The “big one” has hit Christchurch. Few in the entire country will be untouched or unaffected, since we in New Zealand are a little village. To a man each will have relatives, friends, colleagues and mates in Christchurch. In that sense it is a national disaster. The meaning and significance of such disasters are always […]
Entries Tagged as 'Current Events'
Hearing the Voice of God: Tragedy and its Aftershocks
February 28th, 2011 25 Comments
Tags: Christchurch Earthquake
Prayers for the victims of the Christchurch Earthquake
February 22nd, 2011 9 Comments
We are devastated for our countrymen who were struck by a very shallow, yet very destructive, 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand this afternoon. While it may have been smaller than September’s 7.1 magnitude earthquake, all reports show that this one was far worse in terms of its violence and impact. Today many people have […]
Tags: Christchurch Earthquake
The Pretensions of Democracy and the Egypt Riots
February 9th, 2011 81 Comments
The secular west has a secular gospel. It is the good news of democracy. When problems assail a nation, all would be assuaged if not solved if it had more democracy. And so it has come to pass with respect to Egypt. The West is not unique in that it has its own version of […]
Tags: Democracy · Egypt Riots · Islam · Political Philosophy
Waitangi’s Christian Heritage
February 6th, 2011 Comments Off on Waitangi’s Christian Heritage
It is Waitangi Day in New Zealand today; the day where we remember the signing of the treaty of Waitangi in 1840. This morning at church I had the privilege of hearing a very interesting talk from my Pastor, Rev. Dr Stuart Lange about the lead up to the Treaty signing. Stuart is a church […]
Tags: Christian History · Laidlaw College · New Zealand Christian Network · Samuel Marsden · Stuart Lange · Treaty of Waitangi · Waitangi Day · William Wilberforce
Category 5 Cyclone Yasi About to Land in Queensland – My Parents are in Port Douglas UPDATE 2
February 2nd, 2011 2 Comments
Last night my mother contacted me to tell there was a cyclone warning in Port Douglas and she was doing the whole preparedness thing – checking food supplies, elevating important furniture and household documents and so on. At this time of the year in Port Douglas, where she and my stepfather live this is nothing […]
Tags: Cyclone Yasi · Port Douglas · Queensland
Maori Animism: New Zealand’s Established Religion
January 30th, 2011 293 Comments
New Zealand, along with all nations, is acutely religious. But, more than most Western countries, the dominant religion is now the Established Religion. We are using “established” in the historical sense of a religion prescribed and protected, so that all citizens must respect and honour that particular religion’s beliefs and practices. Established religion is the […]
Tags: Maori Animism · Phil Mohi · Religion in Public Life · State Religion
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.
Atheist Posters: University Intolerance is Suddenly News?
February 3rd, 2011 32 Comments
Last night I watched a section on TV3’s Campbell Live about the treatment of a campus atheist club at the University of Lincoln entitled “Atheist uni students’ posters torn down” (follow the link to view the video). This story went into detail about how the clubs posters have been regularly ripped down and defaced. The […]
Tags: Atheist Club · Campbell Live · Natasha Utting · University of Lincoln