Just a quickie for today: The Irish Times just published a letter in which the writer expresses a kind of good will towards atheists. One sincerely hopes that Joe Humphreys is correct in his suggestion that a new, more reasonable form of atheism may be beginning to emerge, from the creed’s Irish adherents (Arts Ideas, …
Monthly Archive: October 2012
Oct 28 2012
The last rites of Justin Martyr
Over at Evangelical Realism, we finally made it to the end of Justin Martyr’s First Apology. Stop by if you’re interested in that sort of thing.
Oct 26 2012
Mother convicted of “disorderly conduct” for refusing TSA grope.
The Tennessean reports that a Clarksville mom has been found guilty of “disorderly conduct” for refusing to participate in an unconstitutional violation of her right to privacy, otherwise known as a TSA “pat-down”. Transportation Security Officer Karen King testified that before the pat-down, Abbott yelled in her face that she didn’t want anyone “touching her …
Oct 25 2012
A dialog between materialists
One more point I’d like to mention about the abortion debate is that it’s a dialog between materialists. Most pro-lifers are generally religious, and quite a few are conservative evangelical Christians, but when it comes to making pro-life arguments, they’re even more materialistic than the pro-choice side. All this stuff about souls and spirits is …
Oct 23 2012
Spot the difference
The boston.com news section is reporting a new TV ad being run in Maine that tries to make gay marriage look like a religious liberty issue—which it is, but not in the way the ad attempts to spin it. In the ad, Jim O’Reilly of the Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville says he and his wife …
Oct 22 2012
The nuanced position
In a comment on my last post, NotAnAtheist writes: [As] I see it, there are two options: 1. You can decide that the point at which the rights of the fetus should be considered cannot be based on anything objective, and is merely a point that is decided upon for some legal / logistical / …
Oct 21 2012
Justin Martyr on the pagan roots of Christianity
In this week’s installment of Justin Martyr’s First Apology, Justin explains to us exactly why so many elements in the Christian faith have pagan antecedents. It’s an argument you may have heard before, but I bet at least some of you would be surprised to find that it goes all the way back to the …
Oct 17 2012
The point of viability
The day job is getting a bit intense right now so I only have time for a quick post. I’d like to address a comment made by NotAnAtheist on yesterday’s post. (The bold text is an excerpt from my post, to which NotAnAtheist is responding.) The earliest point at which it makes sense to draw …
Oct 16 2012
Blood drives
The last time I gave blood, there was a sign outside that says, “Giving blood saves lives.” As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, I’d like to ask a question. If giving blood saves lives, why don’t we have people roaming the streets, grabbing healthy-looking individuals, and taking their blood by force? I think most people …
Oct 15 2012
When is it ok to legalize murder?
One of the differences between the Obama/Biden campaign and the Romney/Ryan campaign came out during the VP debates. Biden said he was a faithful Catholic and believed his church’s teaching on abortion (in the true spirit of faith as “believing what you know ain’t so”), but he wasn’t willing to impose his religious beliefs on …
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