Evolution and theism: a debate debrief

I’m writing this post as a debrief of a recent debate that I had on Facebook with a theist, on evolution and it’s consequences for theistic/atheistic views of the universe. I have blogged on this topic (reviewing written works) on a couple of occasions before: here and here. I think the debate I had was instructive so I thought I’d leave a record of it.

Jesus the Pillar, and the problem of Christian Values in schools.

A week or so ago, the headmaster of my daughters’ school declared in front of the parents of new pupils at their open day, something to the effect of “Jesus is the Pillar around which this school is built”.

Why I have a problem with Jesus.

1. If you think that the existence of Jesus matters, then there isn’t sufficient evidence to conclude that Jesus existed.
2. The Jesus portrayed in the Gospels was weird, and certainly not worth worshipping.

Review of “Why call me God?” By J.H.Hatfield.

I came to read this book by an extraordinary encounter. I was speaking at my local Humanist Group on “Darwinism and Religion” a month or two back. At a couple of points in my talk I was interrupted by a member of the audience who went off on a rather long rant about what Genesis and the Bible were about.

Letter to the York Schools and Youth Trust

Just sent this letter to YoYo. I don’t like having to do this sort of thing, but I feel that someone has to do it and that not enough people are doing it.

More like Buzz Aldrin please: what should happen to prayers at council meetings.

Shortly after safely guiding the lunar module Eagle to mankind’s first touchdown on the lunar surface in July 1969, Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin broadcast these words:

My kid’s school is so proud of its faith. They should be ashamed of it.

I’ve been wanting to get this stuff off my chest for a long time. My eldest daughter goes to Archbishop of York Junior School, which was recently subject to an Ofsted inspection, as well as its Statutory Inspection of Anglican Schools. In addition the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, recently visited the school’s Xmas play. In all these events/occasions, public comments were made about the school being good “because it is Christian”.

Review of “Rescuing Darwin: God and evolution in Britain today” by Nick Spencer and Denis Alexander.

This essay is a report by “Theos: the Public Theology Think Tank”, and attempts to show that Darwinism and theism are reconcilable.

In compliance with the creative commons license under which the report was created, I link to the original article here and encourage my readers to look at it.

Theos: the Public Theology “Think Tank”

Yesterday I was watching the BHA’s CE Andrew Copson give evidence to the joint select committee on Lords reform, and he did so next to the director of Theos, Elizabeth Hunter. I have come across Theos before, but hadn’t investigated it much. I was intrigued to see that they have produced a report to emphasize that faith and Darwinism are compatible, a view I disagree with, so I’m going to criticise that in the near future. In the meantime here are some comments on what they say they are and do.

Archbishop of York’s view of Christianity

In the spirit of enriching our views of the universe by critical discussion, I present below comments on my neighbour Archbishop John Sentamu’s view of Christianity as portrayed on his website. I apologize that I got rather sarcastic about this, but I just didn’t see anywhere else to go.