Richard Dawkins, Richard Carrier, Barry McGowan, Christopher Hitchens, Bertrand Russell, Madalyn Murray O'Hair -- they all had one thing in common -- they are or were people. They also happen to be or were well-known atheists. I was quite taken with Madalyn Murray O'Hair at one time. I never met her, but had the opportunity to talk with her more than 40 years ago when she was … [Read more...]
The Emotional Tyranny of Whiners
Can't We All Just Get Along?! The text is as follows: Did your fries come at the cost of a soul yesterday? Let’s talk about it on Deeper Waters. Yesterday, my family and I went to our Chick-Fil-A. If your situation was like mine, we had police cars out front guiding traffic and long long lines outside the door. We waited well over an hour in line. We were there for dinner … [Read more...]
Chick-Fil-A Day
The post is as follows: Ready to go support the cause? Let's talk about it on Deeper Waters. Today is what we call Chick-Fil-A Day. It is a day where we will go to our local Chick-Fil-A's in response to the animosity they have received for their views on the family. Please note this at the start. Chick-Fil-A is not anti-gay. They are pro-family. There is a huge difference and … [Read more...]
Teapots & Spaghetti Monsters: Why atheists aren't off the (proof) hook.
A common challenge Christian apologists face concerns the atheist's claim that God doesn't exist. A more specific variety of this challenge was recently posed by a TilledSoil.org reader concerning an atheist's use of Russell's teapot analogy for the non-existence of God. Here is an extract of Bertrand Russell giving the analogy: "If I were to suggest that between the Earth … [Read more...]
When Does Personhood Begin? Part I
Once you have established that the unborn are human from fertilization, the next step is to ask when we should assign basic human rights to a human individual [1]. The right to life is the most fundamental of all rights since without it you can't enjoy any other rights. It's pretty difficult to enjoy freedom of speech if you're not alive to speak in the first place. As a … [Read more...]
Who Really Holds the Crutch? Christianity or Atheism?
It was the 19th century atheist Ludwig Feurbach (1804-1872) who stated that "Religion is a dream of the human mind...in these days, illusion is sacred, truth profane." (Religion and Humanistic Atheism, xxxix). And of course who can forget the famous quote of Karl Marx (1818-1883) in response to his criticism of G. W. F. Hegel's "Philosophy of Right", "Religion is the sigh of … [Read more...]
Eyewitness News: The Book of Acts
The Apostle Peter said that, “we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16 NIV) Unlike the other religions of the world, Christianity is a religion that is based on eyewitness testimony. The Apostles were all eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection, the very … [Read more...]
What is the Unborn?
Before you can even answer the question of whether or not abortion is moral, you must first decide what the unborn is. For as Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason observes, if the unborn is not human, then no justification for abortion is necessary. It would be no different from having a mole removed or a tooth pulled. But if the unborn is human, then no justification for abortion is … [Read more...]
Is Christianity Arrogant?
Recently I was at a barbecue where I talked with a woman who had many questions about Christianity. Like many of us, there were things she did not understand or agree with. As we were talking, the topic of Christianity's arrogance came up. How can Christians claim that their religion is the only true one? This seems like the height of presumption considering the many religions … [Read more...]
Moral Relativism and Two "Ten Commandments"
Does moral relativism make sense? Are all ethical theories equally good and deserving of our respect? Can a moral code be wrong? Should we always tolerate people and cultures who have different moral standards than we do? One way of examining these questions is to compare two very different versions of the Ten Commandments. We will look at Richard Dawkins’ version and then … [Read more...]