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Category: General

40 Year Old Accusations? Really?

I don’t know whether or not Roy Moore actually did the things he is accused of doing, but unlike some, I actually care.

I have seen innumerable statements on Facebook, comment sections of articles, and so on, stating that Christians conservatives are really hypocritical for supporting Moore.  This is interesting, because from the very beginning, I’ve seen many conservatives ready to give weight to the accusations, and those who ‘supported Moore’ did not support Moore so much as dispute the idea that just because the WAPO reports something, it must be accepted.  Here is one of my favorites, especially … continue reading...

Tips for Knowing that What you Know is True and Real: Preamble

Many disagreements on issues come down to a fundamental difference on how people arrive at what they consider to be ‘true’ and the different weighting they give to different kinds of knowledge claims.  It is even worse when people are unaware of how they are arriving at their conclusions and have given no thought whatsoever to whether or not these methods are sound, or appropriate to the categories they are applying those methods to.  I have given thought to this, indeed, you could even say I wrote the book on epistemology.  😉 There have been many occasions where I thought … continue reading...

Accusations of Sexual Misconduct IN THE MEDIA are Themselves Inappropriate

Updated at the end to include a response to an argument made re: Moore.

Yes, of course, there is the long pattern of claims of rape and other examples of sexual misconduct that have been revealed to be completely untrue and fabricated… the Duke lacrosse team… the Rolling Stone fiasco… Tawana Brawley… almost certainly Anita Hill… but this essay is going to assume, for the sake of argument, that there is an underlying legitimate basis for the claims.  But the false claims are not irrelevant to this post, and the point I will be making, so we will do well … continue reading...

Do babies who don’t believe in Jesus go to hell?

Most of my work in ‘apologetics’ (the defense of the Christian faith) involves fielding stupid questions by arrogant people who know next to nothing about what it is they are objecting to.   The truth is that many of the reasons put forward for not believing in God and Christ are exceedingly lame, and would not be tolerated in any other scenario.  (For example, the 19th century Christian Richard Whately responded to David Hume’s arguments by showing how they equally show that Napoleon  didn’t exist–an absurd proposition.) To top it off, many of the people who object to Christianity are … continue reading...

The Skubala Missives, Letter 1

To the Most Eminent Secretary Kugelpuss:

It is of course with the most earnest trepidation that I bring a matter of great importance to your attention.  Your reputation precedes you, but I will be an enigma to you.  Lest you mistake your resume as a warrant for any response you deem appropriate, I must sketch out the details of my own expertise, which of course I invite you to verify.

I arose to my present position from Screwtape’s division, and under his tutelage and by his efforts.  If my name is not enough to arouse within you some terror, then … continue reading...

Whatever is true, whatever is noble: Christians are forbidden from being tools

In the post immediately proceeding this one, I shamed people who respond in knee-jerk fashion to whatever the new national outrage is.  It was a general tirade that applied to all who were guilty.  However, some additional thoughts directed to the Christian are in order, for they, more than anyone, should not so easily fall in with the outrage du jour.  As with that post, this one is also not to be read into whatever today’s outrage is, and should be seen as applying to all of them.  The intended audience for this post is specifically Christians.

The … continue reading...

Don’t be a Tool, You Child

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 1 Cor. 13:11 [follow up blog post for Christians in particular]

I have been wanting to write this post for months and months, but have delayed doing so because I did not want any readers to think it was the result of any particular ‘national outrage.’  Not surprisingly, it is precisely because the phenomena I’m addressing is a constant, continual kind of thing, a ‘lull’ never came.  Well, it was … continue reading...

The White Supremacy of Aborting Defectives

More than one friend made sure I saw the recent CBS news story with the headline, “”What kind of society do you want to live in?”: Inside the country where Down syndrome is disappearing.”

My daughter was diagnosed in the womb with spina bifida, and yes, the doctor prompted us to consider aborting her, and yes, like in Iceland, we were shown to the genetic counselor immediately afterwards.  At the time, I knew nothing about genetic counseling or its ideological history, and I did not know that we needed to be on our guard.  Per the article:

Quijano asked Stefansson, … continue reading...

Unraveling the Universe of Ideas (Part 1 of N)

When I wrote my (yet unpublished) dissertation examining the influence of Darwinism on the founders of eugenics, I found myself faced with trying to tease out just what is meant by ‘influenced.’  Ie, does Darwinism logically entail eugenics? I felt I needed a model for comprehending those connections.  Think, for example, of W. V. Quine’s ‘web of belief,’ which has value, but does not address the phenomena of people having seemingly the same ideas, but for some reason or another, they are not able to continue together upon an ideological train of thought.

This dovetails into my dissatisfaction with the … continue reading...

Hate

Embarrassed.

That’s how I felt awhile back when I came across the ADL’s (Anti-Defamation League) so-called ‘Pyramid of Hate.’  How could an organization focused on preventing genocide fail to understand how genocides occur, and, with disturbing irony, in particular the genocide against the Jews under the Nazis?  Since they were not ashamed at their ignorance, I was ashamed on their behalf.

The ADL puts ‘hate speech’ at the very bottom of the pyramid (eg, “Belittling Jokes” and “Insensitive Remarks”) and moving up from there we have “Ridicule” and “Slurs” before we get to some of the more serious items, such … continue reading...

So you say you want to replace Obamacare…

No one listens to me.  I get that.  Still, I would like to go on record right now predicting continued dysfunction in America’s health system.  This dysfunction is generated by our collective refusal to come to grips with the real world.   Normally, I’d have to direct my comments towards liberals and progressives, but right now the matter is in the hands of Republicans.  They are in real danger of merely ‘re-configuring the machine,’ when what we really need is to have the machine dismantled.  ASAP.

We have to understand that nearly every kind of government activity is … continue reading...

Proposal: Every State Should Secede from the United States and…

There has been quite a bit of talk about secession in recent years, notably in Texas, and now, thanks to Trump’s victory, in California.  There are some qualitative differences between the two desires… Texans would like to be left alone by the other 250 million Americans, Californians would like to be able to impose themselves on the other 250 million Americans.  But lets leave that aside, for between the two, we’re talking about some 60,000,000 Americans, or 1/6 of the population of the whole country.  I’d say that when the countries two largest states both have secession on their minds, … continue reading...

Did I Give Trump the Idea to put Citizen Bloggers in the White House Press Room?

Listening to the media spin more silliness a few months ago, I vented to then President-elect Donald Trump in a Tweet:

Since then, I saw this news article which included this bit:

Talk radio hosts and bloggers could be given greater access to official White House press briefings once the Trump administration takes office, under a highly irregular proposal being floated that may also remove briefings from the West Wing.

And this … continue reading...

Why I love the Commercialization of Christmas

Every year about this time there are complaints about the commercialization of Christmas.  I think even my hero, C.S. Lewis had some cynical things to say about it.  No doubt, it is ironic and even scandalous that the ‘reason for the season’ is often only a pretext for people and businesses to make a load of money.  And they do make a lot of money.  And certain elements don’t mesh well with the ‘religious’ overtones of the holiday (etymology: ‘holy day‘), to be sure.  Even within Christendom, there is the sense that we are to take a meditative, … continue reading...