Mastering Logical Fallacies

Sponsored by The Book, "Logically Fallacious," by Bo Bennett, PhD

Lesson 17: Introduction

In this section, we cover four fallacies that are directly related to religion: Appeal to Faith, Appeal to Heaven, Magical Thinking, and Spiritual Fallacy. It will be made clear that it is not faith, the belief in magic, Heaven, or a spiritual world that is fallacious—it is the reliance on these beliefs in place of reason in rational discourse that is fallacious.

By the end of this section, students will

  • learn when faith becomes a problem in rational discourse
  • learn why any person of any religion claiming to know the will of the gods is acting fallaciously
  • learn that magical thinking is very common, when it helps and when it doesn't
  • learn when spirituality can be a roadblock to reason
Additional Course Resources

There is no quiz for this lesson.

Activate the "e-mail drip" feature. We will e-mail you the text of one slide per day. This is a 1-2 minute read that makes completing a course easy for the busy person who can't make the time to take the course interactively. If you select this option, you can still participate in the interactive part if you wish. E-mails will begin with the next lesson not completed.