Alethian Worldview

Episode 2: Superstition

Deacon Duncan — Tue, 07 May 2013 09:09:44 +0000

Took me longer to finish this than I had hoped, but here it is: Life After Jesus: Superstition from Deacon Duncan on Vimeo.

What I did this weekend

Deacon Duncan — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 23:13:21 +0000

Some of you may be wondering what I’m doing with all that free time now that I’m not slaving away over laboriously hand-typed blog posts. Well, here’s a partial answer. Life After Jesus (Teaser) from Deacon Duncan on Vimeo. So nothing that Spielberg would be too impressed by, but the ice is broken. Maybe a …

The dreaded burnout

Deacon Duncan — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 13:28:05 +0000

I guess I can’t deny it: I’ve hit the wall again. I’ve come to dread the thought of writing another blog article, even if it’s only once per week. It’s time for a hiatus. I’ve had this sort of experience before, and it generally resolves on its own after a while. Basically, what I’m going …

Wielding your sword by the blade

Deacon Duncan — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 15:17:00 +0000

For this week’s installment of Pastor Feinstein’s presuppositional apologetics, I actually find a point the Pastor got right. Only one, though—the rest of the time his reasoning is more like a man trying to do battle using a sword with no hilt.

Top 5

Deacon Duncan — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:43:04 +0000

Attention Twitter fans: are you having trouble deciding what to say about the news that ill health is forcing the pope to retire? Here’s a quick list of Top Five 3-Word Responses to the news: 5. It’s a start. 4. What, no cops? 3. Prayer failed, eh? 2. He deserves it. And the number one …

Shells and switches

Deacon Duncan — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 15:50:09 +0000

One of the most important reasons why creationism does not belong in the classroom is because creationism promotes superstitious thinking, which is the antithesis of scientific thinking. Trying to think superstitiously about science really screws things up, and in today’s excerpt from Pastor Stephen Feinstein’s reply to Russell Glasser, we find an almost prototypical example.

The Gypsy Curse

Deacon Duncan — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 14:45:01 +0000

Over at Evangelical Realism, we’re continuing our look at Pastor Stephen Feinstein’s debate with Russell Glasser, and I I can’t help but think of a post I did a few years ago about Jesus and the Gypsy Curse. It’s like a scene from an old B-grade black-and white horror flick: Jesus is walking down some …

Mayberry Machiavellis

Deacon Duncan — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 14:34:13 +0000

While I’m currently snowed under (literally and figuratively), here’s some interesting reading, from Religion Dispatches, on George W. Bush’s first “faith czar,” and his praise for Obama’s faith-based initiatives. John J. DiIulio, the first director of George W. Bush’s White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, has taken to the Washington Post to laud President Obama’s …

Format change

Deacon Duncan — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 13:55:08 +0000

Just a quick note: I’m switching to a more-or-less weekends only format, due to my day-job requirements. Much as I love blogging, I have to have weekdays clear to focus on my profession and still leave some time for myself and my family. I might be able to squeeze in a weekday post now and …

A surprising enemy

Deacon Duncan — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:50:46 +0000

Over at latimes.com, they’re reporting that the dishonestly-named “Defense of Marriage” Act has an enemy that may surprise you. One of the nation’s leading gay-rights advocacy groups, the Human Rights Campaign, has formed a coalition of major companies calling for the repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. It’s no surprise, of course, that …