The Atheist ‘Bus Campaign’ is now back on our streets, although this time it’s not actually taking place on buses, nor is it particularly atheistic.
The new poster features two children with the faded words ‘Catholic Child’, ‘Atheist Child’, ‘Humanist Child’ and ‘Anarchist Child’ amongst others behind them. In bigger, bolder lettering, are the words [...]
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Tom Price posted this thought-provoking piece on his blog. If right and wrong are real things, then this could be a clue to help us answer the quesion of whether or not God exists. Since a real standard of right and wrong which hangs above culture and life, might raise the question: Where did the law [...] via damaris.org Nick Pollard explores Charles Darwin’s changing belief in God, with clips from the film ‘Creation’. Two crucial questions are posed – Why is it that you believe what you do? and What would it take to make you change your mind? Posted via web from Tony Watkins It has been a central plank of ‘new atheism’ that religion exists to fill a void in people’s understanding. Where no rational explanation seems to fit, so the argument goes, people create a new belief to explain something. So, for example, people did not know where the world came from, so they invented the creation [...] The findings of the biggest research project ever carried out into UK public opinion on evolution and the origins of living things was published back in March by the religious think tank Theos. The full findings of the research, conducted by polling company ComRes, are published in report entitled Faith and Darwin. There are some interesting [...] Christopher Hitchens and John Lennox debated at the 2008 Edinburgh International Festival on the subject of ‘Can Atheism Save Europe?’ You can buy the DVD from The Fixed Point Foundation. When I posted this earlier today, it was available on YouTube, but it’s been removed. British philosopher AC Grayling was interviewed in The Observer on Sunday (5 July 2009). It’s a series of soundbites rather than anything detailed. This one caught my eye: I would imagine Jesus was a kind of Jewish reformer. If you were looking for an equivalent to the figure you dimly perceive through the gospels it would probably be a Richard Dawkins. What? The first sentence suggests Grayling knows very little about Jesus and yet is prepared to idly speculate on what he might be, without engaging with the evidence. Second, how on earth does he make the link to Dawkins? Is Dawkins a moral reformer in any sense at all? He may be an outspoken defender of a particular position but it hardly makes for an equivalence with Jesus, even if you do reject Jesus’s divinity. Grayling is a very bright man, and I always enjoy listening to him on Radio 4 discussions, but this quote betrays his blind spot and bias. I was also struck by this comment: I am putting together a secular bible. My Genesis is when the apple falls on Newton’s head. I wonder what Grayling means by this. The Bible is God’s self-revelation and the account of his dealings with human beings. What story could start with the apple falling on Newton (a historically dubious event anyway)? The story of the growth of modern science and the way it has replaced religion with hard-nosed rationalism? The growth of modern science is a great story, but it doesn’t start with Newton and it has not supplanted religion. There are very many people who have see no conflict between the two, but rather synergy. Is it to be a bible in the sense of a handbook of essential knowledge about a particular subject? If so, I still don’t see why he’s starting with Newton. Is he wanting to imply that Newton’s insights about gravity are a significant moment of enlightenment, when human beings first realise that things don’t fall as a result of God’s direct and immediate action? I know this is one of those infuriatingly brief and shallow interviews which are so popular these days, but surely a philosopher of Grayling’s ability is able to be speak concisely without these dubious [...] Some brief comments on Richard [...] Roger Ebert is the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and one of the most respected critics in the world. He has often commented on spiritual issues in a way which suggests he has a real interest in them, but no convictions about there being any spiritual reality. He’s not alone in this, of course. [...] According to a ComRes poll conducted on behalf of Theos, ’70% of people believe in the human soul, 55% believe in heaven and 53% believe in life after death.’ Here is yet another example of the inconsistency of beliefs: belief in heaven is higher than belief in life after death. 5% of those who claim [...] |
Tony Watkins is a writer and speaker on Christian faith and contemporary culture, with a particular interest in film. He is the Managing Editor of Culturewatch. |
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