thoughtful ideas on life's big questions
Science has been one of the success stories of the past few hundred years Through science we know more about the world. We can predict outcomes like weather, the paths of space rockets and the prognosis for cancers. And we can treat many sicknesses, travel all over the world, communicate to virtually anyone anywhere and […]
Is there a conflict between science and religion? Do religious people and scientists think in different ways? In the next few posts I’m going examine the perceived conflict between science and religion. First, a quick look at some statistics of who believes and who doesn’t.
A friend and I have been discussing the Kalam Cosmological argument recently, so I thought it might be worth posting about it. The Kalam argument has been used many times by philosopher William Lane Craig in public debates, with some success. His use of the argument is itself much debated on the internet. I have […]
For some christians, and some critics too, Adam and Eve and the interpretation of chapters 1-3 of Genesis is a game-breaker. But I really don’t know why it should be. It seems to me that there is a perfectly reasonable and evidence-based way to look at this.
I am grateful to a reader Mustahsin Mir, who asked me some questions about an argument in the book Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person’s Answer to Christian Fundamentalism by David Mills. I haven’t read the book, but the argument can be followed in Amazon’s Look Inside, with Mustahsin’s questions relating to the section on page […]
Astronomy, cosmology and especially the origin and “fine-tuning” of the universe have long been of interest to me. So I was interested to hear a recent radio discussion between cosmologists Sean Carroll and Luke Barnes, where they discussed the start of the universe, fine-tuning and God.
Evolution has probably been the main area of discord between christians and science in the past two centuries. There have always been christians who accepted the science of evolution, but until the last few decades they were probably in the minority. But a new study suggests that this is changing, and that christians aren’t the […]
Nate, who blogs at Finding Truth, and I have been internet friends and opponents for maybe 6 or 7 years. We read each other’s blogs, sometimes comment and occasionally blog in reply to each other. Recently, in response to a question of mine, Nate blogged on the question of whether the beginning of the universe […]
Most people agree that we cannot answer the question, is there a God? with a clear proof, either way. So most arguments for or against the existence of God start with observable features of our world, and try to show that these are compatible with the belief we ourselves hold, but incompatible with the opposite […]
Religious people, especially conservative and fundamentalist believers, are often stereotyped as dogmatic and intolerant. Do the facts support this stereotyping? How do other people compare? And what is the cause?