Freedom of Speech = Freedom to Insult, to Criticize, and to Apologize

Last updated on: September 14, 2012 at 1:31 pm By James F. McGrath

Many of the recent discussions about “free speech” in connection with the internet video about Islam called “Innocense of Muslims,” the violent reactions to it, and the apologies for it, seem to me to miss the point. In our democracy, within limits to ensure that the safety of people is safeguarded, people can express themselves freely. That includes making movies, or art, or telling stories, or blogging, or doing anything else that someone of a particular religious viewpoint may find... Read more

Mythicism, Creationism, Science and Faith

Last updated on: September 14, 2012 at 10:45 am By James F. McGrath

Where do mythicism, young-earth creationism, mainstream biology and mainstream historical study (including but not limited to the study of the historical Jesus) fit in the diagram below, in the view of readers of this blog? Even though one cannot run “history experiments,” are historians not doing something similar when they take their ideas about the past and test them against the available evidence? Just having an idea that is compatible with the evidence does not show it to be correct... Read more

What if you’re Wrong? (Changing the Default Setting)

Last updated on: September 13, 2012 at 2:28 pm By James F. McGrath

Fred Clark posted on his blog asking “What if I’m wrong about the clobber verses?” He is referring to the point, which he considers a valid one, that he could be wrong. That anyone considers this necessary to point out is itself striking, and says a lot about humanity. There are, alas, people who don’t seem to realize that they could be wrong. But what I was most struck by was the assumption that, since you might be wrong, the conservative... Read more

Doctor Who: Battlefield

Last updated on: September 13, 2012 at 10:41 am By James F. McGrath

The first episode from the last season of Sylvester McCoy’s time as the Doctor is “Battlefield” and it is ripe to be revisited in the era of Matt Smith. Spoilers follow. In this episode, the Doctor comes to Earth at a time when former Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stuart has retired and is married (although he eagerly comes out of retirement when he hears that the Doctor has turned up). There is a new Brigadier in charge of UNIT, a woman... Read more

Whoever Ignores Correction Leads Others Astray

Last updated on: September 12, 2012 at 7:47 pm By James F. McGrath

The title of this post comes from Proverbs 10:17. I could have quoted Proverbs 12:1, or 15:12, or any number of other Bible verses about accepting correction, but Prov. 10:17 seemed the most fitting of all of them. I’ve recently been trying to communicate with someone who, because he pays lip service to the divine authority of the Bible (and so allegedly should know and accept the teaching found in Proverbs) insists that I am not a Christian (since I... Read more

Now That’s What I Call Worship!

Last updated on: September 12, 2012 at 2:30 pm By James F. McGrath

Thanks to blog reader Admiral Mattbar for drawing this song by Jon Foreman, “Instead of a Show,” to my attention! Read more

Blogging BibleWorks 9, Part 1

Last updated on: September 12, 2012 at 12:19 pm By James F. McGrath

I’ve decided that the best way to review and illustrate the capabilities of the BibleWorks 9 software is to blog my way through using it for various purposes, taking screenshots along the way. Today I will blog about one example, an investigation of the lexical meaning and history of interpretation of a particular term. I decided for this example to look into the word תַּֽדְשֵׁ֤א found in Gen 1:11. The Hebrew text in this blog post, by the way, is copied... Read more

A. David Lewis reviews Religion and Science Fiction

Last updated on: September 12, 2012 at 9:59 am By James F. McGrath

The Technorati site has a review of the book I edited, Religion and Science Fiction, written by Dr. Aaron David Lewis. He describes it as the John the Baptist to work still to be done. Click through and read the review to find out why. Read more

Messianism in Music

Last updated on: September 11, 2012 at 4:30 pm By James F. McGrath

The song “One for the Vine” by Genesis (written mainly by Tony Banks, I believe) has some fascinating lyrics, which I will include below the video. The video is a rare live recording – here is a link to the original album version if you prefer that. “One for the Vine” Fifty thousand men were sent to do the will of one. His claim was phrased quite simply, though he never voiced it loud, I am he, the chosen one. In... Read more

Format Changes

Last updated on: September 11, 2012 at 3:17 pm By James F. McGrath

Readers of the blog who are not reading the blog via a feed have noticed some formatting changes. I am not sure whether there is any change of format to the RSS feed – if there is, please let me know! For everyone else, I don’t think that there should be any practical difference, other than that it might involve clicking the “read more” or the title of the post to continue reading, rather than just the scroll bar on... Read more