Imagine the absurdity of a would-be mountain climber arriving at the base of a great mountain one afternoon, prepared to climb it by himself. You ask him, “What preparation do you have? What have you studied about this great mountain?” And he replies, “I read a couple of articles on the internet.” And with that, […]
education
Would you indoctrinate your child to save their soul?
This should be interesting. I just posted this Twitter survey. It seems to me that if you believe that the failure to be a Christian ensures eternal separation from God and the concomitant deprivation of the unimaginable goods of the new heavens and new earth, then in principle you would have excellent grounds to indoctrinate […]
A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing, or the biggest problem with popular Christian apologetics
Thirty years ago popular Christian apologetics (henceforth PCA) was thin on the ground: Josh McDowell, John Warwick Montgomery, Norman Geisler, and a smattering of others largely carried the field. But these days the field of PCA is crowded with luminaries ranging from distinguished academics (e.g. William Lane Craig; Gary Habermas; Timothy McGrew) to lay church […]
Freethinking children? Not so much.
Today I came upon the following tweet courtesy of a retweet by Secular Outpost. (As a disclaimer, Secular Outpost does not consider a retweet an endorsement of the tweet. Nor, for that matter, do I.) Meet Zea, the 7-year-old who stood up to a homophobic hate preacher this week by holding up a rainbow sign. […]
What chance has she?
Richard Dawkins begins his famous 1991 essay “Viruses of the Mind” with the following words: “A beautiful child close to me, six and the apple of her father’s eye, believes that Thomas the Tank Engine really exists. She believes in Father Christmas, and when she grows up her ambition is to be a tooth fairy. […]
Preparing Christian kids for the university faith-buster class
A couple days ago I posted an article responding to a comment by Lee Strobel given in the midst of an interview with Darrell Bock at Dallas Theological Seminary. In this article I want to return to that interview to address an interesting exchange Bock and Strobel have over so-called “faith-buster” classes, i.e. university classes […]
What’s an education worth?
For the last few months university students in Quebec have been “on strike” from classes because of the government’s intention to raise tuition by $325 a year over five years for a grand total of an additional $1625. It is an interesting turn of a phrase. Calling this a strike is about as ridiculous as calling […]
The Atheist Missionary continues to justify his prejudices
Why do I keep dumping on poor Atheist Missionary? Is it because I have a curious, morbid fascination in an intelligent denizen of western civilization defending his prejudices in a painfully ad hoc manner? In part, perhaps. But that’s not the whole story. The real lesson here is that we all attempt to justify our […]
Royal flushes, resurrections, and the things you teach your children
The Atheist Missionary’s criteria for what he would teach his children has continued to evolve (or devolve, I’m not sure yet). That’s a good thing because it is important for him to work out the principles that guide how he raises his progeny. The key issue concerned past event types that are unique and unrepeatable. […]
Would you teach your child that Great Grampy got a Royal Flush?
Occasionally a line of questioning / dialogue opens up in a thread which deserves to be put in the spotlight. This is one of those cases. It all began yesterday when The Atheist Missionary questioned me on what it is appropriate to teach a child. I’ve reproduced the nuts and bolts of that conversation below. […]
Entomophobia meets Reason: A teachable moment
Jerry Rivard responded to my criticism of the terrible advice Dawkins gave to his daughter by asking: “So what would your advice be to your daughter?” Good question. Here’s an eminently practical response. Just this morning we were driving along when my nine year old began “freaking out” in the back seat. “What is it?” I […]
