A fascinating and, I think, uncontestable list from John Ortberg Both President Obama and Governor Romney have had to repeatedly address their views about an itinerant rabbi who lived 2000 years ago. But why does anyone care? Yale historian Jeroslav Pelikan wrote, “Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of [...]
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An interesting article in the smh, “Ethics classes hidden from parents, say supporters“ PROPOSED changes to the way parents are notified about the option of ethics classes in NSW schools have been criticised by supporters, who claim they are a deliberate attempt to stymie the classes’ take up. A government-initiated inquiry into ethics classes was [...]
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Warning – some spoilers As the Ouldlets get oulder I, once again, get to enjoy watching a film or two as we take long intercontinental flights, such as last Thursdays 8 hour hop from Singapore to Sydney. On the advice of a good friend I started with 500 Days of Summer, which I can heartily [...]
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This is going to be a bit of a ramble. Grab a cup of something and sit down with me… I’ve been working through the latest government adoption report [pdf] in Australia, prompted by my previous post and I came across this chilling sentence (chapter 4, p.34): Broader social trends, such as declining fertility rates, the wider [...]
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I’ve gotten a bit of leverage out of my “Answering Dawkins” material in recent weeks. One of the arguments that people are engaging with is that of morality, and the consistent basis (or lack of it) for the New Atheists’ moral claims. Here’s a similar line pushed really well by Doug Wilson in the Collision [...]
View PostFascinating little snippet from Wired Science. The fundamental origin of our dearest beliefs is a centuries-old philosophical question: Do they reflect, as Kant claimed, deep and pure principles? Or, per Jeremy Bentham, are they elegantly rationalized cost-benefit analyses? Neuroscientist Greg Berns of Emory University put this question to the test in a brain scanner. [...]
View PostNovember 11 was Fyodor Dostoevsky's [wiki] birthday (1821 – so 190 years). Here's the lovely google logo for the day in Russia, Dostoevsky was a great author and had a keen Christian mind. This post was going to be a brief comment about his most famous quote (through a character in his book)… Without God [...]
View PostI've been thinking a lot again recently about the inconsistency of the New/Pop Atheists. So has John Richardson, the “Ugley Vicar”. Some excellent stuff here on how our obsession with evolution quickly falls away when it comes up against other cherished beliefs. Crime – its a 'black thing' And in case anyone seeks to construe this post [...]
View PostA great little piece in the Guardian by Andrew Brown on the faux utilitarian ethic people pretend they apply to the issue of abortion. …the Dorries bill does raise some interesting ethical complications. It shows up once more the way in which we justify our actions on the basis of a sort of squishy utilitarianism, [...]
View PostI'll be doing this tomorrow. Your prayers coveted. On 25 November 2009, NSW Premier Nathan Rees approved a proposal to conduct a pilot of a secular ethics program. The ten week trial was held in ten NSW Primary schools and was completed in Term 2, 2010. There's been considerable debate in the media about the [...]
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