Over in the comment thread of last week's post on standards of proof for miracles, P. Coyle and Iota have been hashing out the classic argument that a truly unambiguous miracle would be a blow against our free will, forcing us to believe in God. I want to walk through and discuss their positions, since this is a common Christian contention (and because it's going to set me up perfectly for a Harry Potter fanfiction reference in today's Sunday's Good Book post). Everyone's comments have … [Read more...]
Chesterton Aftermath (Part 1)
February 3, 2011 By 5 Comments
Thanks for all the comments and questions that you've left on my Monday post on my attraction to G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy. I'm working my way through them and I anticipate that will be my main source of inspiration for posts this week and possibly next if your questions continue. So here goes... Matt asked a question that was aimed at the heart of my post: It's weird to me that someone would use theology to substantiate their own claims about the world. Wouldn't you use investigation … [Read more...]
Thinking Skeptically about Atheist Explanations
November 24, 2010 By 4 Comments
The Friendly Atheist runs a regular feature called "Ask Richard" -- an advice column penned by atheist Richard Wade. This week, a former Christian wrote in with an unusual problem. Before he lost his faith, the writer used to experience what he described as profound moments of spiritual rapture, moments he used to experience as evidence of God's existence and love. Ever since he became an atheist, he still experiences these moments of overwhelming awe, and he wrote in to ask Richard if these … [Read more...]
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