A Thinking Reed

  • By faith, not by sight

    Atheists sometimes describe faith as “believing something without evidence.” But is this the way religious believers understand faith? I don’t think so, but I do think that there’s a kernel of truth here and that it’s important to distinguish between faith and knowledge. First it should be noted that there often lurks a polemical and…

  • The Fall and natural evil revisited, pt. 2

    In the last post I expressed my unease with the notion of a cosmic fall, largely on the grounds that, for it to be radical enough to exculpate God from creating an order shot through with suffering, death, parasitism and predation it would risk creating a gulf between God and his creation. If fallen angels…

  • Friday metal – Nightwish, “Amaranth”

    If you like lush, operatic European power metal with foxy female singers and videos that look like outtakes from Lord of the Rings, then this one’s for you:

  • How much of a planet-wrecking consumerist are you?

    Find out with this fun quiz a friend of mine sent me. My score was 2.5, which means it would take 2.5 earths to support everyone in the lifestyle to which I’ve become accustomed. I scored the worst on food (6 earths!), which I think may have something to do with the superhuman amounts of…

  • Richard Dawkins does not exist

    That’s the only conclusion I can come to after reading things like this. “Richard Dawkins” is obviously a pseudonym of someone seeking to discredit atheism by associating it with the most ridiculous and childish “arguments” available. (HT: Richard at Connexions, who insists on perpetuating this charade by responding to “Dawkins” in a reasonable and intelligent…

  • The Fall and natural evil revisited, pt. 1

    Eric tipped me off to a great new theology blog, Ipsum Esse, written by a Catholic layman, David Walsh. David recently had two posts that generated some good discussion, one on evolution and the other on the idea of a “cosmic fall.” Longtime ATR readers will know that these are topics near and dear to…

  • Wednesday hip hop? – Public Enemy, “Harder Than You Think”

    A great new track from PE’s 20th anniversary album(!) How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul???

  • The devil’s music

    I had to make note of this theological reflection on the lyrics of a Tool song if only because it lives at the rarely visited interstection of heavy metal fandom and Christian belief. Oh, and the album’s good too. On a somewhat related note, Beliefnet recently interviewed the former guitarist for Korn who converted to…

  • The need for enemies

    Conservative columnist Steve Chapman writes on the inflation of the Islamist threat and the way some people thrive on being part of a grand ideological crusade. Normal people, meanwhile, prefer to live in relative peace and freedom.

  • God and the taxman

    The September “issue” of the Jounal of Lutheran Ethics is now up, with a special focus on taxes, wealth, and poverty