the ChristianPost runs my column in defense of CS Lewis against the charge of Paganism

I was delighted to learn today that the ChristianPost.com ran a column I wrote defending CS Lewis against the charge of Paganism. I mentioned this column a week or so ago, as my friends at LaiglesForum.com also ran it. You may not know that Lewis has been charged with such things, but even a half hearted google search will show you what I mean.  Below I have also linked to my other entries on my blog where I have opined on the Narnia series.

Without further ado, here is a snippet of the article, which you can read in its entirety here.

Is it possible that the writings of the “apostle to the atheists” actually smuggles in pantheism and Paganism? There are some who believe exactly that.

I submit that there is an answer to this and that the answer has important implications for the Church.

It is common today to hear skeptics argue that Christianity is just a “borrowed” religion, drawing its doctrines and miracles from other religions. In fact, Lewis was persuaded to Christianity just because of such similarities. Though most similarities are strained to make the skeptic’s argument, no one denies that there are at least some similarities. Do such similarities prove that there was “borrowing?” Lewis has a different take.

He writes in his famous essay “Myth Became Fact”:

“The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens – at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical consequences…

Read the rest of my column defending CS Lewis against the charge of paganism.

Other entries on CS Lewis, Narnia, and Prince Caspian:

• My presentation connecting the Christian themes of Narnia with the life of the church- not just kids, but grownups too!
• A bulletin insert on Prince Caspian for churches.
• An outline of the Christian themes in Prince Caspian.
• My review of the movie version of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

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Radio Interview on the Athanatos Online Academy

  ApologeticsAcademyInterviewKCBI (3.8 MB, 8 hits)

The spring session is nearly over but I just received this this morning and wanted to make it available. It ran on KCBI a couple of weeks ago. I discuss the purpose of the apologetics academy, the need for it (and apologetics in general) in the Church today, and the format of the courses.

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Mormon Polygamy And Secular Hedonism and Media Hypocrisy

So I bet all of my readers have been following the Texas raid of the Mormon ‘compound’ filled to the brim with raging polygamists and abused children. I am not great fan of Mormonism, don’t get me wrong, but the whole affair has done nothing more than make me scoff. You’ve probably seen the sneering questioning by media personalities of people from the compound, or lawyers for them, etc. The idea that a man might have more than one wife and that this wife is ‘underage’ is self-evidently despicable to them. In some discussions I’ve seen on cable television, the underlying pretext seems to be “Ah, well, that’s fundamentalism for you.” Read: “See, when people really believe their religion all sorts of bad things happen.”

The utter hypocrisy of this rankles my nostrils. Not that I in any way want to come across as justifying having sex with ‘underage’ individuals (though I’ll have my own arguments against it), but it is pretty apparent from the news in general that people are having sex with minors all over the place. Those are the ones that are reported. The sad humor of it all is that people act surprised. We have a society that is utterly saturated in sexuality.  It should surprise none of us when people act on the advertisements and billboards. Talk about mixed messages. Read the rest of this entry »

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Presuppositional versus evidential apologetics and naturalistic bias

I don’t very often get into debates about this but it did come up recently (by a person I make out to be an atheist no less) in the comment section of one of my blog posts.   I’m not sure what his final purpose was… did he mean to convey that we really should assume our beliefs are true and then work from there?  And that is ok?

For reference sake, he quoted this article by a presuppositionalist and for the purpose of this post if you want to know what a presupper believes that article is a good place to start.  The author refers interested folks to Van Til who also we can classify as a presupper.  But I am not a presuppositionalist.  I am an evidentialist.

It is often argued by Christians that atheists have their views because they have assumed that naturalism is ‘true by default.’  This will be packaged with such justifications such as “Well, Occam’s razor demands we prefer the system with one less explanation.”  They have other justifications as well, but they are not my target here.  It is a demonstrable fact that nearly all materialists begin with the assumption of materialism.  The presuppositionalist, however, does not fault them.  The evidentialist does, for it is clearly circular reasoning.  If you assume materialism is true then it is not a surprise when you come up with materialistic explanations for everything.  Nor is it settled that just because you’ve come up with a materialistic explanation you’ve arrived at the best explanation.

My point is simply this:  if our world view is not going to be decided upon the evidence, then what is it going to be decided upon?

Reading the article I cited above there are several statements like this one:

…there are many reasons why the evidentialist’s building a case for Christianity upon neutral ground with the unbeliever ought to be avoided.
The first is the Lordship of Christ over the whole of the Christian’s life, even his intellectual endeavors.

It’s probably tacky to demand an explanation from a dead man, but I should like to know how it is he came to believe that Christ was Lord in the first place, if not for the evidence.  I definitely agree that Christ is Lord over the whole of our lives and that includes the intellectual endeavors.  But on what basis have we decided to let Christ be Lord?  Are we really simply to presuppose it? Read the rest of this entry »

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The Atheistic Reaction to the Holmen Cross Situation: Predictable.

Predictable, yes, but whose listening to me?

If you’ve been following my blog on this matter you’ve read about the fact that a church and state issue has popped up right in the town that I live in.  A star which has been on private land for some 40 years and could be lit up as a cross during Easter was included in the purchase to obtain land for municipal services.  Naturally, it was only a matter of time before a hyper-sensitive atheist found himself offended.  The village believes they solved the matter by selling the portion of property that holds the star back to the original owner.  This, I am afraid is not the case.

The general outlines of the forthcoming lawsuit can be discerned in this newspaper article that was published today.  That there almost certainly is a lawsuit coming can be seen by reading between the lines of this press release by the American Humanists on the matter.  Consider this quote:

Edwords said further: “This isn’t the first time government has made a maneuver such as this to keep a religious symbol on public property. Humanists have been fighting the same tactic at Mount Soledad in San Diego, California, for nearly two decades. And there are other communities with crosses on public land. These crosses are maintained at taxpayer expense. So now there is a risk that, if this gambit proves successful in the end, communities all over America will duplicate this same faith-based trick. This is why we have taken action to stop it here.”

Edwords, of course, lets slip the same ugly truth that Eric Barnes (the original complainant)… couldn’t hide:   that it was on public property is what supposedly caused the offense yet when the move is made to put it onto private property they aren’t pleased.   With such reasoning on display, can we suppose that after they’ve purged the country of religious symbols on public property that private property might be next?  Clearly what is offensive is the symbol itself, where ever it is.  But note to Mr. Edwords, the whole point of this is that it would not be on public property.  See?

So, the village of Holmen tried to avoid conflict and controversy and a lawsuit but its looking like they’re going to find themselves knee deep in one, anyway.   Instead of a lawsuit that could have achieved something of merit to the whole nation, it looks instead like it will be over mundane questions of fair process.  Nothing like running from a fight so that others can keep getting clobbered by thin-skinned secularists.

It will be very interesting to see how this pans out.

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Village of Holmen Dodges Church and State Conflict, Sells Land to Lions Club, Shuns Atheist Groups

Tonight at their council meeting the trustees of the village of Holmen voted unanimously to approve the sale of a tiny piece of property with a star on it- which can be lighted as a cross during Easter- for $600.   The property had been appraised at $100.00.  Six times the appraisal value might seem a little odd… but the Freedom from Religion Foundation and the American Humanist Association had bid somewhere in the realm of $1,200 for the property, vowing to remove the cross for sure, and in the case of the FFRF, the star as well (we can suppose the star constitutes an establishment of the religion of astrology by the town of Holmen).

I recently discussed the issue in this entry about the Holmen Cross and the most recent developments so I will just briefly comment now.

This whole move was done in order to mimic the route that La Crosse took.  In that incident, the FFRF sued on account of a 10 Commandment monument, and the town of La Crosse sold the piece of property it was on to a local private group.

The problem with that approach, as with Holmen adopting it, is that the residual issue still remains:  is it constitutional or not for a city to have on its property religious symbols or monuments?  Does it or does it not constitute an ‘establishment of religion’?  Is the most important thing really merely retaining the displays?  It may be a legal avenue to preserve the display to sell off 50 square sections of city parks and property but do we really want thousands of ‘free expression’ zones like tiny islands?

Here is the thing:  The FFRF and the AHA have both suggested that they might yet sue.  Perhaps the village of Holmen will win that suit.  Yet by dodging the issue, atheistic activists will continue to be able to harass cities and towns across the country.  If you’re going to get sued anyway, you may as well have taken a route which would have really achieved something substantial.  Will we continue to be a nation where atheists say ‘jump!’ and small governments reply, ‘How high?’

So now we shall see what comes of things.  Such irony it would be if the FFRF sues Holmen (on the grounds that declining the higher bid was poor stewardship of public resources, or something like that) and wins!  The star would come down after all on perfectly mundane legal grounds, with no precedent at all to show for it!  We shall see.

All my entries on the Holmen Star issue.

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Searching for the Atheist that Believes the Resurrection Happened

A recurring theme of late is that even if you believed the resurrection happened, that would still not justify the inference that there is a God or that the resurrection was a supernatural event.  There are some 500 posts or more (I kid you not) arguing about the ‘divine inference’ and a recent commenter has issued the same challenge.  It is worth reading the comments on this post of mine about my academy’s course on the historicity of the resurrection.

Now, to me the most telling thing about such lines of argumentation is that they seem geared to perfectly insulate atheism from any kind of refutation.   If the resurrection happened, that still wouldn’t warrant believing that God was at work, they say, but very quickly they add, but there is no evidence of it happening, either!  It should be self-evident that the one who objects that an actual resurrection ought to be construed in naturalistic terms ought to drop all objections to the occurrence of miracle.  Consider this article by Jeffrey Jay Lowder, for example, which says:

Thus, virtually every naturalistic scenario, no matter how far-fetched, must seem a priori more plausible to the atheist, than something as miraculous as the resurrection.

This is a refreshingly honest analysis.   This is indeed the perspective of most atheistic objections to the resurrection.    But can such an approach be reconciled with the assertion that even in the face of an actual miracle, that is, granting that the miracle really happened, it still does not justify the inference to the supernatural?  It would seem that musings about ‘background probabilities’ are irrelevant if the events were insignificant even if granted.  But that is the beauty of modern atheism:  they wish to have their cake and eat it too.  Not only are the events insufficient demonstrations of the supernatural but also there is no evidence that they happened, either!  “What luck!” Read the rest of this entry »

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Holmen Star Church and State Issue Coming to a Boil

This Thursday, May 8th, the Holmen village council is expected to take up the issue of the Holmen ‘Cross.’  Perched on a bluff that can be seen from a great distance is a lighted star that during Easter is lighted as a cross instead, for just about a week.  A relatively new resident decided that this offended him and it constituted an establishment of religion.  The Holmen village decided to sell the small piece of property to the Lions Club which formerly was involved with the star and cross.  This would effectively put the object on private land and dodge the church and state separation issue.

Oh, if only that would work.

A recent Holmen Courier article reports that several national atheistic organizations have taken an interest in the affair.

According to the article, the piece of property was appraised at $100.00 and the American Humanist Association and the Freedom From Religion Foundation have both placed bids higher than a $1,000.  The basic idea is to shame the village of Holmen if they consider offering the land to the Lions Club at its appraised value.  Additionally, the Lions Club might be forced to decide the cost is too high in order to avoid that shame.  But probably the real reason is legal.  The article reports that “Both Ritter [AHA] and Gaylor [FFRF] said litigation is a possibility if the Lions Club wins possession of the land with a lower bid.”

Indeed.

The Holmen village council had hoped to avoid controversy and turmoil by following in the footsteps of La Crosse, who after a bitter legal process successfully defeated the FFRF and managed to sell of a 10 Commandment monument in a La Crosse park to a private entity.   That was their hope, but it was misguided.  In seeking to avoid a lawsuit they will probably still end up in a lawsuit.  The only way to avoid a confrontation is to submit to the demands and remove the cross.  With Eric Barnes bringing to bear two national anti-religious organizations it is clear to me that the town of Holmen had better move quick to produce some allies of their own.

Now, some of my own thoughts. Read the rest of this entry »

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Short Story: Chronos and Old Facts

Chronos and Old Facts

A short story by Anthony Horvath

COPYRIGHT, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The sign on the door read “Bureau for Decommissioned Facts.” I pushed the door open gingerly, almost sheepishly. My quest to find this heretofore unknown department of the Universal University was not merely a recent one, but one that was given to me and not one that I had initiated. The department chair had taken me aside in the cafeteria, and in a tone that wavered between fatherly affection and patronizing condescension, insisted that I take a trip to Building 51023414, use the elevator to go down to the lowest sub-floor, and learn what could be learned in the BDF.

Naturally, I found the suggestion extremely curious, if only because I had never heard of the BDF and had never noticed a building marked 51023414 before. From some of the remarks made by the department chair I had some inclination to think that this quest was bestowed upon me in relation to a paper that I had recently submitted for publication. It was a paper that I was particularly proud of: bold, ambitious, counter-intuitive, and well-substantiated. Yet here I was, descending into the bowels of an ungodly numbered building as though I were back in high school and being sent to the principal’s office.

I beheld a nondescript sterile-white room. A black desk was in the middle of it, standing in stark contrast to the rest of the décor. A woman I instantly dubbed in my mind the ‘Prune Woman’ stared at me behind thick black-rimmed glasses. An older lady, to put it nicely. She glared at me. “How can I help you, sir?”

“My department chair sent me here,” I offered, not really knowing what else I could say. One of her eyebrows raised in an inquisitive manner.

“Which department?” she inquired.

“History,” I replied.

“Of course,” she said. “It usually is. Right this way.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Article on Lewis and Paganism Published

My friend Don Hank at Laigles Forum has published an article defending Lewis from the charge of paganism.  Some of you might not even know the charge has been levied.  Honestly, I don’t want to link to them, so you’ll have to Goodsearch your way to them.

Below I have the first couple paragraphs and then from there you’ll need to click through to read the rest of it, at least for now.

When they appeared in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, it was easy to look the other way in the face of the undeniable Christian imagery of Aslan dying and rising and conquering the White Witch.  Bacchus and Silenus, ancient pagan gods, dance with nymphs and dryads.  With Jesus so clearly figured, it was easy to ignore such things, but what to do when Bacchus and Silenus appear not once, but twice, in Prince Caspian, where such Christological imagery is not so obvious?

Prince Caspian is the next book of Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia to be released as a movie.  It is due out in May.  Some Christians may raise the same concerns with CS Lewis as they did with the Harry Potter series.  With pagan gods prancing about in Prince Caspian, their warnings will generate attention.

Are we talking about the same CS Lewis whose writings were instrumental in the conversion of men such as Chuck Colson and Francis Collins and so many others?  If in fact Lewis is a closet Pagan we are confronted with the prospect that Paganism, witchcraft, Gnosticism, and more, likely infect every area of Christendom, as nearly all of Christendom claims Lewis as trustworthy.

Is it possible that the writings of the ‘apostle to the atheists’ actually smuggles in pantheism and Paganism?  There are some who believe exactly that.

Read the Rest of the Article

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