to the game. Tell me what you think of this list, in the replies to this thread.
Creationism
Top Ten Creationist Arguments
The well produced video deals very concisely with the top arguments of Creationists. The video is lighter and doesn't deal with all the intricate details of the debate. However, this makes it more suitable for audiences that aren't knee deep into it (yet). It may work well on Average Joe Creationists. There is also a second edition to this video, which can be found on TheThinkingAtheist's YouTube Channel.
Why do People Laugh at Creationists (series)
This contribution seems to have gathered a lot of attention and could be seen as a classic. Thunderf00t uses claims from creationist videos and debunks their claims with arguments from science and empirical inquiry. As the title suggests, the series ridicules creationist claims and does it with a more hard science approach and emphasis on physics and astronomy. As such, one wonders why creationists cannot simply admit that they are wrong, having seen this series.
Foundational Falsehood of Creationism (series)
In this series AronRa discusses the fraudulent claims of creationists with a very broad and interdisciplinary perspective with a slight emphasis on palaeontology, archaeology, taxonomy and evolution. It is nicely narrated and supported by a very good choice of imagery to support the narration, often using clips from popular movies.
Holy Hallucinations
A powerful series of lengthy videos discussing the scientific facts of evolutionary theory and modern biology, exploring the monumentally flawed arguments of creationists. It is produced by YouTube user "TheLivingDinosaur", and it gets you waist deep into the science, but it's strong condescension and rather puerile humour may not be to everyone's taste. Anyhow, a useful and informative series. -- added per request of theyounghistorian77
Debates
God's Quality Control (series) [season 1 season 2 season 3 season 4 season 5 season 6 season 7]
These series of videos are short and simple, but also fascinating. Specifically, they discuss the arguments of speakers in public discourses, such as William Lane Craig. Season 1 examines the debate between William Lane Craig (Christian) and Shabir Ally (Muslim). Season 2 looks into the Hitchens vs. Dembski debate, Season 3 takes a closer look at the discussion guide of the debate as provided by the Prestonwood Christian Academy. Season 4 deals with YouTube arguments, season 5 examines in some detail, the arguments for objective morality in C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity series, season 6 again deals with William Lane Craig in his recent debate with Sam Harris on the objectivity of morals, and seven explores the anti-evolution rabbit hole of Ray Comfort's Evolution: A Fairy Tale For Grown Ups -- .
Sam Harris vs William Lane Craig - Debate - "Does Good Come From God?" [Playlist</SIZE><SIZE size="85">]
Mentioned above, in this debate, public speaker, philosopher, and neuroscientists Sam Harris debates well known theologian William Lane Craig, and attempts to explain the origin of human values, and whether or NOT human values are of supernatural origin. Harris offered what I would think is a reasonable (ish) argument. If you're interested in that, we had a topic on whether or not Harris' arguments were truly compelling, entitled: Is Sam Harris clear about subjectivity? Or rather, it discusses Dr. Harris's book: The Moral Landscape, and what Harris refers to as "the value problem".
Spirituality
Science Saved My Soul
This video shows a more poetical, romantic, spiritual side of a natural world-view. While philhellenes goes over a tons of scientific facts of astronomy, the general tone of the video is more about the awe of living in such a vast universe in a side arm of the milky way. It argues that this view is in fact most fulfilling, especially not despite being motivated by scientific insights. See philhellene's channel for more and more excellent videos of this kind, and undoubtedly far more to come!
Science
An Archaeological Moment in Time
A fascinating and entertaining video produced by AronRa brings to life a distant moment in the time of a bygone age. He edited footage from Hollywood films to help illustrate the narrative. They aren't of course scientifically correct, but give a general idea about how it was like in that time. He brings across that humanity is very old. I found it a good video as an overview also suitable to possibly spark interest into the topic, perhaps even for young children!
"New" Atheism(!)
Militant Atheism
Recorded April 16th 2007, Richard Dawkins urges all atheists to openly state their position and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science.
The Four Horsemen [part 1 part 2]
Recorded September 30th 2007 , Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harries (left to right) discuss their atheistic views and touch on subjects like politeness and respect toward religions and the situation of religions and atheism in the inherent religious inclinations within modern societies.
The God Delusion Root Of All Evil? --Virus of Faith
The documentary was first broadcast in January 2006, in the form of two 45-minute episodes on Channel 4 in the UK. It explores the unproven beliefs that are treated as factual by many religions and the extremes to which some followers have taken them. In part one he travels to various hot-spots of religions around the world. Part two looks more on Religions as memes and on the subject of morality and philosophy/ethics.
An Atheist Reads the Bible (series)
In this entertaining and (somewhat) animated series, 43alley dives into the Bible and tries to make sense of the claims made. Each part works on its own so thay can be watched in any order. Maybe take a look at Jesus first.
Richard Dawkins on “Protest the Pope"
September 18th 2010. Richard Dawkins addresses the assertions made by the Vatican that Hitler was an Atheist and so forth ...
If you feel I've missed something that really ought to have been in there, please let me know. But remember, as I said, this is not intended to be a fully comprehensive post. Thanks for reading.
~~Dean~~
There is lots of (metaphorically speaking) "treasure" on YouTube to support the League of Reason, and also to promote the atheist, secular, humanist, naturalist, etc... "world-views" there. I am sure all of you will be well aware of this fact, and this forum could well be considered a fairly good list of these sorts of materials. However, this thread will serve simply as a short summary, if an essence, and what I deem the juiciest bits of the lot. Of course, the standards of work are not always Triple-A Hollywood Standard Special Effects, and often contain opinions mixed with facts, and possible half-truths. However, it gives an example of a lively discourse. I don't pay much attention to the tubes, myself. BUT: if you are looking for accessible material to support your views in an argument or just you happen to be interested in what's going on, you will find plenty of stuff on YouTube, so that's why I felt that this may be a good idea.
I will attempt to give a quick overview of what the videos are about. This is far from a comprehensive list, but a starting point, rather, for anyone new to the game. Tell me what you think of this list, in the replies to this thread. Creationism
Top Ten Creationist Arguments
The well produced video deals very concisely with the top arguments of Creationists. The video is lighter and doesn't deal with all the intricate details of the debate. However, this makes it more suitable for audiences that aren't knee deep into it (yet). It may work well on Average Joe Creationists. There is also a second edition to this video, which can be found on TheThinkingAtheist's YouTube Channel.
Why do People Laugh at Creationists (series)
This contribution seems to have gathered a lot of attention and could be seen as a classic. Thunderf00t uses claims from creationist videos and debunks their claims with arguments from science and empirical inquiry. As the title suggests, the series ridicules creationist claims and does it with a more hard science approach and emphasis on physics and astronomy. As such, one wonders why creationists cannot simply admit that they are wrong, having seen this series.
Foundational Falsehood of Creationism (series)
In this series AronRa discusses the fraudulent claims of creationists with a very broad and interdisciplinary perspective with a slight emphasis on palaeontology, archaeology, taxonomy and evolution. It is nicely narrated and supported by a very good choice of imagery to support the narration, often using clips from popular movies.
Holy Hallucinations
A powerful series of lengthy videos discussing the scientific facts of evolutionary theory and modern biology, exploring the monumentally flawed arguments of creationists. It is produced by YouTube user "TheLivingDinosaur", and it gets you waist deep into the science, but it's strong condescension and rather puerile humour may not be to everyone's taste. Anyhow, a useful and informative series. -- added per request of theyounghistorian77
Debates
God's Quality Control (series) [season 1 season 2 season 3 season 4 season 5 season 6 season 7]
These series of videos are short and simple, but also fascinating. Specifically, they discuss the arguments of speakers in public discourses, such as William Lane Craig. Season 1 examines the debate between William Lane Craig (Christian) and Shabir Ally (Muslim). Season 2 looks into the Hitchens vs. Dembski debate, Season 3 takes a closer look at the discussion guide of the debate as provided by the Prestonwood Christian Academy. Season 4 deals with YouTube arguments, season 5 examines in some detail, the arguments for objective morality in C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity series, season 6 again deals with William Lane Craig in his recent debate with Sam Harris on the objectivity of morals, and seven explores the anti-evolution rabbit hole of Ray Comfort's Evolution: A Fairy Tale For Grown Ups -- .
Sam Harris vs William Lane Craig - Debate - "Does Good Come From God?" [Playlist</SIZE><SIZE size="85">]
Mentioned above, in this debate, public speaker, philosopher, and neuroscientists Sam Harris debates well known theologian William Lane Craig, and attempts to explain the origin of human values, and whether or NOT human values are of supernatural origin. Harris offered what I would think is a reasonable (ish) argument. If you're interested in that, we had a topic on whether or not Harris' arguments were truly compelling, entitled: Is Sam Harris clear about subjectivity? Or rather, it discusses Dr. Harris's book: The Moral Landscape, and what Harris refers to as "the value problem".
Spirituality
Science Saved My Soul
This video shows a more poetical, romantic, spiritual side of a natural world-view. While philhellenes goes over a tons of scientific facts of astronomy, the general tone of the video is more about the awe of living in such a vast universe in a side arm of the milky way. It argues that this view is in fact most fulfilling, especially not despite being motivated by scientific insights. See philhellene's channel for more and more excellent videos of this kind, and undoubtedly far more to come!
Science
An Archaeological Moment in Time
A fascinating and entertaining video produced by AronRa brings to life a distant moment in the time of a bygone age. He edited footage from Hollywood films to help illustrate the narrative. They aren't of course scientifically correct, but give a general idea about how it was like in that time. He brings across that humanity is very old. I found it a good video as an overview also suitable to possibly spark interest into the topic, perhaps even for young children!
"New" Atheism(!)
Militant Atheism
Recorded April 16th 2007, Richard Dawkins urges all atheists to openly state their position and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science.
The Four Horsemen [part 1 part 2]
Recorded September 30th 2007 , Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harries (left to right) discuss their atheistic views and touch on subjects like politeness and respect toward religions and the situation of religions and atheism in the inherent religious inclinations within modern societies.
The God Delusion Root Of All Evil? --Virus of Faith
The documentary was first broadcast in January 2006, in the form of two 45-minute episodes on Channel 4 in the UK. It explores the unproven beliefs that are treated as factual by many religions and the extremes to which some followers have taken them. In part one he travels to various hot-spots of religions around the world. Part two looks more on Religions as memes and on the subject of morality and philosophy/ethics.
An Atheist Reads the Bible (series)
In this entertaining and (somewhat) animated series, 43alley dives into the Bible and tries to make sense of the claims made. Each part works on its own so thay can be watched in any order. Maybe take a look at Jesus first.
Richard Dawkins on “Protest the Pope"
September 18th 2010. Richard Dawkins addresses the assertions made by the Vatican that Hitler was an Atheist and so forth ...
If you feel I've missed something that really ought to have been in there, please let me know.
But remember, as I said, this is not intended to be a fully comprehensive post. Thanks for reading. ~~Dean~~
