As I write this it is just beginning to be the 4th of July in the United States now, though its been 4th July for some time here in New Zealand. The 4th of July is, of course, Independence Day. Typically in New Zealand, those members of the secular blogosphere, who consider themselves to be [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Peter Cresswell'
Freedom, Science and Christianity: A Response to James Valliant Part II
February 18th, 2010 2 Comments
Recently Peter Cresswell published a guest post by James Valliant, which originally appeared on SOLO. In Freedom, Science and Christianity: A Response to James Valliant Part I, I addressed Valliant’s claims that science and freedom of religion were unanimously opposed by Christians and the success of science and freedom of religion in Europe was solely [...]
Tags: Aristotle · Christian History · Dark Ages · Enlightenment · Founding Fathers · James Valliant · Libertarianism · Liberty · Mark Murphy · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Peter Cresswell · Regine Pernoud · Rodney Stark · Science and Religion · SOLO · W.E.H. Lecky
Freedom, Science and Christianity: A Response to James Valliant Part I
February 12th, 2010 14 Comments
Recently Peter Cresswell published a guest post by James Valliant, which originally appeared on SOLO. The following series is a critique of this piece. Valliant’s basic thesis is that, Both science and freedom came about among European Christians despite the best efforts of pious Christians to prevent their development, and only on a foundation of [...]
Tags: Christian History · Dark Ages · David Lindberg · Enlightenment · Founding Fathers · James Hannam · James Valliant · Libertarianism · Liberty · Peter Cresswell · Regine Pernoud · Science and Religion · SOLO
This one’s for Anna Woolf
December 1st, 2009 No Comments
Peter Cresswell has an update on blogger Anna Woolf‘s battle with cancer which is very near the end. We met Anna on my and her birthday in April this year at bloggers drinks and have enjoyed her company and shared laughs and swapped pain meds at each bloggers drinks since. We have not known her [...]
Tags: Annie Fox · Peter Cresswell
Auckland Bloggers Drinks Feat. Pamela Anderson and John Key – This Thursday!
September 25th, 2009 7 Comments
Following on from the success of last week’s packed out impromptu Auckland Bloggers drinks featuring blogging celebrity David Farrar, Peter Cresswell and I have decided that we should feature celebrity guests more often. This week Pamela Anderson is in Auckland for Fashion Week and John Key is back from New York, fresh from his success [...]
Tags: Anna Woolf · Bloggers Drinks · John Key · Pamela Anderson · Peter Cresswell
Is Abortion Liberal? Part 2
October 27th, 2008 26 Comments
In my previous post, Is Abortion Liberal? Part 1, I argued that liberals who support the non-initiation of force principle can support abortion only on two grounds; (a) the fetus is a person but its existence inside the mother without her consent constitutes a form aggression, and hence, the mother’s action of killing it is [...]
Tags: Abortion · Classical Liberalism · David Boonin · Feticide · Francis Beckwith · Liberalism · Libertarianism · Michael Tooley · Peter Cresswell · Rodney Hide
The “Dark Ages” and Other Propaganda
April 22nd, 2008 11 Comments
Perhaps I am a glutton for punishment, but I have been having an interesting dialogue with Peter Cresswell about the history of theology. To sum up PC follows the 20th century novelist Ayn Rand. Rand’s followers view Aristotle as the “father of the enlightenment,” they appear to hold a view of history that is extremely [...]
Tags: Christian History · Dark Ages · Faith and Reason · Peter Cresswell · Science and Religion
Theology, Morality and Reason
March 1st, 2008 No Comments
In my previous post I mediated on the morality of lying. I suggested that a divine command theorist: a person who believes that the property of moral wrongness is the property of being contrary to God’s commands does not need to affirm that lying is wrong in any and all circumstances. In updating the post [...]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Ethics · Faith and Reason · Peter Cresswell · Theology
Permissible Lies
February 19th, 2008 2 Comments
In wake of the return of the stolen victoria crosses and the Police claiming they are “honour bound” to pay the thieves the promised reward not PC argues that it is permissible to lie to an agressor. The standard example in the literature (which PC utilises) goes something like this: You are hiding someone fleeing [...]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Ethics · Lucia Maria · Peter Cresswell · Theology
Contra PC
September 26th, 2007 2 Comments
Not PC has taken exception to my recent criticism of his blog. He also takes issue with my comments on faith and reason. His responses I think are illustrative of the popular secular mindset so it’s worth responding here. PC expounds a great deal of rhetorical energy describing my work in pejorative terms. I committed [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Atheism · Faith and Reason · Peter Cresswell · Philosophy of Religion

