July 24th

Hitchens’s Razor

Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.

(Proverbs 16:18 ) NKJV

Hitchens’s razor is one of the most popular atheist deities. It’s the intellectual equivalent of putting your thumbs in your ears and wiggling your fingers while sticking your tongue out. It’s regarded as intellectual high ground from which “scientists” can automatically dismiss anything said by a person of faith.

The problem is that we all have science, and we all have faith. The distinction between science and faith doesn’t exist. Most of the time you see Hitchens’s razor stated this way, as a meme:

What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.

—  Hitchens’s razor, meme

Here’s the formal definition of Hitchens’s razor.

Hitchens’s razor is an epistemological razor asserting that the burden of proof regarding the truthfulness of a claim lies with the one who makes the claim; if this burden is not met, then the claim is unfounded, and its opponents need not argue further in order to dismiss it.

– Hitchens’s razor, definition (Wikipedia)

First off, what’s epistemology? We’ve discussed epistemology at length without ever calling it by that name.

Epistemology is the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion.

– Epistemology, definition

Justified belief is considered to be synonymous with “scientific fact.” The problem is that if something is only true in the popular science paradigm (SciPop) then it can’t be a fact. Epistemological sleight-of-hand is employed so that Hitchens’s razor can be used as a license for intellectual elites and atheist science trolls (ASTs) to have a high-handed and dismissive, haughty, attitude towards people of faith.

Hitchens’s Razor – Navigation

Section	Title	Scripture
1	Hitchens’s Razor	Proverbs 16:18
2	Epistemological Abuse	Ezekiel 45:10
3	Primary or Secondary?	Isaiah 5:20
4	The High Price of Epistemological Buffoonery	Luke 16:23
5	The Fool has Said in his Heart	Psalms 53:1
	Salvation	Romans 10:9-10

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