Category: Religion
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How Far Does Religious Toleration Extend?
Suppose that there were a religion whose aim was to dominate the world and suppress every other religion. Would we who value toleration be under any obligation to tolerate such a religion? Of course not. Toleration does not extend to the toleration of the intolerant. Is there such a religion? According to Farhad Khosrokhavar, Inside Jihadism:…
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Pope Benedict’s Regensburg Speech and Muslim Oversensitivity
This is a slightly redacted version of a piece first posted on 18 September 2006 at the old PowerBlogs site. I repost it not only to save it for my files, but also because it it important to remember not only the successful and unsuccessful acts of Islamist terrorism worldwide, but also the many incidents which…
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Does Sincere Belief in an Afterlife Entail Religious Zealotry?
Spencer Case e-mails: Greetings from Afghanistan. I’d very much like to hear your response to a sketch of an argument I’m developing. It goes as follows: 1. Suppose an afterlife is obtainable based on one’s performance in this life. If this afterlife is as I understand it, it must have an infinite value while all…
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East Versus West on the Trinity: The Filioque Controversy
Our meeting with the affable and stimulating Dale Tuggy on June 20th at St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox monastery a little south of Florence, Arizona, got me thinking about the Trinity again. So I pulled Timothy Ware's The Orthodox Church off the shelf wherein I found a discussion of the differences between the Eastern Orthodox and…
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John Hick on Religious and Naturalistic Definitions of Religion
Defining 'religion' is not easy. John Hick sees a major division running through the welter of competing definitions: The major division, as we have already noted, is between religious and naturalistic definitions. According to the former, religion (or a particular religious tradition) centres upon an awareness of and response to a reality that transcends ourselves…
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Is Atheism Intellectually Respectable? On Romans 1:18-20
Joe Carter over at First Things argues that "We have to abandon the politically correct notion that atheism is intellectually respectable." My own view is that theism and atheism are both intellectually respectable. Carter makes his case by invoking St. Paul: In Romans, St. Paul is clear that atheism is a case of vincible ignorance: “For his…
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The Right to Ridicule Religion
Mike Valle over at Fists in the Wind writes: I support the absolute right of all of these people to ridicule religion all that they want. I don't think the government should fund any of it, but I do believe in this fundamental principle: The right to ridicule religious beliefs absolutely trumps the so-called "right"…
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More on Scriptural Revelation
Joshua Orsak e-mails, I really enjoyed your recent post on various ways to approach revelation. I, too, opt for something like option C. It is similar to Karl Barth's position: that the Bible is NOT the revelation of God, but a record of God's revelation to mankind. I find that shift to be vital. Many…
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Four Slants on Scripture
Suppose you are a theist (classically defined) and are also open to the possibility of divine revelation. Suppose further that you are open to the possibility of a written revelation. Call the scripture of a religion its 'Book.' The three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, sometimes called 'religions of the Book,' each have their…
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Can a Faith Commitment be Tentative?
Ed Farrell writes, I greatly enjoy your blog and read it often. I think your latest post (Mature Religion: More Quest than Conclusions) misses the mark. For the believer of a revealed religion (I'm a Christian) the issue is not so much quest or conclusions as commitment. It's true we can't know God in the…
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Mature Religion: More Quest than Conclusions
All genuine religion involves a quest since God must remain largely unknown, and this by his very nature. He must remain latens Deitas in Aquinas' phrase: Adoro te devote, latens Deitas, Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas;Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit, Quia te contemplans totum deficit. Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,…
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Incarnation: A Mystical Approach?
I have been, and will continue, discussing Trinity and Incarnation objectively, that is, in an objectifying manner. Now what do I mean by that? Well, with respect to the Trinity, the central conundrum, to put it in a very crude and quick way is this: How can three things be one thing? With respect to the…
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Peter Hitchens Returns to Christianity and Makes Peace with his Atheist Brother
Here.
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From the Mail: John Bishop, Believing by Faith
Dr. Vallicella, Another excellent post with which I whole-heartedly agree! You asked if there were any other options besides: A. Rationalism: Put your trust in reason to deliver truths about ultimates and ignore the considerations of Sextus Empiricus, Nagarjuna, Bayle, Kant, and a host of others that point to the infirmity of reason. B. Fideism: Put…
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From the Mailbag: More on the Lewis Trilemma
Dear Mr. Vallicella, I am a theologically-trained youth minister who has studied the Bible 'professionally' for almost 10 years. While I believe that Jesus Christ is in some sense God, I agree with your analysis of Lewis' ridiculous claim. I'd like to add one more dimension. Lewis' claim presupposes that the Gospels are literal accounts…