Religious

Archive for Religious

Religious Toleration and Moderation

A few weeks ago, David Ranallo–a self-described kind-hearted libertarian atheist–asked that I blog about this video from Sam Harris. I agreed to do so, even though I don’t think Harris makes a good case. If you are pressed for time, I think you can just watch the last 5 minutes of this and get the […]

Value-Free Economics

I am saving the meat of this for a Sunday “religious” post, because it will get into theological issues. But to give the background, I met a guy for lunch the other day who is working on a video series to teach basic economics from a Christian perspective. The guy was asking me about the […]

Thoughts on Hell

Aristos writes to me with a suggestion for today’s post: [H]ow about addressing this one that [my daughter] brought me. God loves us so much that he sent his Son to die a painful and humiliating death. He knows that we are “screwed up,” so why does He hold the threat of Hell over our […]

Was the Messiah Supposed to Have Been Divine?

In my Bible study class when I was a professor living in Hillsdale, MI, the (assistant) pastor matter-of-factly told us that it was understandable that the Pharisees were outraged at Jesus’ statements. Even if Jesus were the Messiah, he explained, he still shouldn’t have claimed he was one with the Father. In other words, my […]

Caplan’s Anti-Religious Non Sequitur

Because of my son’s last cross country meet on Sunday, I missed my regularly scheduled religious pontificating. So I will make up for it by a quick reaction to something Bryan Caplan posted over at EconLog. First, Caplan quotes from a Pew Forum poll which shows some pretty abysmal performances from self-identified religious Americans. (The […]

Truth Is True

I am finally back to Nashville after being away a week (in Vegas and then La Jolla). So this post may be a bit chaotic. In the hotel in La Jolla I opened up the Bible conveniently placed in the drawers near the bed to find what is currently my favorite passage in the whole […]

Has Stephen Hawking Solved the Mystery of Existence?

[UPDATE below.] I am blogging from Vegas, here for a presentation to an insurance group. I realize this sounds weird, but I actually feel like I won too much at my first hour at the Blackjack tables. Right now I’m up $205 after 70 minutes (from playing the table minimum of $15) which is pretty […]

Principles vs. Judgment, or, Steve Landsburg vs. Gene Callahan

I used to be a hardcore materialist, and it was ultimately Gene Callahan who set me straight. (It’s not that he convinced me in the course of our argument, but rather that when I was ready to change my mind, all of his analysis was there for me to fall back upon. That’s why it’s […]