Religious Apologetics
“Sacred texts are usually taken literally until secular sources prove them to be a scientific or ethical embarrassment. At that point religious leaders and apologists do one of three things:
- they have a new revelation or
- they reinterpret the old revelation as being an allegory, symbol, metaphor, or parable or
- they say the sacred text only applied to the past.
Whichever remedy they choose, it has the appearance of being an act of convenience, not conviction.”
— August Berkshire
Catch me on KNDS Radio this Saturday!
On Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011, 11:00 a.m.-noon Central Time, I’ll be a guest on the live atheist radio show “Appreciate Your Mind,” co-hosted by Brian Magee and Ryan Smith. It’s on KNDS radio, FM 96.3 on air, or stream live. The broadcast will then become a podcast on iTunes. We’ll be talking about current events and atheism in general. Should be a lot of fun; I’m looking forward to it.
Can Christians and Atheists Find Common Ground?
That’s the topic that host Doug Pagitt and I will be kicking around today on the “Doug Pagitt Radio Show” today from 12:05 pm – 12:30 pm CST. Doug is a liberal Christian whose show airs on KTNF 950 AM. You can listen over-the-air or stream from KTNF’s website. If you listen in, let me know what you thought of the show.
Review of my debate with Joe Boot at St. Cloud State University
August Berkshire (third from left) enjoys a post-debate meal at Perkins with students from SSA at SCSU on Feb. 24, 2010.
Benjamin Seghers has a nice review of my recent debate with Christian apologist Joe Boot at St. Cloud State University at his SCSU Intellectuals blog. The topic of the debate was the existence of God. Apparently I did pretty good:
Who had the stronger arguments? Me being a member of SSA, I’m naturally inclined to say Mr. Berkshire did, just as I’m sure most of the Christians in the crowd would say Mr. Boot did. Did anyone in the crowd change their mind? I don’t know, maybe a few (as I said, there was no polling to objectively gauge this). For those coming in unsure, I hope either debater helped clarify the positions so that informed and educated decisions could made. I very much enjoyed the debate. It was great to hear from Mr. Boot a new perspective that I had not heard before. Mr. Berkshire also brought interesting arguments that I also had not heard before, which helped me solidify my beliefs. I do have to admit though, one my favorite quotes from the whole thing was from Mr. Berkshire: “According to Christian theology, God sacrificed himself to himself to save us from himself.”
According to Benjamin, there were close to 1,000 people attending. Wow! Who knew so many people were interested in examining this question? Well, us atheists of course, but I think many more people have doubts about God than we’re given to believe by what we see in the media. Read Benjamin’s full review here.
I’ll be on KKMS Live with Jeff and Lee this afternoon (5PM CST). Listen live and call in.
I just wanted to post a quick reminder to everybody that I’ll be discussing “The God-of-the-Gaps” with Gannon Murphy, general editor of American Theological Inquiry, on “KKMS Live with Jeff & Lee” this afternoon. Tune in to KKMS on AM 980, or listen live online, at 5PM CST. Call in to the show at (651) 289-4499 with your questions or comments. If you’re interested in where I’ll be speaking next, you can find all of my upcoming appearances right here or subscribe to my Upcoming Appearances iCal.