A Godless Public Square: Do “private” religious beliefs have a place in public life?

On Wednesday the 3rd of August 2011 I’ll be taking part in a panel discussion on religion in the public square, tackling the issue from the standpoint of theology, philosophy and law. Joining me will be my good friends Matthew Flannagan (theology) and Madeleine Flannagan (law).

The kind of questions that we’ll be exploring will include:

- Is it ever right for Christians to impose their ‘private’ religious beliefs onto others?
- Is it really religiously neutral to insist the public realm be secular?
- How does the idea that religion should be private mesh with freedom of religion and expression laws?

The evening will be held at the University of Auckland. It’s free to the public, and although all three speakers will be bringing their own areas of expertise to bear on the issues, this is not an academic lecture, and it will be aimed at a broad audience. For more details (including the precise location on campus), check out the Facebook page for this event, which  is HERE (at the time of writing, this page was still private, but will be public soon).

If you’ll be in the Auckland area on the 3rd of August, mark this event on your calendar. I hope to meet you there, and spread the word!

Glenn Peoples

As of yesterday, I have a mission statement.

A reader contacted me and commented that he wasn’t able to find one at the website. Well, that’s because there wasn’t one. From time to time I offer a vague comment about just what it is I’m trying to do via this blog, but there was really nowhere where I state it succinctly in an easy to find place. And now there is (see the About / Mission link above, or the button over on the right). This is what I want to do with this blog and podcast:

Mission Statement

Say Hello to my Little Friend exists to serve several ends:

Firstly, to provoke readers and listeners to critically engage philosophy, theology and biblical studies as they relate to academia, culture, history and the most important questions in life.

Secondly, to demonstrate – and to encourage others to demonstrate themselves – that a perspective of Christian belief is not only compatible with the above, but absolutely conducive to it as an intellectually defensible worldview that has much to commend itself to the honest and fair minded critic.

Thirdly, to challenge fellow Christians to be genuinely self critical in their acceptance of theological or philosophical traditions, and to be willing to scrutinise those traditions with a mind to being faithful to truth, to Scripture and ultimately to God.

These ends are met in a variety of ways – through blog entries, discussions in blog comments, direct discussion with readers, through the podcast, publication of articles as prompted by issues that arise here, speaking engagements and face to face with readers and listeners at events.

So now you know! Thanks for the email, Roy.

If the blog looks quiet, there are certainly works in progress. While some blogs have new a ton of new posts day after day in an incessant, hurried effort, with virtually no mental checkpoint at all between “the first thing that comes to mind and sounds awesome and devastating in my internal monologue because I haven’t paused to examine it for weaknesses” and “the final version that appears on my amazing blog Debunking Christianity” (not looking at anyone in particular!), posting good material actually requires a decent amount of preparation time, which just doesn’t allow the constant barrage of posts. But rest assured, I haven’t forgotten you, and I’m working every day on new material, getting it finished and into shape to be posted only when it’s ready. I hope you appreciate the difference!

So what am I working on? What is this stuff you’re waiting for?

Firstly, there are two podcast episodes in the works. One of them addresses the question, “what is faith”? It’s not about theology but epistemology. When we talk about faith and reason, what is the “faith” have of that couplet? What do Christian theists have when they have faith in God? Is it a kind of will to believe without the need for reasons or evidence? Or is it something else? The second podcast I’m working on is actually another instalment in the popular series In Search of the Soul, where I look at the mind-body problem. When I finished the series previously, I was aware of having omitted any coverage of the view of Aristotle (and of Thomas Aquinas, the Western medieval champion of Aristotelianism). So that’s what I’ll be looking at in that episode.

There are also a few blog entries in the making as well. I’ve already posted part one of a three part series on Richard Carrier’s arguments against the resurrection of Jesus. There I looked at Carrier’s extended comparison of the Rubicon crossing of Julius Caesar and the resurrection of Jesus. I’m working on parts two and three of that series. In part two I will be looking at his claims about the general insufficiency of the resurrection as a argument for Christianity, and also his rather extraordinary claim that Jesus’ survival of his resurrection and his escape from the sealed tomb and defeat of the Roman guards would be a more likely explanation for early Christian belief than his actual resurrection. Then in part three – in my view easily the most important of the three, I’ll be looking at Carrier’s most significant claim, to which he devotes by far the most time as it carries most of his case: His claim that the early Christians did not believe in the physical resurrection of the dead body of Jesus at all, but that they actually believed that while the former body remained dead in the tomb, Jesus left his body and entered a new, spiritual body – and that this is what they believed about the future resurrection of the dead as well.

I’m also chipping away at a post offering a historical perspective on the Classical Liberal political tradition and welfare, looking primarily at John Locke and his theory of property rights, which included his theory of the right of those in need to the support of others. I’ll also be contrasting that view with that of utilitarian John Stuart Mill.

There are a couple of other posts I’ve started, but I’m not sure that they’ll make the final cut, just due to my uncertainty over how much they really interest me: A post explaining the position known as sola scriptura, primarily for the sake of providing a fair explanation of that point of view for some of my Roman Catholic friends who seem to misunderstand that position considerably. The other post I’ve started is one discussing some comments by Thom Stark on whether or not some of the conquest accounts in the Old Testament might be hyperbolic, and whether or not we can tell this is the case (at least in part) by comparing contrasting accounts in those histories.

As is always the case, short term interests will pop up that suddenly occupy my attention and that I’ll write on (as in the last two posts on final punishment), but those are the pieces that I’m currently working on. Suggestions are always welcome!

Glenn Peoples

Recently I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Brain Auten of Apologetics 315. The main theme of the discussion was the relationship between God (or a lack thereof) and ethics.

Check it out over at Apologetics 315.

Today’s interview is with Dr. Glenn Peoples. Glenn is a New Zealand based Christian philosopher, podcaster, and blogger. He runs the Beretta blog and hosts the Say Hello to My Little Friend podcast. In this interview, Glenn explores moral terminology, objective morality, the difference between ontology and epistemology, the moral argument, the Craig/Harris debate, advice for apologists, and more.

Hi folks, I thought that with such an educated and knowledgeable readership this would be a good place to ask this question:

What other podcasts on theology / philosophy of religion / philosophy do you know of that are based in the southern hemisphere?

I’m trying to put together a list, but to be honest I don’t listen to very many podcasts. If you know of any, drop me a line or post a comment on this blog.

Thanks!

Well, the podcast has roared back into life with the episode on Divine Command Ethics. Although time is a pretty scarce resource, as I mentioned in episode 39 there are a couple more episodes in the making already. Episode 40 will be in the area of epistemology and philosophy of religion, looking at the question of what faith is (when that word is used in the couplet of “faith and reason”). The episode after that, episode 41, will step away from philosophy and into the world of historic and systematic theology, looking at the doctrine of the descent into hell as mentioned in the Apostles’ Creed.

I’m working on several articles for publication as time allows as well. The first is a fairly popular level exposition of the place of religious convictions in politics and law, aimed at a New Zealand audience. Another is a piece on whether or not a thoroughly secular (in the sense of godless) outlook can give a plausible account of the type of doctrine of equality required by the liberal democracy. The other two pieces are actually being prepared as papers to be delivered at conferences, but after they have been delivered and hopefully subjected to critical feedback I plan to submit them for publication. The first of these is called “The Non-moral Goodness of God” and will be presented at the APRA conference at the University of Auckland this coming July. It’ll be interesting to see how the talk is received by Eric Weilenberg, as it offers some criticism of his comments in his work Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe. The second piece is “The Epistemological Objection to Divine Command Ethics” which responds to the concern that if Divine Command Ethics is true, then people who don’t believe in God have no hope of acquiring moral knowledge – a concern that is most recently raised by Wes Morriston, and which I argue is mistaken. I’ve submitted this paper for presentation at the annual conference of the Evangelical Philosophical Society in San Francisco this November, and I’m hopeful that it will be accepted. If all these projects succeed that’ll be four decent academic achievements this year, which might not be a lot for a full time academic, but for someone in my position it’s not too shabby!

What follows is a bit of somewhat more personal information for those who are interested.

Read the rest of the entry »

Christian Persuaders over at UCCF recently released a podcast episode featuring an interview with John Lennox on the “Lazy Apologist” and why you shouldn’t be one.

“In my books,” insisted Lennox, “all Christians are apologists – positive or negative.” This is because “We are in the world, we’ve been commanded to witness to our faith. Part of that – a major part of that witness is defending the faith against misunderstanding and against misrepresentation. So it is going to take us out of our comfort zone – inevitably.” Part of our task, says Lennox, is to break through the notion held by so many – that “faith is for the private sphere.”

I especially appreciated the point that John made about fear. There’s a fear that paralyses of course, which is not much good – when we’re not confident enough to articulate a defence of what we believe. But there’s a healthy kind of fear too – that fear when we find ourselves in a strategic position in our society to speak out and engage in apologetics, the fear that is the realisation of the weight of that responsibility, and our obligation to do so effectively, our responsibility not to miss those opportunities. In an evangelical ethos that fears the bogeyman of “intellectualism,” or that prefers to focus on ourselves and our sense of spirituality, justified (ironically) in the name of being “deep” Christians, we run the risk of being poor stewards of the opportunities we are given. What it amounts to is retreating into the very “comfort zones” that Lennox calls us out of.

Professor John Lennox will be coming to New Zealand this month. To be honest I’m shocked that there isn’t some publicity around this visit. Given his talent and passion for Christian apologetics and specifically on the interface between faith and science I’m looking forward to hearing him in person speaking on those subjects.

Glenn Peoples

Hat tip to Brian Auten and Madeleine Flannagan for bringing this podcast to my attention.

This blog is usually devoted to philosophy (especially philosophy of religion, ethics and political philosophy), theology and biblical studies, and my thoughts on social issues. But it’s my blog, and in theory I can say whatever I like. Like right now.

I was absolutely gutted this morning to find out that one of my favourite musicians and songwriters, Gary Moore died this weekend. I didn’t expect that. Born in Belfast in 1952, Gary played in Skid Row at just sixteen years old, then Thin Lizzy, going on to have a career as one of the most underrated musicians in the contemporary scene. He was fifty-eight years old and still performing at the top of his game – way too young to die. He collaborated with some of the greats in blues guitar: Albert Collins, John Lee Hooker, B B King and others, but his own playing was unmatched in his genre. There’s nobody to fill these shoes.

I feel like I’ve lost a friend.

Rest in peace

(In fairness, I should have also marked the passing of Ronnie James Dio last year, but did not.)

OK so it’s not really all that interesting, but I’ve just changed the structure of permalinks at this blog. Permalinks are links to individual posts.

Take my last post on Ricky Gervais’s silly comments about God. The link to that post used to look like this:

http://www.beretta-online.com/wordpress/index.php/why-ricky-gervais-is-a-comedian/

See that index.php in the middle? That’s ugly. I’m not really sure when or why I set it up that way, but it’s different now. Now the link would look like this:

http://www.beretta-online.com/wordpress/2010/why-ricky-gervais-is-a-comedian/

Much nicer. This applies to all links to previous posts. Fortunately, any permalinks out there that were written prior to today will still work.

As happens every now and then, the blog is about to come to a screeching halt for a little while

The house that we rent has been sold and the new owners will be moving in on the 17th of December, so we need to be out before then. We haven’t found a new place yet that is suitable and which is even close to being affordable. Time is running out pretty quickly and it’s not yet clear what the next step is, but things are pretty busy at the moment with packing and trying to find a place to go. I’ll be pretty scarce at the blog until we’ve moved.

Glenn