Monthly Archives: September 2008

“All Beliefs Welcome, Unless They are Forced on Others”

Wendy Doniger, professor of the history of religions at the University of Chicago: Belief in god [sic*], like getting pregnant, is a private matter between consenting adults (or one consenting adult and one or more deities) and is no one else’s business. I am on record in this blog (and have not budged an inch) …

September 11, 2008 – 8:51 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged , | Comments (2)

What Is Christianity, Indeed?

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series What Is Christianity?

A new survey finds that many Americans can’t define the term “evangelical Christian.” [Link: Americans have difficulty defining 'evangelical' (OneNewsNow.com) ] Apparently it’s a timely question.

September 9, 2008 – 4:47 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged | Comments Off

What is Atheism?

Last week I started a new series, “What Is Christianity?” I have another shorter series to run parallel with it: “What Is Atheism?” The emphasis this time is on the question mark. The question I most want to address is whether atheism is a belief system. I have been taken to task for thinking that …

September 9, 2008 – 3:50 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in New Atheism | Tagged | Comments (6)

The Self-Imposed Alienation of Postmodernism

In an article on Milton’s Paradise Lost in the current Touchstone, Donald T. Williams writes, If God is the source of all goodness, all other beings are related to each other through him. Their common pursuit of a common good leading back to God is the source of community, of a common unity in the …

September 8, 2008 – 8:00 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Arts and Culture, Postmodernism/ Relativism | Comments (1)

New Series: What is Christianity?

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series What Is Christianity?

Sometimes I wonder whether, in all the debates about whether Christianity is true, we have our terms defined well enough. Atheists tell me often that atheism is not a belief system. Christianity is. But just what is this belief system? Chuck Colson says “Christianity is the explanation for everything.” That’s a statement of scope, though, …

September 6, 2008 – 8:09 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Comments (2)

The Causes of (Blog) Storms

We’re expecting bad weather here today, with Tropical Storm Hanna due to pass directly over our home area around 2:00 pm. It won’t be anything like this year’s real storms, like Gustav and Ike. I compare it, though, to blog storms we’ve had here in discussions recently. I’m no meteorologist, but I know that tropical …

September 6, 2008 – 6:40 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Miscellanea | Comments (4)

Spam Explosion

Spammers are getting around every automatic filter I’ve tried to use here. I’ve finally had to give up and use a verification system for comments. I don’t like it, but the spam has been non-stop offensive the past few days. I am adding the option to register for the blog. Registration is not required for …

September 5, 2008 – 8:58 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Unfiled | Comments Off

Not Predicted by Evolution

Two fascinating articles on my newsreader today: Yale researchers find ‘junk DNA’ may have triggered [sic] Results from a comparative analysis of the human, chimpanzee, rhesus macaque and other genomes reported in the journal Science suggest our evolution may have been driven not only by sequence changes in genes, but by changes in areas of …

September 4, 2008 – 4:28 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Comments Off

Does It Matter If Morality Is Well Grounded?

As I just wrote on another brief blog entry, the dialogue on “Hitchens’s Second Question” has been continuing at a rapid pace for over a month now. It has now divided into two separate questions, and I’m opening up two new threads to deal with them separately. The entry preceding this post is on whether …

September 1, 2008 – 9:56 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Ethics | Tagged | Comments (72)

Grounding for Morality Outside of Theism?

The dialogue on “Hitchens’s Second Question” has been continuing at a rapid pace for over a month now. It has now divided into two separate questions, and I’m opening up two new threads to deal with them separately. This thread is on whether there is grounding for morality outside of theism. The best place to …

September 1, 2008 – 9:52 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Ethics | Tagged | Comments (12)