Science Minister

I hope you have all been following the various articles about our Science Minister - who refused to answer a reporters questions about whether of not he believed in creationism.  THe question was asked by a Globe and Mail reporter, and the G&M has had several subsequent articles raising the issue of a Science Minister who does not believe in science.  The National Post has come out supporting the Science Minister's position ...

Fascinating how this issue seems to force people to take strong positions and immediately attack the other positions ....

National Post

Globe and Mail comment

Globe and Mail story

What's So Great About Christianity?

I just finished reading the book by Dinesh D’Souza, What’s So Great About Christianity?.

This is basically a book in response to the writings of people like Daniel Dennett, Steven Weinberg, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, (Canadian) Steve Pinker, E.O. Wilson, Victor Stenger and William Provine. Praise for the book comes from Ravi Zacharias, Francis Collins, Dallas Willard and even the atheist Michael Shermer. The book is remarkable because it comes across as aggressively offensive (in the sporting sense, not in the distasteful sense) instead of the apologetically defensive style of writers like John Haught and Alister McGrath. This is the book response that I have been waiting for since the books from that ‘unholy trinity’, Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens. It sacrifices some rigor for conciseness and completeness, but otherwise is a masterpiece. It also responds well to the question of ‘What’s so great about Christianity?’ Here is just one gem:

“The Bible says that salvation is the gift of God. Many people – even many Christians – understand this to mean that God is offering us salvation as a gift. But the Bible doesn’t say that salvation is the gift from God. Rather, it says that salvation is the gift of God. God Himself is the gift. Heaven is best understood not as a place but as a description of what it is like to be with God. To be with God requires that we want to be with Him, that we accept His present of Himself.”

ab

A quote I came across this week...

Stephen Jay Gould:

I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.

Book review - The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins

One of the best responses I have seen is here. Interestingly it is written by another prominent scientist.

AB

science and creationism blog

Here is an interesting blog along the same lines as this one.

scienceandcreationism.blogspot.com

MI

Video Library

Below is a link to a video library with many full length videos, including Unlocking the Mystery of Life, The Privileged Planet, and Icons of Evolution. It also has numerous lectures, particularly from proponents in the Intelligent Design community, which have been useful and influential in shaping my thinking. There's literally hours and hours of material here, so on those insomniatic nights, this is a great website to visit!

http://www.theapologiaproject.org/video_library.htm

WL

Science and religion intersection

Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish.