Martin Luther King, Jr. is celebrated in the United States for his vision and leadership in the civil rights movement. In my previous post, I argued that Christianity provides a much more solid foundation for human rights than secularism, and Martin Luther King's Biblically-based arguments for equality illustrate this nicely. He did not argue that …
Category: Ethics
The origin of human rights, or “Is napalming babies culturally relative?”
Timothy Keller, in chapter nine of The Reason for God, discusses the origin of human rights. Do humans intrinsically have unalienable rights, or are these rights something that we have arbitrarily come up with? Keller outlines three possible answers to this question, following Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz: Human rights come from God. God has …
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The moral cost of cheaper chicken
Francis Schaeffer, in Pollution and the Death of Man, wrote that "we should treat each thing with integrity because it is the way God has made it" (chapter 4, p. 54). He went on to write about trees: "The tree in the field is to be treated with respect. It is not to be romanticized... …
Environmental philosophies – some preliminary thoughts
I was reading sections out of Principles of Conservation Biology (Meffe et al., I have the 2nd edition) tonight just for fun*. The first two chapters lay a philosophical foundation for conservation biology, exploring various perspectives on environmental ethics and biodiversity. In chapter 1---What is Conservation Biology?---the authors discuss the philosophical movements that have led …
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How Could God Command Genocide in the Old Testament?
The main points from How Could God Command Genocide in the Old Testament? on Justin Taylor's blog Between Two Worlds: As the maker of all things and the ruler of all people, God has absolute rights of ownership over all people and places. God is not only the ultimate maker, ruler, and owner, but he …
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Religious belief among scientists
Here are some results of a PEW Research Center study on the religious and political beliefs of scientists: Statistic #1 42% -- Scientists ages 18-34 who say they believe in God. 28% -- Scientists 65 and older who say this. What does this mean? Does it mean that an increasing number of scientists believe in …
How to fight
A pro-life activist has shot an abortionist. Gun-rights activists (many of whom are conservative Christians) are stockpiling ammunition. Why? What are they going to do with it? The political and moral battles we are engaged in are of a spiritual nature, and will not be won with guns. The use of violence only links us …
Multiple evils
In Kansas, late-term abortionist George Tiller was murdered in church today. From World Magazine (conservative, Christian): Anti-abortion groups have denounced the killing. Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said in a statement, “We are shocked at this morning’s disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down. Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, …
Nature’s enduring value is not in what it can provide us
I saw two bumper stickers on a truck this morning. One read: Earth First! We'll mine the other planets later The other one read: Strip mining prevents forest fires. There were other bumper stickers on the truck: NRA, Ducks Unlimited, and a few others I couldn't read (I was driving after all). It would not …
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The Bible and ethnic cleansing
Phil Johnson at Pyromaniacs (not the ID Philip Johnson) addresses the tough apologetics question of the conquest of the Promised Land, when the Israelites were commanded to kill all the inhabitants of the land. How can a loving God command the inhabitants of the land to be slaughtered? We are rightly offended by similar actions …
Flintstones: Fred and Barney take a _____ break
Not everything is going downhill in our society. For instance, I don't think you will see this product sponsoring The Flintstones again any time soon: HT: Cruchy Con Grace and Peace
The foolishness of our own atheism
"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" -- Psalm 14:1 (NIV) I believe that atheism is foolish. I read statements by the prominent "new atheists" like Hitchens and Dawkins and think, "how silly." Whether their arguments are philosophical, historical, or ethical, I find them to be far from sufficient to explain away …
The abyss of atheism?
From Christianity Today: Staring into the Abyss by Dinesh D'Souza. The subtitle for the article is, "Why Peter Singer makes the New Atheists nervous." Atheists like Richard Dawkins argue that we can have morality without God. And I acknowledge that many atheists are very moral people. But is their morality based on their atheism, or …
Why don’t we get it?
Dean Ohlman has 21 Reasons That Evangelicals Don't Get Creation Care over at Restoring Eden. Here are a few: 1. Evangelicals understand that people are special because we’re made in the image of God, but we typically fail to see that the non-human creation is also special because it was created “very good” by the …
“I looked at the Christian community and saw ugliness”
This item was originally posted in January 2008. I have added it to my blog recycling program. Because I have new readers of The GeoChristian, I will occasionally go back and re-use some of my favorite blog entries. I also wrote a longer review of the book Pollution and the Death of Man in January …
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Self stem cells
Once again, it is using one's own body's stem cells where medical progress is being made, without the ethical or medical problems associated with using embryonic stem cells: Revolutionary stem cell therapy boosts body's ability to heal itself (from The Guardian). A groundbreaking medical treatment that could dramatically enhance the body's ability to repair itself …
Need vs. greed
The world has enough for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed. -- Mahatma Gandhi Grace and Peace
Why Evangelicals and other Christians should not vote for Obama
Read Obama's Abortion Extremism, by Robert George. The press reports that many pro-life people say they will be voting for Obama. The Obama message is that his social programs will reduce the need for abortions. In reality, Obama is the most pro-abortion senator, and the most pro-abortion presidential candidate, we have ever had, and all …
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Steak vs. hamburger
I don't watch many movies, and couldn't tell you a movie that Paul Newman starred in. But here's a great quote from him (the part in bold) in the Yahoo news story of his death: Newman sometimes teamed with his wife and fellow Oscar winner, Joanne Woodward, with whom he had one of Hollywood's rare long-term marriages. …
Just when I said something nice about PETA…
Last week I said something nice about PETA: Sometimes PETA is right. But now they're back to wackiness, as reported in Yahoo news:Mama's milk ice cream cone, anyone? The PETA proposal came in a letter to the makers of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, suggesting that they use human milk, rather than cow's milk, in …
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