My support for covenant marriage led me to mix it up recently on facebook with several friends, including Stephen of The Last Delta-T. He’s written a post laying out his opposition to covenant marriage and atheist or feminist-unfriendly aspects of marriage generally. Stephen and I both want to redefine modern marriages, but we want to do it in very different directions, so I’m going to start by laying out some of our basic points of disagreement, and then I’ll explain... Read more
–1– I don’t always do themed 7 Takes, but, as every newspaper insert has insistently told me, Christmas shopping season is coming up, so I’d like to use this blog carnival to highlight excellent books that I have loved, in case anyone is looking for inspiration. In normal blogging news, I’ll be posting the first part of my defense of covenant marriage this afternoon (sparked by this discussion), and I’d love feedback on yesterday’s post about the problem of evil.... Read more
This post is part of a series written in response to creationist Michael Egnor’s Eight Questions for Atheists. You can check out all my responses to date at the series index. In part one of this answer, I wrote about evil that befalls people, and this half of my answer will focus on the evil committed by people. When I talk about evil actions here, I’m going to leave aside incidental evil – evil that is not deliberately willed, but which... Read more
This post is part of a series responding to Michael Egnor’s Eight Questions for New Atheists. You can read through all my answers to Egnor’s questions. I’ve not really even been that bothered by the problem of theodicy, so, unfortunately, I can’t make good use of what I imagine Egnor though would be the most attractive question for atheists. I think most discussions of evil/theodicy can be split into two separate categories: evil that befalls people and evil that is... Read more
Two days ago, I was casting about for a new topic for linked posts, and, now, I not only have one, I’m trying to figure out how to schedule myself to tackle it as quickly as possible, without disrupting the conclusion of Egnor’s Eight Questions. So here’s what you have to look forward to: Reasons why, when/if I get married, I would be strongly inclined to seek a covenant marriage. I got into an argument on facebook about covenant marriage... Read more
I’m taking the weekend off as part of my Thanksgiving holiday (i.e. making time to do all the work that I was supposed to have tackled during the Thanksgiving holiday). I’m going to set myself the more modest goal of getting caught up on replying to recent comments (so if you’ve been waiting for a response to a question, check back on the thread on Monday, and hassle me if I haven’t gotten to it. On Monday, I’ll be starting... Read more
There’s only one thing I could possibly want to post on today: Happy Thanksgiving, I’ll see you all on Friday. Read more
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... Read more
I’ve been blogging about whether atheism as a community and what might tie it together for the past week or so, and a NYT article from a little while ago raised some more questions for me. In an article titled “Obama Gains Evangelical Allies on Immigration” one Republican voter said: “I am a Christian and I am a conservative and I am a Republican, in that order,” said Matthew D. Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, a conservative religious... Read more
–1– I may have a five hour problem set due at nine am, but that will have to wait, because tonight is… …the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I’m off to the midnight showing. With bells on. –2– With the books done, and only one movie left, if you’re looking for more Potter stories, you can’t do better than Eliezer Yudowsky’s ongoing story Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Yudowsky’s story focuses on a version... Read more
Unequally Yoked
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