The following is a guest post by my friend and classmate Brian Straus, a seminarian for the Diocese of Springfield/Cape Girardeau, in response to the following ad (and the surrounding controversy): An article from the Christian Post Wednesday called attention to a new billboard being raised in New Jersey that renounces prayer and pokes fun… Continue reading American Atheists, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Straw Man
Tag: reason
Just How Effective is Natural Family Planning, Anyway?
One of the major arguments surrounding natural family planning is on its effectiveness. Critics of NFP claim isn’t all that effective at family planning. In part, this misconception is due to two things: Charles Auguste Romain Lobbedez, Family Time (1876) that, despite its name, it There are a wide variety of practices thrown together under… Continue reading Just How Effective is Natural Family Planning, Anyway?
How the NSA Wiretapping Scandal Reveals God’s Immanence and Transcendence
A while back, I was in an Eastern Orthodox church that had two large depictions of Jesus. The first was an enormous depiction on the ceiling, showing Christ in glory. The second was along the back wall, behind the altar: it was a depiction of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child in her womb.… Continue reading How the NSA Wiretapping Scandal Reveals God’s Immanence and Transcendence
The Chicken-and-Egg Problem for Abortion
A chick beginning to hatch You’re likely familiar with the philosophical problem, “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” But I want to pose a different sort of chicken-or-egg question for those abortion supporters who claim things like “My Body, My Choice.” In the case of non-mammals like chickens, fertilized eggs develop outside of… Continue reading The Chicken-and-Egg Problem for Abortion
Misunderstanding God: Where Atheists Go Wrong in Opposing Christianity
A post I wrote last week on Catholicism and atheism received over 200,000 views and (as of this writing) over 900 comments. Most of these were negative, but they were helpful in showing the areas that many atheists go awry in their opposition to religion. I’m hardly the first to notice that the same errors get… Continue reading Misunderstanding God: Where Atheists Go Wrong in Opposing Christianity
A Catholic Reply to “How to Suck At Your Religion”
An anti-religious (and specifically, anti-Catholic) webcomic is making the rounds on the Internet right now. It’s part of a webcomic called The Oatmeal, and is called “How to suck at your religion.” I have to warn anyone clicking that link that it’s really offensive: profane, lewd, and blasphemous, all at once. Honestly, if you don’t… Continue reading A Catholic Reply to “How to Suck At Your Religion”
Turning the Problem of Evil On Its Head
Atheists are fond of using the argument from evil to debunk the notion of God. It goes something like this: If God is all-powerful (omnipotent), He could stop evil. If God is all-loving (omnibenevolent), He would stop evil if He could. Therefore, if an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God existed, evil would not. Evil exists; therefore, an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God does not.… Continue reading Turning the Problem of Evil On Its Head
What Impact Does Catholic Teaching Have on AIDS in Africa?
Polly Toynbee of the Guardian has leveled one of the most serious (and irresponsible) charges against the Catholic Church: that She’s to blame for millions of dead Africans. In a 2005 article for the Guardian, she wrote: How dare Tony Blair genuflect on our behalf before the corpse of a man whose edicts killed millions?… Continue reading What Impact Does Catholic Teaching Have on AIDS in Africa?
Coming to Know the Resurrected Jesus Christ
First off, credit where credit is due: yesterday was Fr. Kelly’s first Easter Mass as a priest, and he hadn’t prepared a homily. He learned from a priest in seminary that the less you try and prepare things (like homilies) yourself, the more room you leave for the Holy Spirit to work through you. He… Continue reading Coming to Know the Resurrected Jesus Christ
What We can Learn from the Samaritan Woman at the Well
Yesterday’s Gospel reading was John 4:5-42. It’s the passage of the Samaritan woman that Jesus meets at the well. There’s a lot to be gleaned from it, and likely much more that I’m not picking up on. But here are a few things of interest: In John 4:1-4, we hear that after Jesus left Judea… Continue reading What We can Learn from the Samaritan Woman at the Well