Andy Bannister is the director and top apologist of RZIM Canada and author of The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist. In the following 3 minute video (part of a lengthy series of similar videos) he argues that life is meaningless without God. So what should we say about Andy’s argument? To begin with, Andy opens with […]
purpose
The Meaning of Life: A New Year’s Eve Reflection
The dawning of a new year is a great opportunity for a little life reflection. But this New Year’s Eve, don’t stop with the standard resolutions (e.g. lose weight!; spend more time with family!; read more books!). Dig a little deeper by considering the question of meaning. A little while ago I was reading an essay in […]
You Don’t Own Yourself: Christianity Against Culture Part 1
Several weeks ago, blog commenter extraordinaire Luke Breuer posed the following question to me in a discussion thread: “What are some of the ways you think Christianity [strongly?] contrasts with contemporary culture?” It’s an interesting question, not least because I spend a lot of my time emphasizing the points of continuity between Christianity and contemporary […]
If there is no God, then life has no meaning: A Reader’s Journey Through God or Godless (Part 3)
In the first debate of the book we take on the question of meaning. My concern here is not merely the possibility of meaning that is constructed out of personal preference or social convention. Rather, I am concerned with a meaning that we discover. The theist’s understanding of meaning, as I defend it here, is […]
Lessons from the tragicomic aging rock star
I bought my first album back in 1980: The Who’s Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy. The record was packed with classics like “Pinball Wizard,” “The Seeker” and “My Generation” in which Roger Daltrey sings that immortal line, “I hope I die before I get old.” The line may be immortal, but alas, Daltrey isn’t. Nor […]
Living forever is not necessarily meaningful
I have addressed the link between meaning and immortality in the past here and here. In this essay I’m going to explain briefly why immortality does not, in itself, convey meaning. Consider the following scenario. There is no God and the blind, purposeless process of evolution gives rise to a kind of creature called Homo […]
The nutcracker that thought he’d stoke the fire and other bad ideas
“It comes up constantly. Without a god, without an afterlife, how can life have any meaning?” So says “Bad” of the “Bad Idea Blog” at the beginning of his article “The Meaning of Meaning & Why Theism Can’t Make Life Matter“. Bad doesn’t think this idea is of much worth. Thus he retorts: “Meaning without God? The question […]
Can you see the sun if it doesn’t reflect light?
John Loftus and I have now completed the manuscript for God or Godless and I can say it was the most fun I ever had writing a book. (And I have fun writing books so that’s saying something.) I also think it may be the most important project I’ve ever worked on. (Admittedly depending on […]
Life is a concentration camp, so why are you smiling?
Few American autuers can boast the kind of reputation enjoyed by Woody Allen. While his films rarely clean up at the suburban Cineplex they are a cherished mainstay at the neighborhood art house. Whatever you think of Woody as a person, his oeuvre speaks for itself. And time and again Woody has explored one particular theme: the […]
Nancy Sinatra’s boots were made for walkin’, but what was she made for?
Nancy Sinatra topped the charts in 1966 by singing about the teleology of her go go boots. In short, they were made for walkin’. (And pretty soon they’re gonna walk all over you.) In terms of anthems for women’s liberation this figures in somewhere below Helen Reddy’s “I am Woman” but perhaps a notch above […]
