The Problem with Debate
High school debate teams are a useful method of teaching critical thinking, logic, etiquette, English and Humanities; but, beyond high school, the strict rules of debate largely go unheeded. View any political debate (there are plenty to be seen on YouTube) and you will soon understand that the structure of such debates is loose, judges…
Continue readingThomas Merton
When we are alone on a starlit night, when by chance we see the migrating birds in autumn descending on a grove of junipers to rest and eat; when we see children in a moment when they are really children, when we know love in our own hearts; or when, like the Japanese poet, Basho,…
Continue readingIf There Is No God
If there is no God, then all that exists is time and chance acting on matter. If this is true then the difference between your thoughts and mine correspond to the difference between shaking up a bottle of Mountain Dew and a bottle of Dr. Pepper. You simply fizz atheistically and I fizz theistically. This…
Continue readingWhy is there something rather than nothing?
New Atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking are confident in their atheism; even if they still have a few issues to tackle. Philosophers continue to ask them why consciousness and morality exist. Why do concepts of good and bad, wrong and right persist? Are such things outdated; should they be discarded? Once one…
Continue readingDoubt (Speak It Plain) – A Follow-Up To “No Answer”
The song “Doubt (Speak It Plain)” by Sandra McCracken, alludes to a novel written by C.S. Lewis. Her words, “Until we come to set things right I have no words and I have no face” are a direct reference to the words of Orual in the book Till We Have Faces,1 in which Queen Orual first…
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