An interesting discussion of Islam has been occurring at Kiwiblog. Up until now I have merely chipped in to correct inaccurate claims about Christian beliefs and practices. However, for what its worth I’ll add my two cents worth here. Here is what I think the issues are. We are familiar with Christian teachings on the […]
Entries Tagged as 'Philosophy of Religion'
The Question of Islam
August 21st, 2007 Comments Off on The Question of Islam
Tags: Freedom of Religion · Islam · Religion in Public Life · War Ethics
Contra Christopher Hitchens
August 10th, 2007 Comments Off on Contra Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens’ critiques of religion get a thorough rebuttal here. My favourite paragraph is this expose, The effectiveness of Hitchens’ book is also undermined by the large number of errors it contains, many so glaring that they will be picked up by even a casual reader with some knowledge of history and theology. The Gnostic […]
Tags: Atheism · Christopher Hitchens · Religious History
Paul Litterick on Religion and Public Life: A second Look
August 7th, 2007 Comments Off on Paul Litterick on Religion and Public Life: A second Look
In a previous post I criticised an argument made by Paul Litterick for the conclusion that theological arguments should not affect public policy. Paul has responded saying that this post consisted of a “lengthy misrepresentation of [his] views” Now I do not wish to caricature anyone’s views. I would rather refute Paul’s actual arguments than […]
Correspondence from Dr Bill Cooke
August 6th, 2007 1 Comment
I received the following last night: Dear Matthew Thank you telling your readers you apologised for not seeking my side of the story with regard to the Visiting Associate Professor imbroglio. I appreciate your honesty there. However, I was dismayed to read a new litany of innuendo about this. I am depressed that you should […]
Tags: Bill Cooke · Rationalists
Religion and Public Life: A Response to Russell Brown and Paul Litterick
August 3rd, 2007 11 Comments
Paul Litterick was recently interviewed by Russell Brown on Public Address. The topic predictably is his criticism of conservative Christian groups whom Russell appears to have no time for. Here I will make to criticisms of this broadcast, first one of Russell Brown and the second of Litterick. Turning first to Russell Brown; Brown mentioned […]
Tags: Christopher Eberle · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Paul Litterick · Philip Quinn · Rationalists · Religion in Public Life
Abortion and Capital Punishment: No Contradiction
August 2nd, 2007 1 Comment
This blog post has been published in Think: A Journal of the Royal Institute for Philosophy 6 (2008) 87-92, which is a journal of Cambridge University. One argument I frequently hear is that opposition to feticide, the killing of a human fetus, is inconsistent with support for capital punishment. Some times this argument is pushed even further. […]
Tags: Abortion · Alvin Plantinga · Beverly Harrison · Capital Punishment · Ethics · Feticide

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.




