7 Quick Takes (6/25/10)

–1–

My debate with Justin Martyr of The Faith Heuristic rages on. His replies to my rebuttal are posted here and here. My opening statement for the second half of the debate will be up sometime this weekend.

–2–

Daylight Atheism has an excellent debunking up of some of Lee Strobel’s claims about near death experiences from The Case for a Creator. The post goes back through the study he cites with a fine toothed comb.

–3–

I’m always a fan of Eve Tushnet, and her column for Inside Catholic on confession hits most of the major reasons why, in a Christian context, the Catholic model of confession of sins makes a lot of sense to me.

–4–

I don’t normally promote entire blogs besides featuring them in my blogroll, but I’ve been enjoying the heck out of reading through the archives of The Warfare is Mental. Apparently it’s the only theistic blog to be featured on the Atheist Blogroll, and there are lively and engaging arguments to be had in the long comment trails.

–5–

There’s a really interesting post on the League of Ordinary Gentlemen about the interaction between cops and cell phone cameras appropriately titled “Little Brother is Watching.” Regardless of whether you think the cop in the linked video is behaving appropriately or not, it’s a comfort to see all the cell phone cameras whipped out, making it clear that someone custodiet ipsos custodes. (Though Maryland’s attempts to prosecute citizens who tape the police under wiretapping laws are horrifying).

–6–

Sad news out of California. The recent outbreaks of whooping cough have reached the status of an epidemic. Whooping cough is largely preventable provided a sufficient proportion of the population is vaccinated. Very small children are most vulnerable, but cannot be immunized until 6 months. They rely on the people around them to be immune and not pass on the disease. Parents who refuse to get their children vaccinated endanger everyone.

–7–

Finally, a quick attempt at crowd sourcing. I’ve got a sewing machine for the summer, and a few not-too-difficult patterns are on their way to me. But I’m only drawing on a week’s worth of a crash course in machine sewing from working costume crew on a college show. My birthday is coming up, so, if I were to ask my mother for one machine sewing primer, which should it be?

[Seven Quick Things is a blog carnival run by Jen of Conversion Diary]