Visit the official Vote No website to get an overview of the issues, facts and arguments as to why you should vote no in the upcoming referendum on smacking being de-criminalised. You can also pick up banners to advertise the site: To put this banner on your site, copy and paste this code where you […]
Entries from June 22nd, 2009
Not Voting is a Vote for Keeping Smacking Criminalised
June 22nd, 2009 6 Comments
I just had an interesting conversation with someone who is not remotely political, a sort of Joe Bloggs citizen. (Being somewhat outside normal, in that I like politics and analysing and debating issues and would find life boring without such things, I don’t interact with many ‘normal’ people on a day to day basis so […]
Tags: Smacking
We’re Confused about the Anti-Smacking Referendum Question
June 19th, 2009 12 Comments
… we’re confused that anyone could find it confusing. The referendum question is: Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand? Should it or shouldn’t it? It seems pretty simple to me. According to TVNZ, Labour leader Phil Goff says the question implies that if you vote […]
Theology and Natural Sciences Conferences
June 17th, 2009 1 Comment
TANSA (Theology and Natural Sciences in Aotearoa) run conferences in Auckland. As Matt will be speaking, on “Does Evolution Make Belief in God Untenable? – An Examination of the Common Arguments,” at the TANSA August Churches Conference, Faithful Science? – Just How Well Do Science and Faith Get Along? I thought I would refer you […]
Tags: Events · Science and Religion · Theology
Blog Ranking Buttons
June 16th, 2009 5 Comments
Andy made some buttons for those blogs who make the various New Zealand blog rankings and he kindly sent me the code for each to share with you. Just copy the code for the button you want to display on your blog and past it wherever you want it. <a href=”http://www.mandm.org.nz/2009/06/christian-blog-ranking-report-for-april.html”><img border=”0″ src=”http://equipbiz.co.nz/hosted/nzc10.jpg” style=”padding: 2px;” […]
Tags: NZ Blog Rankings
Sunday Study: Ask, Seek, Knock – Treating God Like a Genie
June 15th, 2009 Comments Off on Sunday Study: Ask, Seek, Knock – Treating God Like a Genie
This is yesterday’s Sunday study as promised. It’s based on a message I gave at Riverhead Presbyterian Church yesterday. A couple of months ago Madeleine was corresponding with a person who claimed he could prove that God does not exist. Madeleine challenged the person and in the ensuing dialogue it became evident that a theological […]
Tags: Sunday Study · Theology
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
No Defences Permitted for the Accused
June 19th, 2009 36 Comments
In, The referendum campaign is underway, No Right Turn’s Idiot/Savant gives an excellent example of an argument we see coming up a lot in the debate around the upcoming referendum on smacking. In addition to trotting out the standard ad hominem, that everyone who supports the reinstatement of the old section 59 of the Crimes […]
Tags: Bad Reasoning · Crimes Act · Defences · Idiot/Savant · Referendum · s59 · Smacking · Sue Bradford · William Blackstone