Like many people, I was outraged at what *appeared* to be the overt disrespect and racism from the “Covington Boys” toward Vietnam vet Nathan Phillips. I described my visceral reaction in the article, “A Word on Behalf of the Idiots.” In that article, I assumed the moral culpability of the young men and then offered a […]
prejudice
Are Gay People More Likely to be Pedophiles?
Christians have long associated homosexuality with pedophilia. In an article titled “Facts About Homosexuality and Child Molestation,” Gregory Herek (Professor of Psychology at UC, Davis) observes that this kind of association is part of a common pattern of marginalizing outgroups: “Members of disliked minority groups are often stereotyped as representing a danger to the majority’s most […]
Are Positive Stereotypes Immoral?
This past week Donald Trump invited universal condemnation (leaders of the GOP excepted) for his blatantly racist and crude remarks about Africa and Haiti. Those comments were presumably borne by pernicious racial and cultural stereotypes. Trump’s apologists have replied in part by stressing the fact that he is okay with immigrants from Asia. This invites […]
All Lives Matter. But Black Lives Still Matter.
Jones says “Black lives matter.” Smith replies “All lives matter” in a not-so-subtle rebuke. Apparently Smith was interpreting Jones as saying “Only black lives matter.” Such a response suggests to me that Smith has a tin ear. Jones is surely not saying “Only black lives matter.” Rather, Jones is saying “Black lives matter too.” Or, more fully, “Black lives matter just as much […]
Misoatheism: A New Label for Anti-Atheist Prejudice
Edward Feser has continued his critical exchange with Greg Koukl in “Repressed knowledge of God? Part II.” Feser and I agree on the key point that “not all atheism stems from intellectual dishonesty.” Koukl, by contrast, insists that atheists are actively, willfully suppressing their innate disposition to believe in God in analogy with a person […]
Why the Friendly Atheist is Wrong. Or, for goodness sake, just thank goodness
Jeff Lowder pointed out to me that The Friendly Atheist has posted another article today (by Rachel Ford) about the infamous prayer discount. It is titled “The Daily Show Was Wrong to Imply That Addressing a Minor Act of Discrimination Was Petty“. I begin with a key passage from the article: “discrimination is discrimination. It doesn’t […]
The Atheist as Neighbor
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I am currently working on two books. I have now contracted the second book with the Cascade imprint of Wipf and Stock. In Is the Atheist My Neighbor? Rethinking Christian Attitudes Toward Atheists I take up the discussion I started in chapter 10 of You’re not as Crazy as […]
People who ride scooters aren’t all wusses
Motorcyclists tend to look down on those who ride scooters. Unless you’ve got a Vespa and you live in Sicily, scooters just ain’t cool. And everybody knows, therefore, that scooter riders are wusses. Right? Gee, now I’m not so sure. You see, a few weeks ago I was sitting outside McDonalds (see comedian Jim Gaffigan talk […]
Randal Rauser is not someone who it’s possible to have any sort of rational discussion about religion with
A couple weeks ago I had a bit of a dust up with Chris Hallquist which culminated in my article “Chris Hallquist, fundamentalism, and prejudice against Christian apologists.” Now Chris has fired back. Has he ever! His article opens like this: “I don’t think I’m going to be able to get through writing this post if I […]
Come on, stomp on Jesus! Do it!
Bilbo sent me a link for a news article titled “Professor Makes Students ‘Stomp on Jesus’“. For those of you not sufficiently motivated to click the hyperlink I provided here’s the quick scoop: a prof at a university in Florida asked his students to write the word Jesus on a piece of paper in an […]
Are the fat the last socially permissible prejudice?
On the flight back from Milwaukee on Friday I sat beside a grossly obese lady. Or rather, she sat beside me (much to my dismay, I must admit). In a process that looked enormously painful and seemed to take every ounce of her strength she heaved herself between the narrow seats of that purgatory we […]
Reflections on Jewsday: A Response to Paul Manata
Paul Manata’s most recent attempt to deflate my critique of the Cleveland Indians branding has left the fact that I’m a Canadian in the background and shifted to focus on a reductio. Paul points out that cultural stereotypes proliferate about Italians. So then if stereotypes about Indians are “bad” presumably then stereotypes about Italians are bad […]
Can N.T. Wright save Paul the Apostle?
Wisdom would counsel I not return to Paul, Titus, and the whole “Cretan fiasco”. [An aside: if Paul were a twenty-first century politician this affair would probably be dubbed “Cretangate” by the media.] But then I got a photocopied excerpt from an N.T. Wright commentary on Titus handed to me by my pastor and I […]
On slurring Cretans and Indians
Happily ensconced within my hotel in South Bend, Indiana and with a couple hours until this evening’s reception, I have decided to avail myself of a bit of blogging. I’ll focus on responding to a key excerpt from davidstarlingm’s defense of Paul’s comments on the Cretans in Titus 1:12-13: Paul was telling Titus to rebuke those people, […]
