Culture

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Debate: Does Atheism Poison Everything? Christopher Hitchens vs. David Berlinski

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In front of a sold-out crowd of 1,200 in Birmingham, Alabama, Christopher Hitchens, famed atheist and author of “God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” debates Dr. David Berlinski, Paris mathematician and author of “The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions.”

Hitchens and others of the New Atheism movement have called for the annihilation of religion in order to establish a purely secular society. Berlinski, who describes himself as a secular Jew and an agnostic takes the position that a society absent religious influence is not the kind of place where most of us would want to live.

So the question stands: Is a purely secular society preferable to a religious one? Ultimately, this is a question of importance to everyone. Whether a given society is with or without a religious influence affects people of all persuasions, not just Christians and atheists.

Free study guide at http://fixed-point.org/

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Does a Good God Exist? A debate between Dr. William Dembski and Christopher Hitchens

Patsourakos: Clergy Must Abide by America’s Tradition of Church-State Separation

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George Patsourakos, occasional commentator on the AOI Observer, posted a commentary on his blog “Theology and Society” sure to elicit some strong responses. I agree with his overall conclusion (keep candidate endorsements away from the pulpit) but I disagree with his interpretation of the separation of church and state clause in the Constitution. What do you think?

This week former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said that religion in America has, by and large, become too involved in politics. He also warned of the dangers that could result if this trend continues.

For example, the fact that some pastors are now openly calling on their parishioners to vote a certain way is contrary to the established principle of separation of church and state in America.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” In other words, Americans are free to worship as they please, and there must be no government interference insofar as their worshiping is concerned.
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Nihilism as the end of atheism is a historical necessity

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An idea I need to develop:

The Gospel supplanted paganism in its various forms because through the preaching of it the Resurrected Christ is revealed, the One through whom death was destroyed, the One who broke the shackles of paganism — the prison of capricious fate and the cosmic despair that paganism was powerless to overcome. The resurrection of Christ breaks the bonds of the pagan world view by putting death to death. It was a historic, space-time event of universal power and cosmic significance that brought forward a new civilization from the exhausted ruins of the old one through the labor of those who heard and stood in that Gospel.

However, if the God of Abraham is rejected, no god exists to replace Him. Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords, the King of Kings. “Hear O Israel, the Lord you God is One God” meaning your God in not a god of the pagans, not another god in the pantheon of gods, not one of a multiplicity of gods. This means that the atheist rejection of God by necessity compels an embrace of death because he rejects the God who destroyed death. Nothing exists beyond Him.

Atheism, then, is not a return to paganism since that path has become a historical impossibility. It is, rather, a descent into the cold regions where life cannot exist and the end result must be a place where the suffering will become greater than the slavery to fate and despair known by the pre-Christian ancients. Historical necessity allows no other conclusion.

We are in a fight for our lives.

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