01Jul 2026 by Post

You Don’t Have the Freedom of Religion in America

1st Amendment, America, Apologetics, Christianity, civil rights, freedom of religion, FreeThinkingMInistries, Gospel, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, separation of church and state, Tim Stratton
At first glance, that title sounds absurd. Of course we have freedom of religion in the United States—it’s one of our most cherished rights. But if by “freedom of religion” we mean the unlimited right to believe and do anything whatsoever in the name of religion, then the truth is simple: you do not have that freedom in America—and you never have. The question is not whether religious freedom exists, but what it actually means—and where its limits must be drawn. The United States of America offers one of the most robust protections of religious liberty in human history. Citizens are free to worship—or not worship—according to the dictates of conscience. This freedom is deeply embedded in the American experiment and is often rightly celebrated as one of our most cherished rights.…
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30Jun 2026 by Post

Struggling with Prayer? 5 Reasons You Lack the Desire to Pray (and How to Overcome Them!)

Apologetics, Christianity, Gospel, https://smartfaith.me, Miguel Rodriguez, Prayer, Theology and Christian Apologetics, unanswered prayer
Have you ever felt like prayer is as elusive as losing weight or getting in shape? You know it’s good for you, you know you should do it, but somehow the motivation to bend your knees, clasp your hands, and close your eyes is as elusive as Waldo. Frustrating, isn’t it? But here’s the thing: You already know how to pray. You could stop reading right now and start praying. It’s that simple. So why are you here? It’s not that you don’t know how to pray. It’s that you don’t want to pray. You’re not alone in feeling this way. In his insightful book, “When You Pray… and Nothing Happens,” Maurice Berquist likened prayer to a man’s shadow.[1] If he runs after it to capture it, it flees. If he runs from it to…
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26Jun 2026 by Post

Who Do You Say That I Am, James Talarico? Part I: Two Key Reasons Why Talarico Has Missed the Divine Jesus

Apologetics, Christianity, christology, Deity of Christ, Gospel, James Talarico, Jesus, Ryan M. Crews, Son of God, Son of Man, Theology and Christian Apologetics
Series Introduction: James Talarico is not the first politician to invoke the Christian faith or the Bible to score political points. He is, however, the first I am aware of who has been enrolled in seminary while running for office. Talarico is certainly popular among prospective voters, but he has received significant scrutiny by pastors and academics because of his theological statements. He may be a faithful representative of his denomination, but he has brought the views of that denomination into the limelight due to the widespread publicity of his senatorial race. We do not elect political candidates for their religious beliefs, though we may have reason to support or oppose a candidate when their religious beliefs affect their policy positions. Talarico is a politician and not a pastor, and…
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25Jun 2026 by Post

Be Fruitful and Multiply: A Case Study in Natural and Divine Revelation

alarmism, Apologetics, bellatorchristi.com, Christianity, climate change, family, Genesis 1, Gospel, image of God, population, Stewardship, Theology and Christian Apologetics, Tony Williams
My thesis is this: The consequences of defying God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply” are becoming visible in the modern world. I recently heard a pastor say, “Reality is undefeated.” That line captures a powerful apologetic truth: the world God made behaves according to the design God gave. In Christian apologetics, one of the most underused tools is simply pointing to reality: the observable consequences of obeying or rejecting God’s created order. One of the first commands God gave humanity was, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28, ESV). After the flood, God repeated the same mandate to Noah and his sons (Genesis 9:1, 7). The theme continues throughout Scripture as a covenant blessing to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the nation of Israel (Genesis 17:2; 26:4; 28:3; 35:11; Exodus…
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22Jun 2026 by Post

The LDS Can’t Outrun Joseph Smith the Materialist

Apologetics, Christianity, Gospel, https://drowenanderson.substack.com/, Joseph Smith, Latter Day Saints, LDS, materialism, Mormonism, Owen Anderson, Theology and Christian Apologetics
I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to look into the Mormons or not. I’m here in Arizona, and they tend to enjoy a state just north of me: Utah. I’m not super old, but I’m old enough to remember a few waves of Mormon advertisements, and I’m starting to notice a pattern, or is it a trajectory?  Their current wave is a pivot, if that’s the word I want, away from “we are restoring the church with this third testament we found buried in upstate New York” to “we’re evangelicals with a fun little twist about marriage.” Mormon apologist Jacob Hansen represents this new approach among the LDS in trying to become just one of the guys on the Christian theology social media pages. For some time now,…
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15Jun 2026 by Post

The Horrors of Euthanasia and the Problem of Suffering

2. Does God Exist?, Apologetics, bioethics, Christian Worldview, Christianity, euthanasia, Gospel, meaning of life, meaninglessness, problem of suffering, Secularism, Theology and Christian Apologetics, Thomas Moller, www.FreeThinkingministries
As I’m writing this blog, on March 26, 2016, a young woman by the name of Noelia Castillo Ramos is being euthanized in Spain.[i] Unfortunately, this is nothing new in our Western society. Medically assisted suicide has been legal in Canada for almost 10 years.[ii] Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United States—yes, even the USA in some states—have legalized medically assisted suicide to some degree.[iii] You may wonder, as I did, what circumstances allow for assistance in suicide? In the United States, the law states that only mentally competent and terminally ill patients, whose illness will kill them within six months, allows for assisted suicide. It is fairly similar in Australia and New Zealand. Despite how extreme…
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08Jun 2026 by Post

Abortion Versus Sacrificial Living

abortion, Apologetics, Christianity, Gospel, John Ferrer, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Matthew 16:24-25, pro-choice, pro-life, Take up your cross, www.AbortionMuseum.org
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’” Matthew 16:24-25, NASB Abortion isn’t just a surgical procedure. It’s not just an action, a choice, or a policy. It’s also a culture. Abortion-choice culture is a range of institutions and actions driven by a specific set of ideas about women, sex, motherhood, children, family, and liberty. Somewhere packed inside that culture is a set of expectations about what “normal” women and families should be like. Revolutionary Motherhood   Rachel Jankovic, a mother of seven children, is decidedly abnormal. She writes: “Everywhere you go, people want to…
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03Jun 2026 by Post

Did God Give Adam and Eve Enough Information to Make an “Informed Decision”?

Adam, Apologetics, Christianity, Eve, free will, garden of eden, Gospel, Hillary Ferrer, MamaBearApologetics.com, morality, original sin, Theology and Christian Apologetics
In my previous post, I partially answered the question, “Why did God create the tree in the first place?” This question is a big one for little minds to wrap themselves around. For a child, creating the tree in the first place sounds like God was just asking for trouble. For the hardened skeptic, it sounds like God tricked us into needing a Savior by creating the means for us to sin in the first place. I argued in my previous post that this objection does not hold true when you examine it in the context of a loving relationship. For both love and relationship to exist, there must be free-will. For free-will to exist, there must be legitimate means to choose otherwise. God made it as easy as possible for…
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01Jun 2026 by Post

When “Too Christian” Becomes a Metric: A Case Study in Academic Double Standards

academia, anti-Christian bias, Apologetics, Christianity, DrOwenAnderson.substack.com, Gospel, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Owen Anderson, performance review, persecution
Although I am a tenured full professor of philosophy at ASU, I am still required to complete an annual review of my work each year (as the name suggests). At most universities, faculty evaluations are supposed to be straightforward. At Arizona State University, where I teach, we use an objective rubric. Faculty are evaluated annually in three categories: research, teaching, and service. Each activity earns points, and those points correspond to a score from 1 to 5. A 3 means you met expectations. A 1 or 2 means you’ll need to draw up a plan for change with the school’s director and then prove you succeeded in the next annual review. A 4 means you exceeded expectations and a 5 means you achieved excellence. It is very nice to have…
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27May 2026 by Post

A Divine Love Theodicy: Addressing James Sterba’s and Erik Wielenberg’s Problem of Evil Arguments

2. Does God Exist?, Adam Lloyd Johnson, Apologetics, Christianity, ConvincingProof.org, Divine Love Theodicy, evidential, Gospel, Gratuitous Evil, Logical, Problem of Evil, Suffering
Abstract: James Sterba claims my Divine Love Theodicy does not address the working parts of his new logical problem of evil. In this paper I summarize Sterba’s new logical problem of evil, respond to it with an explanation of my Divine Love Theodicy, and point out how my theodicy does address the working parts of his logical problem of evil in that it satisfies the moral requirements he lays out. In addition, I will show that my Divine Love Theodicy also defeats Erik Wielenberg’s revised version of Sterba’s problem of evil argument which was published in 2022 in the journal Religions. Introduction James Sterba, Professor of Philosophy at Notre Dame, has made a tremendously strong claim. He has not claimed that ‘because there is horrendous suffering, it is difficult to believe God…
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