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Entries from August 22nd, 2007

Fruit not Drugs?

August 22nd, 2007 5 Comments

Today I returned from a trip to Sydney. As I exited customs and headed for my taxi I kept feeling like I had missed something, some step in security – maybe I had taken a wrong turn? You see when I flew to Australia I had to fill in a card answering a number of […]

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Iraq and the Just War Theory: Why I choose not to support the anti-war movement.

August 21st, 2007 3 Comments

I found this last night, I wrote it at the beginning of the US invasion in 2003 at that time I was opposed to the invasion of Iraq and was considering joining the anti-war movement in Dunedin. I posted it up on a newsgroup to get some answers from peace activists. I have edited it […]

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Craig Young on “Bare Backing”

August 21st, 2007 Comments Off on Craig Young on “Bare Backing”

Craig Young is shocked by statistics about “bare backing” being prevalent in the Gay community. Bare backing in case you don’t know is the name Craig gives to un-protected anal sex. Young is shocked because it suggests there exists a “parallel world where Paul Cameron tells the truth.” To understand this you need to understand […]

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The Question of Islam

August 21st, 2007 Comments Off on The Question of Islam

An interesting discussion of Islam has been occurring at Kiwiblog. Up until now I have merely chipped in to correct inaccurate claims about Christian beliefs and practices. However, for what its worth I’ll add my two cents worth here. Here is what I think the issues are. We are familiar with Christian teachings on the […]

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Texan Justice and Liberal fiction

August 19th, 2007 Comments Off on Texan Justice and Liberal fiction

Texas is about to perform it’s 400th execution since capital punishment was reinstated in 1982. Stuff has an interesting article on this entitled “Religion, Culture Behind, Texas Execution Tally” The article suggests that outsiders find it puzzling that evangelical Christians support capital punishment. This surprise, I suggest, reflects the theological and historical ignorance of these […]

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Against Liberal Morality

August 10th, 2007 Comments Off on Against Liberal Morality

In debates over abortion, homosexual conduct, euthanasia, prostitution, drugs. Those who call themselves liberals often mount the same basic argument. A socially or morally permissive stance is necessitated towards such practices because people have a right to choose do what ever they like with their bodies. As Mill put it, The only part of the […]

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Contra Christopher Hitchens

August 10th, 2007 Comments Off on Contra Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens’ critiques of religion get a thorough rebuttal here. My favourite paragraph is this expose, The effectiveness of Hitchens’ book is also undermined by the large number of errors it contains, many so glaring that they will be picked up by even a casual reader with some knowledge of history and theology. The Gnostic […]

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