New Atheism... yawn

 I'm really glad that people notice the fact that the New Atheists really don't have a whole lot going for them. It's not just that I think they're wrong, they're just really mediocre and boring, give me Friedrich Nietzche or Bertrand Russell. Here is an interesting article on Dawkins' continued cowardice.

Christian Apologist at U of M

The Christian scholar-scientist Kirk Durston will be speaking at the U of Manitoba on Thursday and Friday (October 20 and 21).  Kirk Durston, B.Sc. (Mechanical Engineering), B.Sc. (Physics), M.A. (Philosophy), Ph.D. (Biophysics), is a philosophically astute scientist, with a heart for serving God in the academy.  Durston is also the national director of the New Scholars Society (an affiliation of Canadian university professors who are Christians).

Lecture topics:

- Is God relevant today?
- Can an intellectual believe in God?
- Why does God allow evil and suffering?

For more information, contact Campus for Christ.

Discussion Topic for this week.

Last meeting we decided to discuss the question, "Is it ever ok for a Christian to purposely cause an altered state of consciousness on oneself?" This is an interesting and I think important question in an age where drugs, alcohol, and other mind altering substances are readily available and widely used in our culture. Hope to see everyone out tomorrow to discuss this important question for Christian living.

Tolerance

In light of the current Supreme Court Case dealing with the issue of Religious Freedom and Freedom of speech I think it is crucial to review the concept of Tolerance. I will be presenting a van der Breggenian distinction of two senses of Tolerance and the fallacy of equivocation that so often results.

Tolerance Sense 1:
All views are equal, we can't judge any view as being better than any other view, some views are just different than others. We somehow must agree with everyone.

Tolerance Sense 2:
Some views are better than others. I disagree with view Y because I think view X is better, but I still love and tolerate all persons who hold view Y even though I think they are wrong.

Everyone understands that we should practice tolerance as a virtue. However the tolerance that is referred to is T2 which somehow gets morphed into T1. This is faulty because there are inherent logical contradictions that come with T1 that demonstrate that this view of Tolerance should be rejected. T2 is the way to go, "Be egalitarian in regards to people but elitist in regards to ideas".

Religious Freedom in Canada

This Wednesday, October 12, a very important case is coming before the Supreme Court of Canada. They will be exploring these two issues:

1) Can Christians preach and teach against what we believe to be a sinful behaviour--a behaviour that we believe ultimately harms the person involved--but still love the person?

 

2) Can Christians be critical--in public--of the activities of a person or community without this criticism being understood as hatred?

The EFC will be presenting arguments to defend our right to religious freedom. Please pray that truth and justice would prevail and that our Canadian right to religious freedom is maintained. See here for more information.