It is with a heavy heart that I must announce Patrick Chan was not, in fact, satirizing the triabloguers. So then what was he really up to? Well in response to my article he said he was satirizing me: Sorry, Randy! I know I took a great risk satirizing you like I did. Initially I […]
truth
Is it better to affirm a truth for the wrong reasons than to deny it for the right ones?
Another golden oldie from my 2009 CP blog: *** An acquaintance of mine, Stephen M. Wagner, sent me the following question: “is it better to believe something true through indoctrination and rhetoric or to believe something false through reflection and argument?” While it is a great question, let me put it in my own words, […]
If I shout a million times louder than you, does that make me right?
I just finished watching the outstanding 2010 dramatic film “Fair Game”. the film tells the infamous story of how the corrupt Bush administration outted CIA agent Valerie Plame in retaliation for her husband Joe Wilson’s courageous exposure of the faked “Niger connection” (which Bush used as a pretense for war with Iraq). Needless to say, Sean Penn and Naomi […]
What is the Greatest Enemy of Faith?
The other day I came across the following passage in a Peter Kreeft book: “Dullness, not doubt, is the strongest enemy of faith, just as indifference, not hate, is the strongest enemy of love.” (Everything you ever wanted to know about Heaven, 20) That gets my vote for thought provoking quote of the day, and […]
Apologetics and the ‘Company Man’ Image
Right after graduating university, my old roommate took a position with Sherwin Williams paint. He went off for a few days of training and came back with a thick binder of SW propaganda, a new shirt, and a whole new outlook on life. From that point on every time we went out he would point out the problems […]
Who cares about truth when you have urban legends?
A few years ago I was at a church watching their Christmas pageant when the narrator shared with the audience the uplifting origins of the candy cane. According to the narrator, back in the 19th century a candy maker in Indiana, desiring to share his faith in Christ, developed a special new candy to share […]
The letter Dawkins wrote, and the letter Jerry Rivard would like to think Dawkins wrote
Jerry offered some interesting comments in response to my recent critique of Dawkins. They were well formulated and deserve to be pulled up on stage to perform a couple numbers with the band. “So come on up Jerry’s comments!” (Randal extends his hand and helps the nervous comments up on stage.) Jerry’s comments begin: “Sometimes, when […]
Faith and Reason at War? A time for repentance and reconciliation
I should have included this in my last post, but better late than never. If you have ever promoted the faith and reason at war myth, and you have come to the point of admitting that you cannot defend that language then the time has come for repentance and reconciliation. To repent is to express […]
Faith versus Reason? A call for an end to the warfare myth
The other day in the comment thread for “Petitionary prayer and the final hours of a Skoal hockey puck” AcesLucky made the kind of comment that really irks me. It was like hearing a Russian make a snide comment about the cold winters in Canada. Here is the offending comment: “It’s not meant to be true, it’s […]
Why there is nothing wrong with being certain in your beliefs
These days one often encounters the idea that being certain about a belief — i.e. having unshakeable conviction in its truth — is somehow worriesome, dangerous, or otherwise threatening. This is how Richard Dawkins puts it: “religion causes wars by generating certainty.”(Cited in Avalos, Fighting Words, 177). Second, in Does the Bible justify violence? John J. Collins asserts […]
Car salesmen do it. Lawyers too. And politicians. And also academics.
It was summer, 1989. I was a sixteen year old standing on the Ford lot completely dazzled by the 1988 Ford Mustang 5.0 sitting hunched down and ready for action. It didn’t take long for the salesman to emerge from the air-conditioned showroom, doing his best to appear to be on an aimless stroll through […]
