Obligatory Halloween post
Eh, I’m not big into Halloween – one way or the other. I don’t think kids who go trick-or-treating are participating in Devil worship, but you won’t find decorations at my house or a costume on me.
But I’m a man of the people, so if you want to read some Halloween junk today – here you go:
What’s a social-con to do?
The biggest question is not whether evangelicals will support Romney if he is the nominee (they will), the question is whether they will support Giuliani (I’m not sure). One thing I do know: this should help.
Evangelicals and Romney
As much as he may be trying to downplay it, Mitt Romney’s Mormonism continues to be a factor in his campaign for the Republican nomination. As an evangelical Christian, who find himself fairly regularly aligned with the “Christian Right,” I wanted to illustrate some ideas that play into a Christian’s view of Romney and the likelihood evangelical leaders and everyday voters could rally behind him if he is the GOP nominee.
Quote of the Day #005 – Pacifism
"Love your enemies" is not a complete philosophy in itself – it must be balanced with "protect the weak" and "do justice."
- danielg
Come on [black] people!
In Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors, Bill Cosby and Alvin F. Poussaint challenge black Americans, as well as all Americans, to take responsibility for their own destiny rather than playing the victim. Those of us outside of the black community see this self-defeating pattern well, but the black community has been slow to own the truth. Thank God for men like Cosby, Juan Williams, Star Parker. and John Ridley, to mention just a few who share this courage.
I’m getting my ax ready. How about you?
To take media ignorance of evangelical Christianity to a whole new level, we have Johann Hari of the Independent in the UK.
Which is worse?
Even though the atheist symbol looks like a hood ornament, I have to give the worst logo nod to the CIA’s anti-terrorism logo. Do they want the terrorist to die from laughter. I know a certain new CIA anti-terrorism agent who will not be happy with that logo.
D’Souza and Hitchens debate
In his latest debate-anyone-out-there-to-keep-my-book-selling debate, Christopher Hitchens takes on Dinesh D’Souza on whether Christianity is the problem or not.
Why the press struggles with Romney and Christians
The press continues to stumble when they attempt to cover the reaction of evangelical Christians to Mitt Romney and that’s not coming from me, that’s coming from a reporter.
Apologetics in a postmodern world
As I argued yesterday, atheism may be the current philosophy du jour, but it will struggle to win over followers the farther our culture moves into a postmodern era. How else can you explain the fact that 75% of Americans, including over 2/3 of college graduates, believe that Jesus literally rose from the dead?
Is Dumbledore Gay? Does anyone care?
I’ve never read one Harry Potter book. I’ve never seen a single movie. I probably have the least amount of knowledge about J.K. Rowling’s series than anyone on the face of the planet, but I am intrigued by the responses to Rowling’s revelation that Dumbledore was gay.
Darwinism Impeding Science III – Junk DNA defies evolution’s predictions
AIG has a nice two part series on Junk DNA (Part II), and one thing caught my eye – the fact that evolutionists not only errantly identified junk DNA as "noncoding" and therefore leftovers from evolution’s randomness, but would have predicted that much of the DNA was not conserved across species because it was not necessary.
On the last point, they were half right, and in being half right, were entirely wrong. As it turns out, much of the junk DNA is critical for gene regulation, but it is NOT conserved. What does that mean? That is was not inherited from ancestors, as evolution would predict if it is essential to life. Evolution fails again.
Reconciling Faith and Science
Boing Boing has an interesting, if short book review of God’s Mechanics: How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion, a new book from Vatican Astronomer Guy Consolmagno. The atheist reviewer liked the book, particularly because it’s not just the author’s opinion, but the results of interviews he did with engineers and scientists in Silicon Valley.
There’s clearly some serious value that smart, ethical people derive from participation in spiritualism and even organized religion. Brother Guy’s exegesis on faith as a systematic way of organizing and exploring the human experience of the numinous was fascinating to me. It is is a thoroughgoing, charming, quick-paced trip through a wide variety of personal experiences of spirituality and religion.
The atheistic phase of American history
Are we witnessing the rise of the irreligious in America? Many (Christians) will say that this is nothing more than the latest media creation, on par with the “summer of sharks” in 2001 which saw reporting of shark attacks rise, while shark related fatalities and attacks decrease. Others (atheists) claim that the news is finally catching up to the long-established trend and that our nation is on the verge of witnessing the dawn of the age of knowledge. Me? I think it’s somewhere in between.
Longitudinal Study Validates Ex-gay Therapy
The new book Ex-gays? discusses a very thorough longitudinal study on ex-gay therapy, and confirms that
- therapeutically impressive results are provided by such therapies, and
- the therapies do no harm
I think this puts the nail in the coffin for the argument that such therapies should be suppressed or labeled as abusive. Here’s a review from EO, plus an excerpt from the first review at Amazon:
This study demonstrates with convincing scientific evidence that the Christian ministry interventions of Exodus International produced strong and clinically meaningful changes in homosexual orientation in a large percentage of individuals. Furthermore this careful clinical research investigation of a significant number of individuals yielded no evidence to support the common assumption that attempts to change sexual orientation causes harm or psychological distress.
–George A. Rekers, Ph.D., FAACP
Distinguished Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science Emeritus
University of South Carolina School of Medicine
How to manufacture a racial protest: give away NBA tickets
Rev. Al Sharpton and his National Action Network know how to take a simple situation and explode it into some race-based “tragedy” while exploit it and the community they claims to represent in order to garner more attention (and money) for themselves. Their latest stunt finds him involved with a protest rally in support of a formerly-suspended, now-benched high school quarterback.
Global Warming: Important to the Peacock
Global Warming is so important to NBC that they are going to fly, privately of course, Matt Lauer to the Arctic, Al Roker to the Equator and Ann Curry to Antarctica. This is part of the network’s weeklong Green is Universal campaign, where they will be taking your favorite shows and filling them with climate change propaganda.
Would this change your idea of church?
What would you think if you walked into a church off the street and found out they were beginning a big capital campaign that Sunday? The first thing that would probably go through your head was “How much money are they asking for and how long is the pastor going to drone on about how much I should give?” What if, instead of asking for money, the church passed around offering plates and asked you to take some out?
As strange as it sounds, that’s exactly what Elevation Church did this past Sunday to start their Dominate campaign.
