09Dec 2019 by Post

Un caso contra el teísmo (Parte 3)

Apologética, Ateos, Cristianismo, Escépticos, Español, Jairo Izquierdo, Teísmo
En una publicación anterior abordé una objeción de parte de Randy, un ateo de Cuba, quien presentó un caso contra el teísmo. En este escrito abordaré la segunda objeción. Randy dice que las propiedades de Dios, al ser metafísicas, nos pone otro problema: ¿cómo sabemos que es omnipotente y no suficientemente potente como para realizar el universo nada más? ¿Qué justifica la parte omni, cómo podemos saber eso? Randy, tienes razón en que la omnipotencia de Dios no se infiere del argumento cosmológico kalam, a lo mucho que es “sumamente poderoso” como para traer el universo a la existencia. Pero como el mismo Dr. Craig afirma: “…el hecho que un argumento fracase en probar que Dios es omnipotente no implica que Él no sea omnipotente”.[1] Luego haces la pregunta: ¿Cómo descartas que…
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08Dec 2019 by Post

Mission: To Eviscerate Freedom of Religion

abortion, Archdiocese of New York, birth control, Culture & Ethics, employee, employment, First Amendment, free exercise clause, freedom of religion, Islam, litigation, Medicine, Robyn Pennacchia, Roman Catholics, sterilization surgery, Wonkette
The other day I wrote about New York’s new law that prohibits an employer from punishing an employee for any reproductive health-care medical decision they make. I brought the statute up because it contains no exemption for religious organizations, thereby materially impacting the right of churches and other faith-based institutions to the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the Constitution. Beneath the Anger As I wrote: This would seem to literally mean that, say, the Catholic Archdiocese of New York is legally required to inform employees they have the right to act as they choose with regard to issues such as birth control, abortion, or sterilization surgery — and moreover, tell such employees that they can so act openly even though contrary to the faith without fear of subsequent job…
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07Dec 2019 by Post

A Neglected Proof for the Resurrection – The Sign of Jonah

Apologetics, Christianity, Erik Manning, IsJesusAlive, Jesus Christ, Proof for the Resurrection, Resurrection, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Erik Manning When arguing for the resurrection of Jesus, Christian apologists often make a historical case for the empty tomb and the appearances of Jesus that occurred after his death. I’d certainly never say that isn’t a legitimate way to argue, but there’s an additional reason to believe in the resurrection that flies under the radar: Jesus’ resurrection was a fulfillment of Scripture. The New Testament writers are pretty emphatic on this point. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead… (Luke 24:45-46) For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the…
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07Dec 2019 by Post

Why did Evangelicals Vote for Trump?

AFR, Apologetics, app, cross examined, cross examined official podcast, CrossExamined, crossexamined podcast, Donal Trump, Frank Turek, google play, iTunes, Podcast, podcasting, Radio, Radio Show, Spotify, stitcher, Weekly Podcast
Podcast: Play in new window Frank attended two meetings with candidate Donald Trump in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election. The first meeting in Trump Tower is the subject of the new article in RollingStone Magazine in which Frank is quoted twice. This podcast is Frank’s response to that article, particularly the article’s audacious assertion that Donald Trump is a standard-bearer for American Christians. Frank highlights what the article gets wrong, what the media, in general, gets wrong about evangelical Christianity, and then offers five reasons why most evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump. Regardless of what you think about Trump, Christianity or politics, this show will help you have better conversations with people as we enter an election year. Subscribe on iTunes:  rate and review! Thanks!!! Subscribe on…
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07Dec 2019 by Post

Berlinski: Evolution Toward Virtue and Progress?

Blueprint (book), children's table, cooperation, Culture & Ethics, David Berlinski, death camps, Evolution, ID The Future, Nazi Party, Nazis, Nicholas Christakis, Peter Robinson, Podcast, Pope Benedict XVI, progress, Regensburg address, religious thinking, theology
A new episode of ID the Future features the second part of a conversation between Uncommon Knowledge host Peter Robinson and polymath David Berlinski, author of the newly released book Human Nature. Robinson asks Berlinski about a book by Nicholas Christakis, Blueprint, which argues that evolution has endowed us with a genetic makeup that drives human culture toward virtue and progress. Berlinski demurs, pointing to the horrors of the 20th century and noting that the virtues Christakis underscores, such as cooperativeness, can also be put to nefarious purposes. The Nazi Party, for instance, “was a marvelous engine of cooperation. All those Nazis cooperated with one another running death camps.” Download the podcast or listen to it here. Robinson also asks Berlinski about Pope Benedict XVI’s 2006 Regensburg address and the West’s relegating religious thinking,…
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06Dec 2019 by Post

Letter from San Diego: Science for Seminaries or Materialism for the Masses?

American Academy of Religion, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Andover Newton Theological Seminary, biomimicry, Columbia Theological Seminary, creationism, Darwinian materialism, Decatur, dialogue, DoSER program, ecological problems, Faith & Science, Georgia, Intelligent Design, Jeffrey Kripal, materialism, McCormick Theological Seminary, pastors, priests, religion, Rice University, San Diego, science, Science for Seminaries, scientific orthodoxies, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, The Flip, The Mystery of Evolutionary Mechanisms
I recently traveled to San Diego to attend the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion. While there, I participated in a workshop organized by the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A current project of the DoSER program called “Science for Seminaries” aims to enhance the scientific literacy of pastors, priests, and rabbis by making cutting edge scientific resources available to seminary and rabbinical school professors. Though the DoSER program also states as one of its goals to help scientists engage with pastors, priests, and theologians, I got the feeling at this workshop that the DoSER program might better be renamed MoSER, the Monologue on Science, Ethics, and Religion. There was definitely more emphasis on getting science…
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05Dec 2019 by Post

How Butterflies “Evolve” by Design

beauty, butterflies, caterpillar, cortex (gene), Douglas Blackiston, Drosophila, Elena Casey, Evolution, foresight, Georgetown University, Heliconius, helicopter, hotspot gene, Illustra Media, Intelligent Design, larvae, Lepidopterans, light waves, Martha Weiss, Metamorphosis, Model T, Monarch butterflies, moths, New Scientist, odors, Paul Nelson, photonic crystals, pigmentation, PLOS ONE, Royal Society Biology Letters, South America, tobacco hornworm moths, University of Liverpool, wing patterns
Butterflies, those universally loved flying works of art, offer many reasons to celebrate design in nature.  They showcase aesthetic beauty beyond the requirements of survival (see “Beauty, Darwin and Design,” featuring Paul Nelson).  Their migrations show foresight over multiple generations.  The one-gram Monarch butterflies astonish biologists with their exceptional endurance to survive hardships while flying thousands of miles on paper-thin wings (see “2-Minute Wonder: A Monarch’s Journey“). Their navigation systems exhibit stunning accuracy to arrive at locations they have never seen. Their keen senses can find the right host plants from miles away; they can smell very faint pheromones for mating; and they can distinguish precise angles of sunlight for orientation and timing of migration.  Their wing scales, organized into “photonic crystals,” give precision control of light waves to create…
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04Dec 2019 by Post

One Woman’s Quest for Straight Answers from Public Health Organizations

abortion, Apologetics, Breast Cancer, Christianity, Dr. Bennet Omalu, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, SalvoMag.Com, Terrell Clemmons, The American Cancer Society
After three years’ research on traumatic brain injuries he’d seen in prematurely deceased football players, Dr. Bennet Omalu wrote a paper in 2005 detailing his findings on the syndrome he named Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). He was hopeful that NFL doctors would build on his discovery for the well-being of NFL athletes. But instead of welcoming his data, an NFL medical committee called for it to be retracted. A thoroughgoing medical scientist, Omalu would do no such thing, and it took a full four more years of increasing pressure before the NFL publicly acknowledged the link between concussions sustained on the field and CTE. A similar kind of David versus Goliath challenge may be developing between investigative journalist Punam Kumar Gill and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). A…
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04Dec 2019 by Post

No Harm, No Foul — What If Darwinism Were Excised from Biology?

Adam C. Soloff, Amir Marcovitz, appendectomy, bacteria, bats, behavior, cephalectomy, Daphne Major island, Darwin Devolves, Darwin's Finches, Darwinism, Darwinspeak, dolphins, echolocation, Evolution, Galápagos Islands, Hippocratic Oath, homeostasis, Illustra Media, Immune System, introgressive hybridization, Jerry Coyne, Marcos Eberlin, Michael Behe, Michael T. Lotze, Peter and Rosemary Grant, pharynx, Philip Skell, phylogeny, PNAS, primum non nocere, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Richard Dawkins, sound generation, tonsillectomy, turtles, whales
Some biologists might shudder at the thought of eliminating Darwinism from their scientific work. A “Darwin-ectomy” sounds more painful than a tonsillectomy or appendectomy. To hard-core evolutionists, it might sound like a cephalectomy (removal of the head)! If Darwinism is as essential to biology as Richard Dawkins or Jerry Coyne argues, then removing evolutionary words and concepts should make research incomprehensible.  If, on the other hand, Darwinism is more of a “narrative gloss” applied to the conclusions after the scientific work is done, as the late Philip Skell observed, then biology would survive the operation just fine. It might even be healthier, slimmed down after disposing of unnecessary philosophical baggage. Here are some recent scientific papers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) to use as test…
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03Dec 2019 by Post

Berlinski, Robinson on the “Almost Unfathomable Complexity” of Living Systems, and More

conservatives, Darwinism, David Berlinski, deferred success, Evolution, evolutionary theory, female, Human Nature (book), ID The Future, male, natural selection, Peter Robinson, Podcast, Razib Khan, The Deniable Darwin, Uncommon Knowledge
A new episode of ID the Future features the first part of an interview between Uncommon Knowledge host Peter Robinson and Discovery Institute Senior Fellow David Berlinski, author of The Deniable Darwin and the newly released Human Nature. Berlinski begins by noting that living systems possess “a degree of complexity that is almost unfathomable” and explains how this poses an acute problem for Darwinism. Download the episode or listen to it here. The two discuss discontinuities in the fossil record as well as Berlinski’s insistence that “any theory of natural selection must plainly meet what I have called a rule against deferred success.” Berlinski also rebuts Razib Khan’s claim that in rejecting modern evolutionary theory, conservatives sacrifice “the most powerful rejoinder” to the claim “that male and female are merely…
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