Blog Archive

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Are Christians hypocritical to support the death penalty?

In a previous post on abortion on my own blog, a reader named Matthew Lee raised the issue of how many pro-abortion advocates bring up the death penalty. By doing so, they hope to show that Christians are inconsistent in saying we should never take human life. Now, in one sense I think this is a non-issue. The objection doesn’t…

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Did God Change His Mind? Understanding OT Ethical Standards and the Role of the Mosaic Law

In the latest issue of the Enrichment Journal, Professor Paul Copan has an excellent response to the New Atheist claim that the God of the Old Testament is evil (also see his article on whether God is just a crutch for the weak). In the essay, Copan also deals with the Mosaic Law and the mistaken assumption that it presents…

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The Atheist Morality Bait-and-Switch

I’m reposting a reply to a non-theist friend on Facebook, where he tried to defend a view of morality without God: What grounds my morality is the human condition, and that is all that is required to ground it. But that’s just an assertion that flies in the face of what we know morality is. If moral values have no…

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Video: Panel Discussion on Ethics and God

Earlier this year, we were involved in hosting a panel discussion on the relationship between religion and morality. The video is now up on YouTube: Moderated by Dr Matthew Flannagan, the panel included Prof John Hare from Yale Divinity School, Prof Mark Murphy from Georgetown University, and Dr Glenn Pettigrove from the University of Auckland. Each speaker addressed a different…

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Scientist talks morality, slips on banana peel

Bnonn takes New Zealand’s Village Atheist, Ken Perrott, to task for ineptly handling the foundations of human morality.

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Ten Reasons for Pro-Life Optimism

If you want to see the rights of unborn children protected, here are several reasons why you can be encouraged about the cause.

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“Bad things shouldn’t happen to good people”—why this argument fails against Christianity

A reply to ‘Upandatom’ on why the idea that bad things shouldn’t happen to good people actually supports God’s existence, rather than undermining it.

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Penal Sanctions in the Mosaic Law Part II

In a three-part series Matt looks at the perplexing question of capital punishment in the Mosaic Law. In Part II Matt looks at the claim of sceptics that the Old Testament supports stoning women who engage in pre-marital sex.

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Penal Sanctions in the Mosaic Law Part I

In a three-part series Matt looks at the perplexing question of capital punishment in the Mosaic Law. In Part I Matt challenges an excessively literal reading of penal sanctions in the Old Testament.

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Peter Singer, The Euthyphro Dilemma & Divine Commands Part III

In a three-part series, Matt has been exploring Peter Singer’s discussion of the Euthyphro Dilemma. He has argued that Singer’s objections fail to undermine Divine Command Ethics and are essentially a strawman; he has addressed the Arbitrariness Objection and now he concludes by examining the Redundancy Objection.

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Peter Singer, The Euthyphro Dilemma & Divine Commands Part II

In a three-part series, Matt explores Peter Singer’s discussion of the Euthyphro Dilemma and argues that Singer’s objections fail to undermine Divine Command Ethics. This time Matt examines the Arbitrariness Objection.

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Peter Singer, The Euthyphro Dilemma & Divine Commands Part I

In a three-part series, Matt explores Peter Singer’s discussion of the Euthyphro Dilemma and argues that Singer’s objections fail to undermine Divine Command Ethics. Matt begins by explaining Divine Command Theory and highlights the importance of avoiding strawmen.

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Assessing the euthanasia debate from a Christian perspective

Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology, J. P. Moreland analyzes the different arguments used in the debate about euthanasia and sets the controversy in the larger context of broad, world view issues.

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Is Exodus 21:22 pro-life or pro-abortion?

This months issue of Solid Ground investigates the implications of Exodus 21 and whether this Biblical passage suggests that the unborn have lesser value than other humans.

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A bridge to nowhere: Wilson on New Atheism and morality

Douglas Wilson has written a guest article over at On Faith, discussing atheism, morality and whether we need God to be good.

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A response to the Dunedin School's 'Thinking in Tatters'

A response to “the Dunedin School”, who recently described Thinking Matters as a group “of frustrated and atavistic reactionists who want to take away rights from women, homosexuals, and other minorities and restore power to the patriarchy.”

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