As I was driving around Auckland this morning talkback was rife with people discussing the recent body snatchers case; an estranged father, against the wishes of both the deceased and her next of kin stole his daughters body and buried it in a family plot. Of course I remember the furor over the previous case, […]
Entries Tagged as 'Religion in Public Life'
The Body Snatchers and the Problem of Pluralism
December 14th, 2007 1 Comment
Tags: John Rawls · Philosophy of Religion · Pluralism · Race Relations · Religion in Public Life
Mayra Veronica and the Troops in Iraq: Where the Islamists Have a Point
December 12th, 2007 2 Comments
I am a fan of Bill Vallicella’s blog. A few days ago I found a post of his which is worth reproducing [link to post now broken Jan 2011]. He led with a picture of a scantily clad and busty Mayra Veronica and wrote: Don’t expect any more ‘eye candy’ on this site, but now […]
Tags: Bill Vallicella · Islam · Mayra Veronica · Religion in Public Life
Imposing Your Beliefs Onto Others: A Defence
November 7th, 2007 1 Comment
Recently an acquaintance forwarded me a some comments about this blog on a internet forum. The critic, who goes by the handle Kaiwai stated: Matt Flanagan I find, yes, some of the things I agree with but there is generally speaking, a huge difference; I don’t set out to impose my views by way of […]
Tags: Abortion · Bad Reasoning · Feticide · Kaiwai · Leslie Cannold · Religion in Public Life
The Question of Islam
August 21st, 2007 Comments Off on The Question of Islam
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 […]
Tags: Freedom of Religion · Islam · Religion in Public Life · War Ethics
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 […]
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
Democracy and Legitimacy
December 5th, 2006 Comments Off on Democracy and Legitimacy
The founding statement of liberal political theory, John Locke’s Two Treaties of Civil Government, opens with the following statement: Reader, thou hast here the beginning and end of a discourse concerning government; what fate has otherwise disposed of the papers that should have filled up the middle, and were more than all the rest, it […]
Tags: Declaration of Independence · Fiji · John Locke · Liberty · Role of the State · War Ethics

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.




