thoughtful ideas on life's big questions
I have had an interest in the question of free will ever since a long and friendly email discussion with an atheist and determinist almost a decade ago. He was a researcher in artificial intelligence, and strongly believed that human beings had no free will, and that the only way we could have it was […]
I have been doing a little reading on DNA, evolution and human history, and the implications of the latest science for christian belief (see DNA, genes and human history). The questions of what do we class as “human”, when the first humans appeared, and how many there were, pose some interesting challenges.
The rise of a more assertive and public brand of atheism is a phenomenon of the last couple of decades. One feature of the so-called “new atheism” is its strong anti-religion stance. Not content to live and let live, many high profile atheists, and their internet followers, vehemently oppose religion, believing it is responsible for […]
People trafficking is the coercive trade of human beings to provide cheap or free labour – effectively slavery. It is happening around the world, and leaves millions of powerless people in misery.
It’s more or less a stereotype, especially in the US: christians are thought to be anti-science. Except the evidence apparently says something different.
I have never really worried much about evolution. I had decided the Genesis origins account was not literal history before I ever thought the scientific account of evolution was true, so the two were never really in conflict for me. But many christians, and a few atheists too, think God and evolution are incompatible. Why?
I’ve been reading a little about DNA lately, particularly about how DNA testing can establish family lines and patterns of migration around the world. It has been fascinating, and it also raises some interesting questions and challenges about belief in God.
This website has been online, in one form or another, for almost 7 years. In that time it has mostly been about evidence and reasons for believing in the God of christianity. My idea was to offer readers food for thought from a reasonably fair-minded viewpoint. But I haven’t indicated what people might do with […]
It has been long established by research that religious observance provides a number of health and wellbeing benefits, including a higher level of happiness. But why is this so?
We all know that the number of committed religious people is dropping in most western countries (see, e.g. Who believes in God?). And it’s not too hard to find stories on the internet of people who were brought up religious, but now disbelieve. It may be less well known that, at the same time, a […]