Wintery Knight has posted the video below from a debate of Senator Jim Demint speaking on the proposed hate crimes amendment currently before the US Senate. I do not agree with all of the Senator’s arguments; the Senator seems to oppose the idea that some crimes or assaults are worse than others; however, having distinctions […]
Entries Tagged as 'Social Commentary'
Senator Jim Demint on the Proposed Hate Crimes Amendment
July 18th, 2009 16 Comments
Tags: Hate Crimes
Fisking Ian Hassall: The Arbitrary Ethical Reasoning on the Smacking Referendum
July 10th, 2009 41 Comments
Recently Dr Ian Hassall gave a presentation, on the upcoming referendum on section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961, entitled: How did we come to have a law that supported hitting children? This presentation defends the thesis that mild physical punishment (smacking) is wrong and should remain illegal in New Zealand. In this post I […]
Tags: David Benatar · Defences · Ethics · Ian Hassall · Moral Discourse · Referendum · s59 · Smacking
Fisking Margaret Mayman: The Flawed Moral Theology on the Smacking Referendum
July 7th, 2009 7 Comments
In “A Christian Perspective on the Child Discipline Referendum,” Rev Dr Margaret Mayman presents a theological justification for retaining the amended section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961, which has criminalised force used against a child for the purposes of parental correction. Mayman began by offering three standard arguments for repealing the old section 59, […]
Tags: Crimes Act · David Benatar · Hermeneutics · Margaret Mayman · Referendum · s59 · Smacking · Theology
The Foreshore and Seabed Repeal: The Inconvenience of Due Process
July 2nd, 2009 14 Comments
That the state is not above the law but also subject to it is surely one of the foundational concepts of any just and free society. This notion has found its place in the writings of many influential philosophers, jurists and theologians, it can be found in the constitutions and bills of rights of most […]
Tags: Foreshore and Seabed · Human Rights · Jurisprudence · Justice · Liberty · Māori Land · Ngāti Apa
Evolution should not be taught in State Schools: A Defence of Plantinga Part II
July 1st, 2009 66 Comments
In Evolution should not be taught in State Schools: A Defence of Plantinga Part I, I articulated and defended Alvin Plantinga’s proposal that evolution should not be taught as “the sober truth” in state schools. In this post I will address what should be taught in state schools and look at Robert Pennock’s objections to […]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Evolution · Public Policy · Public Schools · Religion in Public Life · Robert Pennock · Science and Religion · State Schools
Evolution should not be taught in State Schools: A Defence of Plantinga Part I
June 30th, 2009 55 Comments
In this two-part series I will sketch and defend Alvin Plantinga’s proposal that evolution should not be taught as “the sober truth” in state schools. In Part I, I will sketch Plantinga’s position and the arguments he provides for it; in Part II, I will look at what should be taught and then I’ll defend […]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Evolution · Public Policy · Public Schools · Religion in Public Life · Robert Pennock · Science and Religion · State Schools
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.
(dis)Honest to God: How Not to Argue about the Smacking Referendum
July 28th, 2009 73 Comments
Given that yesterday we advertised Dr Glenn Peoples’ upcoming public lectures and because the smacking referendum begins on Saturday, I thought we’d share this article critiquing bad anti-smacking reasoning by Glenn. (dis)Honest to God: How Not to Argue about the Smacking Referendum Ian Harris tells us (“Honest to God,” Dominion Post, [Dominion Post. Saturday July […]
Tags: Glenn Peoples · Ian Harris · Referendum · s59 · Smacking