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Atheism, Arrogance, and Intellectual Vice

imagesThis past June in Vancouver, the atheists Lawrence Krauss and Richard Dawkins were recorded speaking about the despicable (Christian philosopher and theologian) William Lane Craig at the Imagine No Religion 5 Conference. As I listened to this brief (less than 3 minute) rant, I was amazed at the arrogance of the two. It was a brief window into a not often enough talked about aspect of some within the new atheist movement: smug arrogance and a corresponding intellectual viciousness.

When Appeals to Mystery Mask Intellectual Laziness

Unknown-4Appeals to mystery by so-called emergent Christians was rampant when postmodernism was all the rage. The knowability of God was swallowed up by the mystery of God. “We can’t know anything definitive about God, He (or She, or It) is wrapped in a shroud of mystery,” we were told. God is “beyond the veil” of human knowledge. As a result, we were to embrace the mysterious as we worshipped a God of our own experience and, all to often, our own image.

The Divine Game of Clue: God’s Crime Scene by J. Warner Wallace

Unknown-2As I kid I loved playing the game Clue. Who murdered Mr. Boddy, with what, and where? My favorite culprit was Colonel Mustard, who loved candlesticks and libraries. I’d be that villain if I could choose. In the new book God’s Crime Scene, J. Warner Wallace takes us on a fascinating journey to another crime scene, a cosmic crime scene as big as the universe, seeking a culprit responsible for reality itself.

American Jesus: Pawn or King?

Unknown-2In Stephen Prothero’s book American Jesus, the Boston University Professor of Religion details how Jesus became a national iconoclast and icon. The purpose of Prothero’s book is to discern the “cultural Jesus:” the Jesus understood by Americans both historically and today.

Two Purposes for the Miraculous

imagesModern man is quick to deny the miraculous. “Miracles are impossible”—says the Bultmannian—since Nature is the whole story. “Miracles are improbable”—says the Humean—since laws of nature are exceptionless and miracles are violations of these exceptionless laws. “Miracles are not necessary”—says the scientists—since science is quickly closing all gaps in knowledge, gaps that pre-moderns used to plug by invoking God.

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