Double Standards for Jesus by Dr. Matt McCormick

Over 200 million Americans believe that Jesus came back from the dead. And they would defend that belief on the basis of the historical evidence from the resurrection in the Gospels. Professor Matt McCormick, Philosophy Department, CSUS, will argue that by that same measure we would be forced to the absurd result that there was real witchcraft at the Salem Witch Trials. By any reasonable standard of quality and quantity, the historical evidence for real magic at Salem is vastly better than our evidence for the resurrection. Reasonable people will reject both. Professor McCormick will consider a range of responses that theists have made to this argument, first presented in his book Atheism and the Case Against Christ (Prometheus, 2012). Our common sense standards that serve us perfectly well in a wide range of daily cases should lead us to reject the resurrection. For more information about Matt and his work, please visit his website www.provingthenegative.com This event was sponsored by Stockton Area Atheists and Freethinkers http://www.meetup.com/Stockton-Atheist/ Stanislaus Humanists www.stanislaushumanists.org