“If you argue with a madman, it is extremely probable that you will get the worst of it; for in many ways his mind moves all the quicker for not being delayed by things that go with good judgment. He … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: April 2013
Many people deny that life has one meaning, the same for all people, but still want to say that it has a subjective meaning; you have yours and I have mine and both are valid. But subjectivism about the meaning … Continue reading
“A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless … Continue reading
Here’s an insight into the genius of Narnia and Middle Earth by Alister McGrath at ABC Religion and Ethics. |Difficulty: Easy |Tag: Fiction | Time: 6 min | … Continue reading
One of Professor Richard Dawkins’ favourite lines about atheism is roughly this: there are many gods that Christians (for example) do not believe in and atheists just reject one more of them. Here’s an analysis of such thinking from the … Continue reading
At the Ethos Centre for Christianity and Society site, Brian Hill has posted an interesting reflection entitled “Is the Common Good a Universal Ethic?” It’s a good reflection on how, in a multi-everything society, we can go about getting agreement … Continue reading
The Maverick Philosopher sits a long way to my right. Nevertheless this argument about why conservatives should not privatise marriage (like baptisms, funerals and other rites) is interesting. In sum: the social costs of the government NOT taking an active … Continue reading
Last night’s ABC Law Report features an interview with Bryan Stevenson, a Christian high profile lawyer battling child life-without-parole imprisonment and other justice system defects. At the end of the interview he makes the following interesting comment about poverty and … Continue reading
Alvin Plantinga has remodelled an older argument (see especially CS Lewis’s Miracles) in his ‘Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism’. The gist is that you fall into contradiction if you believe both evolution and naturalism (that the natural world is all there … Continue reading
I find the idea of the multiverse difficult to swallow. The what? The idea that there are billions of parallel universes like our own (only different!) seems a faith step to me (which is not a comment on whether it … Continue reading
This incisive article contrasts two classic views of degraded human society—George Orwell’s (1984) and Aldous Huxley’s (Brave New World)—then uses The Hunger Games to flesh them out. It finishes with this provocative Christian reflection: “All of which means that, if … Continue reading
Massimo Pigliucci is a prominent philosopher-type. In this article he criticises Gary Gutting’s defence of Catholic faith and in the process makes an extraordinary juxtaposition of assertions. Pigliucci says: “The fundamental truth(s) about human life: it seems to me that … Continue reading
Archbishop Cranmer (the blogger) again, this time defending Archbishop Welby for talking about money (and copping some flak for being so provocative). What would Jesus do, after all? Here. … Continue reading
Last week I posted something on mindfulness that brought mixed responses. Here’s another at ABC Religion and Ethics. It’s an apologia for Buddhism rather than an attempt at a critical view. As you read it I suggest you do one … Continue reading