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 own bodies. As John Stuart Mill put it in his […]
Entries from August 6th, 2011
This Wednesday @ Auckland Uni: A Godless Public Square – Do ‘Private’ Christian Beliefs Have a Place in Public Life?
August 1st, 2011 11 Comments
A common slogan in western liberal societies is that religion is a private matter; it has no place in public discussions of law, economics, public policy, education, social ethics, culture and so on. This “separationist” view is often attributed to US Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson “Wall of Separation Letter” and has become the orthodox view in liberal thought receiving important advocacy by philosophers such as John […]
Tags: Evangelical Union · Glenn Peoples · Jesus Week · Religion in Public Life · Thinking Matters
Society of Biblical Literature: Blogger and Online Publication
July 30th, 2011 1 Comment
The Society of Biblical Literature’s program book for their 2011 meeting in San Francisco is now online. The blogger and online publication session for which Matt and I have had a joint paper accepted shows who we are sharing the session with and provides links to brief abstracts for each talk. Blogger and Online Publication […]
Tags: Academia.edu · Alice Bach · Juhana Markus Saukkonen · Richard Price · Robert Cargill · San Francisco · Society of Biblical Literature
Jesus: The Cold Case a Guest Post by Glenn Peoples
July 27th, 2011 18 Comments
Glenn Peoples shares his thoughts on TV One’s recent episode Jesus: The Cold Case. Like a number of others tonight I have just watched Jesus: The Cold Case on TV One, presented by Bryan Bruce. Here are my thoughts on what I have seen. First off, who is Bryan Bruce? Bryan Bruce is an award winning producer, […]
Tags: Glenn Peoples · Guest Post · Historical Apologetics · Historical Ignorance · Jesus The Cold Case · TV One
“Are there Good Reasons for Abortion?” Wendy Savage and Madeleine Flannagan Debate on Unbelievable?
July 24th, 2011 50 Comments
This week, the UK’s Christian Premier Radio show, Unbelievable?, aired an episode on the topic “are there good reasons for abortion?” The episode saw host, Justin Brierley, moderate a debate between this blog’s Madeleine Flannagan and Professor Wendy Savage, a representative of Doctors for a Women’s Choice. A range of topics related to the issue of […]
Tags: Abortion · Feticide · Justin Brierley · Unbelievable? · Wendy Savage
Ethics in Journalism – Hear Matt’s Interview on Radio Rhema
July 23rd, 2011 6 Comments
On Thursday Matt was interviewed on Radio Rhema by their breakfast host, Tim Sisarich, on the topic of ethics in journalism. This was in the wake of the media frenzy over the Israelis killed in the Christchurch earthquake and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key’s rebuttal to claims that they were spies. The Murdoch saga was […]
Tags: Journalism Ethics · Radio Rhema · Tim Sisarich
Does Moral Commitment Presuppose Belief in Providence?
July 21st, 2011 36 Comments
Last week I had the privilege of hearing Professor John Hare, of Yale Divinity school, speak on God and morality at the Naturalisms in Ethics and APRA conferences. One idea Hare proposes, which fascinates me, is that commitment to morality presupposes belief in what he calls “strong providence” the position that “the world is so […]
Tags: God and Morality · Happiness · John Hare
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.
