Critics of Christianity often claim that the book of Joshua teaches that God commanded genocide. Raymond Bradley for example states, In chapters 7 through 12, [the book of Joshua] treats us to a chilling chronicle of the 31 kingdoms, and all the cities therein, that fell victim to Joshua’s, and God’s, genocidal policies. Time and […]
Entries Tagged as 'God and Morality'
Sunday Study: Joshua and the Genocide of the Canaanites Part I
January 3rd, 2010 52 Comments
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Brevard Childs · Canaanites · Genocide · Hermeneutics · Joshua · Kenneth Kitchen · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Old Testament Ethics · Raymond Bradley · Sunday Study · Theology · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
Does Abortion Benefit the Fetus? A Critique of Himma Part 2
December 24th, 2009 7 Comments
In my previous post, Does Abortion Benefit the Fetus? A Critique of Himma Part 1, I discussed Kenneth Einar Himma’s argument that even if a fetus is a human being, laws permitting feticide are compatible with the harm principle.I elaborated an important objection to Himma’s argument, an objection articulated by Mark Murphy, which appeals to […]
Tags: Abortion · Augustine · David Boonin · Eschatology · Feticide · Infanticide · Kenneth Einar Himma · Lalia Williamson · Mark Murphy
Does Abortion Benefit the Fetus? A Critique of Himma Part 1
December 18th, 2009 7 Comments
This series was developed from the paper I gave to the Auckland STAANZ Conference: Eschatology and Pneumatology. In Is Abortion Liberal? I suggested that one cannot simultaneously affirm the harm principle, accept that a fetus is a human being, and support permissive abortion laws. If abortion is homicide then it harms a human being, and […]
Tags: Abortion · Alan Donagan · Augustine · Eschatology · Feticide · Kenneth Einar Himma · Mark Murphy
Rangiora New Life College, Religion and Discrimination
December 13th, 2009 14 Comments
On Wednesday I flew to Christchurch for an interview regarding a religious education (RE) teaching position in a Catholic School. On having the interview and receiving the subsequent rejection email, it was clear what the reason I did not get the position was: I am a protestant, the school has a particular Catholic ethos that […]
Tags: Campbell Live · Dave Crampton · Education · Idiot/Savant · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Ollie Sterrit · Rangiora New Life School · Religion in Public Life · Sara Etherington · Sexual Morality · Teenage Pregnancy
Religious Restraint and Public Policy: Part VI
December 3rd, 2009 Comments Off on Religious Restraint and Public Policy: Part VI
In my last posts, beginning Religious Restraint and Public Policy: Part I, I set out the doctrine of religious restraint and critiqued some of the key arguments in support of it. I looked at the objection that the argument from respect is too thin, that applied consistently it excludes too much and Audi’s response to […]
Tags: Christopher Eberle · Doctrine of Religious Restraint · Freedom of Religion · Jurisprudence · Law Studies · Lydia McGrew · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Phillip Quinn · Philosophy of Religion · Political Philosophy · Public Policy · Religion in Public Life · Robert Audi · Stephen Carter · Terence Cuneo
Religious Restraint and Public Policy: Part V
November 30th, 2009 1 Comment
In my last posts, beginning Religious Restraint and Public Policy: Part I, I set out the doctrine of religious restraint and critiqued some of the key arguments in support of it. I looked at the objection that the argument from respect is too thin, that applied consistently it excludes too much and Audi’s response to […]
Tags: Christopher Eberle · Doctrine of Religious Restraint · Edward Feser · Freedom of Religion · Jurisprudence · Law Studies · Philosophy of Religion · Political Philosophy · Public Policy · Religion in Public Life · Terence Cuneo
Religious Restraint and Public Policy: Part IV
November 27th, 2009 Comments Off on Religious Restraint and Public Policy: Part IV
In my last posts, beginning Religious Restraint and Public Policy: Part I, I set out the doctrine of religious restraint and critiqued some of the key arguments in support of it. I looked at the objection that the argument from respect is too thin, that applied consistently it excludes too much and Audi’s response to […]
Tags: Christopher Eberle · Doctrine of Religious Restraint · Freedom of Religion · Gerald Gaus · Glenn Peoples · Jurisprudence · Law Studies · Philosophy of Religion · Political Philosophy · Public Policy · Religion in Public Life · Robert Audi · Terence Cuneo

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.




