tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378606715534558732008-07-25T15:15:22.065-06:00Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comBlogger284125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-14351012499750978392008-07-25T14:58:00.004-06:002008-07-25T15:14:52.343-06:00

I happened across a poem by a minister named Richard Lawrence, part of which reads: Let no man seek his own, But every man another's wealth; And you'll be richer than you know, It will contribute to your health. The difficulty of living up to this advice is that, if every man is seeking another's wealth, ultimately for some people to succeed, others have to get wealthy. But then those people

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-64139285941988570252008-07-23T10:22:00.002-06:002008-07-23T10:38:19.115-06:00

In his fourth essay criticizing Dinesh D'Souza, Greg Perkins notes that D'Souza accuses atheists of rebelling against moral rules. After summarizing why that's not the case for atheists who know what they're talking about, Perkins adds: [T]he religionists are themselves guilty of the sin of moral subjectivism. The essence of subjectivism is acting on whim -- wishing, assuming, feeling, or

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-67852044295612410672008-07-21T10:08:00.002-06:002008-07-21T10:43:04.900-06:00

Dinesh D'Souza makes two related claims in his latest article. First, even though, as Christopher Hitchens noted, the Judeo-Christian God has been around only for a few thousand years of mankind's existence, this God has been around for 98 percent of the lives of human beings. Second, the fact that people have progressed so much since then only proves that God is real. Here's what D'Souza has to

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-5002868262375016542008-07-20T14:35:00.004-06:002008-07-20T14:56:16.980-06:00

As the Associated Press reports, a South Dakota law may legally be enforced requiring doctors to tell woman that an abortion "will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being." The AP elsewhere notes that the state's attorney general now plans to enforce the law. U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier still must issue a ruling on the law; the debate was whether it could be

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-524770239195889352008-07-18T10:36:00.003-06:002008-07-18T10:49:46.452-06:00

The New York Times has reviewed the presidential debate over faith-based welfare (via Politics Without God). On one side of the debate, Obama fully supports faith-based welfare, but he thinks recipients of the funds should not be able to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion: Mr. Obama’s position that religious organizations would not be able to consider religion in their hiring for

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-18939039609165899442008-07-17T12:21:00.003-06:002008-07-17T12:30:21.218-06:00

In his third essay criticizing Dinesh D'Souza, Greg Perkins discusses the "God of the gaps." D'Souza claims that, because science cannot fully explain the history of the universe, the nature of physical laws, and human morality, therefore "the God hypothesis seems unavoidable." Perkins sensibly replies: If only his opponents had the philosophical foundation to resist all those temptations for

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-62904548837816779242008-07-16T11:07:00.004-06:002008-07-16T11:14:31.940-06:00

Diana Hsieh has announced the formation of the Coalition for Secular Government. It links to several interesting documents, hosts a blog, and announces the following mission: The Coalition for Secular Government advocates government solely based on secular principles of individual rights. The protection of a person's basic rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness --

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-58830864762700236872008-07-15T13:15:00.002-06:002008-07-15T13:29:11.181-06:00

The AP has reported that, after a man asked God for "a real experience," he "he fell and hit his head while worshipping." So he's suing the church for $2.5 million. Why isn't he suing the Holy Spirit? You'd think that, after going to all the trouble of filling the guy with the Holy Spirit, God would take the additional step of making sure he didn't bump his head on the way to the floor. Of course

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-19240647355829604032008-07-14T16:38:00.003-06:002008-07-14T17:05:06.475-06:00

I'm still holding out hope that this is a parody. iLiveValues.com published a blog entry called, "Being an Obedient Follower." The web page claims to be published by ERLC, which links to The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the vision of which is "An American society that affirms and practices Judeo-Christian values rooted in biblical authority." The

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-3044044813052313452008-07-11T10:28:00.002-06:002008-07-11T10:40:43.715-06:00

Reuters reports (via Little Green Footballs via Jim M.): Unknown outside Muslim circles two years ago, Adnan Oktar -- the 52-year-old Turk behind the pseudonym Harun Yahya -- caught the attention of scientists and teachers in Europe and North America by mass-mailing them his 768-page “Atlas of Creation”. His lavishly illustrated book preaches a Muslim version of creationism, the view scientists

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-10042184436700947762008-07-10T09:55:00.002-06:002008-07-10T10:07:43.112-06:00

Call it the Christian's Enquirer. My wife received in the mail an invitation to subscribe to Angels On Earth magazine. Here's the pitch: We have reserved in your name a FREE issue of ANGELS ON EARTH, an inspiring magazine about God's messengers and their work in the world. And when you accept it, you also get a FREE GIFT -- the 2009 ANGELS ON EARTH CALENDAR! [OMG!] There is no risk -- no

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-3266612263510593402008-07-09T10:24:00.004-06:002008-07-09T10:45:18.559-06:00

Sheera Frenkel of The Times (of London) reports a debate of a Dead Sea tablet called Gabriel’s Vision of Revelation. She writes: Israel Knohl, a biblical studies professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, argued yesterday that line 80 of the text revealed Gabriel telling an historic Jewish rebel named Simon, who was killed by the Romans four years before the birth of Christ: "In three days

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-38603239443270341452008-07-07T09:27:00.003-06:002008-07-07T09:59:11.856-06:00

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has published extensive results of its U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. I'll review some of the highlights. Colorado has fewer Evangelical Protestants than the national average, at 23 versus 26 percent. We have fewer Catholics, at 19 versus 24 percent. And we have more unaffiliated people at 25 versus 16 percent. That helps explain the Interior West

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-24116098100135033362008-07-06T11:16:00.003-06:002008-07-06T11:26:40.292-06:00

An AP story about a monkey god appointed chairman of an Indian business school raised my eyebrows. PTI reports, "The Sardar Bhagat Singh College of Technology and Management... has Lord Hanumnan's [sic] idol occupying the place of pride in unfamiliar surroundings of the chairman's office." Wikipedia has a lengthy entry about the new chair. Somehow, I have a hard time believing that this is

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-30233109398589329332008-07-04T09:38:00.003-06:002008-07-04T09:50:37.399-06:00

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Various Christians take this line from the Declaration to mean that America was founded on Christianity. But of course Jefferson was a deist, and belief in some sort of creator or

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-49050197148062743022008-07-02T10:48:00.005-06:002008-07-02T11:54:12.788-06:00

Citing the AP, Mark Wolf notes that Obama likes Bush's faith-based welfare so much that he wants to expand it. Obama (citing Wolf citing Politico) said: I believe deeply in the separation of church and state, but I don't believe this partnership will endanger that idea -- so long as we follow a few basic principles. First, if you get a federal grant, you can't use that grant money to

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-88840412859800730032008-07-01T09:41:00.003-06:002008-07-01T09:55:20.127-06:00

Mark Barna of Colorado Spring's Gazette believes that the influence of the religious right is in decline. "The Christian Coalition of America, founded in 1989 to give Christians a stronger voice in government policy, is struggling financially," he writes. Has the funding gone to some similar group, or is funding for Christian-right politics dropping in general? Barna adds: Some polls show that

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-65476697433840362842008-06-28T00:04:00.001-06:002008-06-28T00:30:51.212-06:00

Bill Bunkley is concerned that, by failing to rally his religious-right base, McCain risks leaving them at home on election day. Obama, on the other hand, is actively pursuing evangelical voters, Bunkley notes. But there is a little problem with Bunkley's analysis. Obama is pro-choice, while McCain holds "ending abortion" as his ultimate goal. Thus, while Obama, who has openly endorsed the

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-62759792672424926072008-06-27T11:41:00.003-06:002008-06-27T11:54:41.192-06:00

A Pew poll recently found that most people think that other religious are a good enough ticket to heaven. (This differs from what some in my childhood church taught, that Catholics are going to hell.) In general, that particular poll result is a good thing. While it's unfounded to think that any religion offers eternal life, it's better to think that any "good person" can get into heaven than to

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-91157924227375685702008-06-25T10:19:00.002-06:002008-06-25T10:28:18.563-06:00

Does free speech have a future in Europe? Matt Purple writes: Ian McEwan, author of widely praised novels Atonement and Enduring Love, condemned Muslim extremists for attempting to establish a tyrannical society intolerant of women and homosexuals. His comments were made in the context of defending his friend and fellow novelist Martin Amis, who had previously been denounced as a racist for

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-48213294249662946652008-06-24T10:33:00.005-06:002008-06-24T15:32:38.975-06:00

A recent spat between Barack Obama and James Dobson offers a good opportunity to further reply to Colorado Right to Life and Bob Kyffin on abortion. Here's what Barack Obama said on June 28, 2006, in his "Call to Renewal" address: Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-65417433252447834122008-06-23T11:23:00.003-06:002008-06-23T11:52:32.160-06:00

The May 31 resolutions of the Colorado Republican State Convention illustrate the difficulties and tensions of the party. Included are the pro-liberty: 2. [T]he United States will pay any price, bear any burden... to assure the survival of our republic and freedom. 4. [T]he practice of inserting earmarks into the federal budget [should] be eliminated. 18. ...Colorado Republicans support the

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-23416513119709128392008-06-20T11:14:00.003-06:002008-06-20T11:39:58.966-06:00

Leonard Peikoff has released his 18th podcast, which deals partly with matters of religion. My summary of the discussion should not be taken as a substitute for the original. 1. Peikoff first answers a question about the military, expressing concern that it will suffer continued problems. He adds that the military is the consequence of cultural shifts, not a main cause of them. 2. What is a

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-77155520003874126662008-06-19T00:43:00.003-06:002008-06-19T03:37:54.468-06:00

Yesterday I strongly criticized Colorado Right to Life (CRTL) for promoting the prohibition of abortion even of fertilized eggs and even in cases of rape and risk to the life of the mother. Bob Kyffin offered several arguments in reply. However, he did not address the central point: a fertilized egg is not a person, as CRTL claims. Kyffin states: Is there ever a case where slavery should be

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637860671553455873.post-45596731407428678082008-06-18T10:08:00.008-06:002008-06-18T11:29:04.655-06:00

The ludicrously named Colorado Right to Life (CRTL) openly admits that its policies would endanger the lives of women. It demands that Republican candidates work to outlaw abortion even in cases of rape. And it declares its commitment to faith-based politics, noting that Amendment 48, the "personhood" initiative that seeks to define a fertilized egg as a person, would allegedly "uphold God's

Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740793237376032860noreply@blogger.com