Popular Christian apologists have a problem. On the one hand, they are strident defenders of objective moral knowledge, often to the end of defending a moral argument for God’s existence. On the other hand, they defend readings of the violence portrayed in the Bible that appear inconsistent with that aforementioned commitment to objective moral knowledge. […]
Archives for May 2017
From Aliens to Meh: A Review of Alien: Covenant
Thirty-one years ago I saw Aliens in the theater. Wow. I still can feel the visceral sense of excitement and wonder at being thrown into this dark dystopian future. Even now, the special effects have held up remarkably well. As has Vasquez’s masterful burn: Yes, that’s the late Bill Paxton playing the cocky and endearing Private […]
Is it wrong for Christians to troll Trump?
Over the last year or two trolling Donald Trump seems to have become an (inter)national past time. Saturday Night Live and a host of late night comedy hosts led the way. In fact, Seth Meyers’ epic 2011 roast of Trump is reputed to have contributed to the man’s determination to run for president in 2016. […]
Do ID theorists have an agenda? And does it matter if they do?
The discussion thread for my article “Intelligent Design Explanations are not Science Stoppers” includes a spirited exchange with RonH. One point of disagreement that quickly emerged in our interaction concerned the relevance of the background beliefs and intentions of intelligent design advocates in assessing the arguments for intelligent design. RonH was keen to link intelligent design to the […]
Intelligent Design Explanations are not Science Stoppers
It’s a familiar charge for anybody well versed in the ID literature: ID explanations ought to be rejected because they are “science stoppers.” (See, for example, Karl Giberson and Donald Yerxa, Species of Origins: America’s Search for a Creation Story (Rowman and Littlefield, 2002), 225-26.) How’s that exactly? The idea is that once you invoke intelligence as […]
Cultural Relativism: at least they meant well
When I was in university twenty plus years ago, cultural relativism was very popular. The essence of cultural relativism is that ethical judgments (good and evil; right and wrong) can only be made from within cultural frameworks. The truth of various ethical judgments are constituted relative to the socially embedded practices in which they are made. […]
What did Jesus believe about Noah and Lot’s wife? A response to Justin Schieber
Yesterday Justin Schieber tweeted some questions regarding Jesus, Noah, and Lot and his wife and he tagged me requesting a reply: Christian bloggers,If you have a moment, I'd love a post addressing these two questions:Thanks! pic.twitter.com/HhVqHRf51O — Real Atheology Podcast (@RealAtheology) May 22, 2017 Being the obliging chap that I am, I briefly tweeted a […]
Unbelievable: Justin Brierley’s Book is Landing!
Justin Brierley’s book was launched last week at the Unbelievable Conference in London. Justin also spoke last week at the conference to do a book launch and his talk is featured in the latest edition of Unbelievable. The talk is a brief but stimulating flyover of some of the arguments and themes in the book. […]
The Devil Made Him Do It? A look at the conservative Christian defense of Trump
Today I came across this article at The Stream titled “Trump is Under Attack, and Not Just by Human Critics.” The author, John Zmirak, senior editor at The Stream, offers a jaw-dropping explanation for Donald Trump’s woes: demonic attack. He writes: Given the profound evils that Trump has promised to confront, from Islamic terrorism to Planned […]
Exercises in Missing the Point: A Response to Counter Apologist’s Scorched Earth Review
I recently preached a sermon on faith and evidence and while it received a warm reception in the comments section of my blog, apparently the feelings were not universal: an absolutely scathing review was posted just today by the generally amiable Counter Apologist (henceforth CA). How scathing? Consider his opening (f-bomb and all). CA says of my sermon: “It […]
Let’s Talk About Sex … and Porn
The latest edition of Unbelievable delves into the topic “Is porn harmful to society?” The conversation featured pro-porn advocates Charlotte Rose, a “sexual freedom campaigner,” and Adam Scarborough from “the Campaign Against Censorship.” And speaking against porn we have my friend Matt Fradd, author of the new book The Porn Myth: Exposing the Reality Behind the Fantasy […]
Can divine wrath explain divinely commanded genocide?
In his 2005 book Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace theologian Miroslav Volf provides a penetrating reflection on the extraordinary challenge and inestimable rewards of acquiring a robust understanding of grace and forgiveness. I first became aware of Volf’s book some years ago when I was critiquing evangelical apologetic readings of […]
Three Ways Atheists Try to Rise Above the Hoi Polloi
Most of us have ways that we distinguish ourselves and our in-group from the common herd. Alas, in most instances those points of distinction either (1) do not uniquely obtain in the in-group, (2) cannot be demonstrated to obtain uniquely within the in-group, or (3) are are less significant than is initially suggested. The conclusion: the […]
My Eyes are Mirrors: A reflection on my dog staring out the window
The other day I took this close up of one of my dogs — Sonny — staring out the window, past the front porch and to the world waiting beyond. My wife pointed out that the porch and blue sky beyond were mirrored in Sonny’s eye (I apologize for the gross eye closeup): That in […]
