Judaism Worldwide Population: 14.1 million* Place and Date of Origin: Israel, 1440 B.C. Founder: Moses (?) Organization/Authority: Judaism has no official organizational structure. Jewish life centers around individual synagogues led by Rabbis who are teachers trained in the Jewish Scriptures and the Talmud. For orthodox Jews, the Torah (first five books of Moses) is the … Read More
By Brandon Robbins – Science and Christianity: can they be reconciled? Paul Kurtz thinks not. In Kurtz’s article, “Are Science and Religion Compatible?” [Skeptical InquirerSkeptical Inquirer 45), he asked the question: “Can we live a full life in the face of the ultimate human extinction?” In the final analysis of religion, Kurtz states that the … Read More
By Clete Hux – What do you think of when you hear the word “cult”? For many of us, that word conjures up images of Jim Jones and Jonestown, Guiana, where some 900 people in Jones’ People’s Temple followed his instructions and committed suicide by drinking kool-aid laced with cyanide. Or we may think of … Read More
By Winfried Corduan – You may; you may not. You may; you may not. Okay, you may—but only on my terms!” How did religion begin? The above litany seems to characterize a contemporary approach to this question. Tomoko Masuzawa begins her acclaimed study, In Search of Dreamtime, with the declaration: “It has been some time … Read More
By Douglas Groothuis – This is a manifesto to ignite the holy fire of apologetic passion and action. It is not a sustained argument or a development of themes. (I have written and lectured about these matters elsewhere). It is, rather, a short series of interrelated propositions crying out for both immediate and protracted action. … Read More
By Steven B. Cowan – A few years ago, the Fox News program The O’Reilly Factor ran the following exchange between journalist Bill O’Reilly and then President of the Southern Baptist Convention, Paige Patterson, concerning the issue of Christian exclusivity:1 O’REILLY: I’d be offended if somebody came up to me and said, “O’Reilly. . .if … Read More
by Jay W. Richards – For over fifty years, the British philosopher Antony Flew has been the English-speaking world’s most intellectually serious public atheist. He first engaged Christian apologist C.S. Lewis at Oxford in 1950, and has pursued scholarly defenses of atheism until recently. He has always argued that there just wasn’t enough evidence to … Read More
GLOSSARY OF TERMS – Creationism. A movement among Christian scientists that seeks to discover scientific evidence for the biblical account to creation. Intelligent Design Theory. The theory in contemporary science that certain phenomena in cosmology, astronomy, and biology are best explained as the work of an intelligent being, perhaps God. Metaphysical Naturalism. (Also called simply … Read More
By Nancy Pearcey – To everyone’s surprise, the 2004 presidential election became in part a referendum on science and religion. At the Democratic National Convention, Ron Reagan, son of the former president, labeled opposition to embryonic stem cell research an article of faith and stated that it did not belong in the realm of public … Read More
By Vic Minish – Jesus has always been an interesting figure. People representing just about every conceivable position under the sun quote him and want to have a “Jesus” who endorses their own viewpoint. Recently, it seems that everyone who has an opinion on the matter is publishing his or her version of Jesus. For … Read More
By Scot McKnight – One doesn’t need a sophisticated philosophical system to form a skeptical stance vis-à-vis Jesus. The question has often been asked, but rarely so well as by Natalie Angier: “How can a bench-hazed Ph.D., who might of an afternoon deftly puree a colleague’s PowerPoint presentation on the nematode genome into so much … Read More
By Douglas Groothuis – Those enamored of New Age spirituality usually find in Jesus a kindred spirit. Rather than exiling Jesus to the legendary lore of religious imagination or debunking him as a messianic pretender, New Age writers see Jesus as an enlightened master who manifested a divine power – a power potentially available to … Read More
By Clete Hux – Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am? (Mark 8:27). There has never been a more import ant question in all of history. Though the Apostle Peter came up with the right answer when he said, “You are the Christ,” his fellow apostles made other suggestions: “Some say … Read More
GLOSSARY OF TERMS Christology. The branch of systematic theology concerned with the person and work of Christ. Cynicism. Originally a counter-cultural movement in the Greco-Roman world which flouted accepted cultural norms and sought a life of freedom and simplicity. epistemology. The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, justification, and scope of human knowledge. eschatology. … Read More
By A. Eric Johnston – Theories of origin ask the question of “how we got here.” For many years evolution has been taught as fact by most of the scientific community and by major public school textbook publishers. Consequently, the information on origins taught in public schools has been confined almost exclusively to evolution. However, … Read More