We were contacted a while back by Opposing Views and asked if we would consider allowing them to link to us. We had a look at their site, liked what we saw and said yes. We are now featured on their Religion and Society page as a recommended site. “Dr Matthew Flannagan” is also officially [...]
Entries from April 30th, 2009
MandM on Opposing Views in Religion and Society
April 30th, 2009 No Comments
Tags: Religion in Public Life
Don’t Forget!
April 28th, 2009 No Comments
Tonight!Thinking Matters JP Moreland on Faith and Reason at Laidlaw College at 7pm. Next Thursday 7 MayBlogger Drinks from 6.30pm at Galbraiths, 2 Mt Eden Road, Mt Eden, Auckland. See you there
Tags: Events
With God Anything can be Permitted: Another Bad Argument against Theistic Morality
April 28th, 2009 30 Comments
Dostoevsky’s Ivan Karamazov’s famously contended that if God does not exist then anything is permissible. Ken over at Open Parachute disagrees and goes one step further and argues that the shoe is on the other foot. Ken maintains that theistic accounts of obligation lead to an “extreme form of moral relativism” and in fact, Dostoevsky’s [...]
Tags: Atheism · Bad Reasoning · Divine Command Theory · Ethics · God and Morality
PJ O’Rourke on Perfect Form: A Review of Guidelines for Bias-Free Writing
April 27th, 2009 3 Comments
Given that PJ O’Rourke will be speaking in Auckland this week (see details, Invisible Hand versus Visible Fist) I thought I would share this gem with you; it is a rant by PJ O’Rourke on politically correct language, Perfect Form: A Review of Guidelines for Bias-Free Writing. It is so funny that it is hard [...]
Tags: Humour · Political Correctness
Sunday Study: The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
April 26th, 2009 7 Comments
“If something nice happens to somebody else be happy for them and not angry for yourself.” This is one of those concepts we try to drum into our kids when we talk about good sportsmanship, not being jealous when watching a sibling open their birthday presents or when one gets an invite somewhere exciting that [...]
Tags: Sunday Study · Theology
Go on and Rubberneck
April 26th, 2009 3 Comments
In case you have noticed and wondered at the recent flurry of arrivals from Kiwiblog in the Live Traffic Feed you might click here and then once on the page use “control f” then type in “abortion” and then read the defamatory statement about me (and Matt) and the ensuing debate that began on Friday. [...]
Antony Flew v William Lane Craig debate “Does God Exist?”
April 26th, 2009 3 Comments
In 1948 Bertrand Russell and Frederick Copleston debated the existance of God on the BBC radio. That debate was considered the definitive debate of that generation. Fifty years later, to commemorate this debate, a debate re-examining the arguments for and against the existence of God was arranged between William Lane Craig and Antony Flew before [...]
Tags: Antony Flew · Debates · Philosophy of Religion · William Lane Craig
ANZAC Day: Lest we Forget or Have we Already?
April 25th, 2009 8 Comments
In ‘MCMXIV’ Philip Larkin describes the queues to enlist at the start of the first World War: The crowns of hats, the sun On moustached archaic faces Grinning as if it were all An August Bank Holiday lark His late-century comment was “Never such innocence again.” When I read these words in Jonathan Glover’s Humanity [...]
Tags: ANZAC Day · World War I
How to Judge a Beauty Pageant: Political Views more Important than Looks
April 24th, 2009 3 Comments
Apparently being an underweight and skeletal, having a BMI outside the healthy weight range, is an irrelevant factor for a beauty pageant judge to take into account when assessing who is the fairest of them all but a candidate’s opinion on gay marriage is not.
Tags: Bad Reasoning · Gay Marriage · Political Correctness
Surrounded by Brainy Women
April 23rd, 2009 10 Comments
Madeleine is currently completing a law degree and is enrolled in some final year papers. Today she received the results in for her first 4 pieces of assessment for the year. She has sat four tests and has scored 100%, 90%, 100%, 100% respectively, which in a subject like law, is very impressive. She still [...]
Tags: Law Studies
