Christian belief, prayer and health
Food for Thought I sometimes get into discussions on the web where the subject of prayer, healing and the existence of God come up. Distressingly, they too often seem to take a similar course.
Tag: Religion
7 facts about religion and terrorism
Terrorism is on many people’s minds at the moment, and many connect it with religion. Several years ago I wrote a page on this website about religion and terrorism, and it is one of the pages I have had to update most often, because of new understandings. I have just updated it again, with new […]
Recovering from cancer
Sick people generally want to get better, and doctors work for that result. If there’s any way to improve the odds of recovery, then both doctors and patients want to know. Modern medicine can do amazing things, and the human body has amazing recuperative powers. But sometimes more is needed. Sometimes people ask God for […]
Objections to the theistic argument from fine-tuning
Last post I presented evidence that indicates that the scientific evidence shows that the universe is indeed “fine-tuned” – i.e. of all the possible universes allowed by theoretical physics, very, very few would have allowed life to evolve. This post I consider objections to using this scientific evidence to argue that God exists.
Does religion cause terrorism?
It is often said that religion causes terrorism. Until recently the facts said otherwise. But now it appears to be true, in five countries at any rate.
The science of Genesis?
About 6 years ago, on another blog, I did a post about a rising young evolutionary biologist who wrote a book based on accepted evolutionary science, but which related the science to the Bible’s account of creation in Genesis. He was soundly lambasted for his temerity. Now a young astrophysicist has dared to do a […]
Do mystics really experience God?
When you see the word “mystic”, you may think of medieval mystics like Julian of Norwich or Meister Eckhart. Or you may think of modern mysticism, psychics and yogis, self-empowerment or cosmic consciousness. But there are many “ordinary people” who have mystical experiences, and there are many scientists (psychologists and neuroscientists) who have studied the […]
Christianity – the good and the bad?
The good and harm done by christianity is a topic of much discussion and argument, and I have written on it many times (e.g. Does religion poison everything? and Do religious believers have better health and wellbeing, like, really?). Keith Parsons is a US philosopher and atheist who writes about the philosophy of religion, and […]
Choosing our religion (4): you are what you eat?
It is clear that, whether we are believer or unbeliever, our choices about our belief in God are not always as rational as we might like to think. If there is no God, we probably cannot choose at all in any meaningful way. Sometimes (some would say always), we cannot choose our beliefs, they are […]
Choosing our religion (3): how people make choices
I reckon most of us like to think we make good decisions about what we believe – that is, ones that are based on good evidence and good reasoning, and which lead to true beliefs. Trouble is, there are people with quite different beliefs about God, morality and politics to what you or I believe, […]