Desires, Beliefs, and How We Know Truth

This is a presentation on how desires are a consideration, but not the first, in how we know truth.

The Limitation of Philosophy:  A Letter to a Friend Who Asked if Christian Ethics are Rational 

A friend asked why Christian ethics, even properly understood, must simply be received unchallenged. He argued for utilitarian ethics instead. We explored the difference between deontological vs. utilitarian ethical systems, how Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is a helpful exploration of that difference, why ethics can neither prove nor disprove belief systems in general, but why internal coherence and historical epistemology supports Christian faith and ethics.

Why Question Atheism from a Political, Historical, and Moral Perspective?

This is a presentation surveying the origins of modern Atheism, as connected to nation-building and Enlightenment political philosophies: racist liberal democracy and Marxist collectivism.

Is There Meaning in Suffering? A Comparison of Karmic, Christian, and Atheist Views 

A short comparison of how suffering is interpreted in the Karmic view (caused by individual, redemption by individual), Christian view (caused by humanity, divine-human partnership in redemption), and Atheist view (caused by nature, redemption is questionable).

Stories and Social Consequences: Comparison Between Hinduism, Christianity, and Atheism (chart)

A short comparison of how beliefs about the body, good and evil, and God's character logically result in different kinds of ethics

Human Dignity: Does Every Individual Matter?

A long essay arguing that science, philosophy, existentialism, and other belief systems do not support the view that every human being matters; only a robustly Trinitarian Christian faith anchored in the patristic formulation of medical-ontological atonement can. A 30 - 40 minute read.

God as the Foundation of Human Rights

Text and slides of a message on Genesis 1 - 11, which was aware of other Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean creation stories, and argued against them, as shown by the literary analysis of these literatures.  Topics of disagreement include:  the value of every human being; the relations of humans and God/gods; the reason for catastrophes like the Flood; the resolution or movement.

Does the Christian Story of Sexuality Make Any Sense at All? Sexuality and Social Justice

A message exploring how the Western, individualistic framework of modernism and postmodernism does not give us a relational framework for ethics; that means "sexual freedom" also logically leads to exploitative "economic freedom." A 15 minute read.

Christian Faith as the Basis for Political Pluralism and Economic Progressivism 

An explanation from biblical texts and church history of how Christian faith should result in a political posture of human rights without theocracy

The Role of Jesus in Revolution and the Pursuit of Justice

A written message, graphics included, on how Jesus inspired twentieth-century non-violent resistance movements around the world, and why. Spotlights Tolstoy in Russia; Gandhi in South Africa and India; Ahn Chang-ho in Korea; the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S.; the Filipino People Power Revolution; Solidarity in Poland; the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia; the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa; the Women’s Movement and Liberia’s Civil War. This is a shining thread of moral clarity, courage, and hope during humanity’s bloodiest century. A 15 - 20 minute read.

The Impact of Jesus 

Text and slides of an evangelistic message that highlights economic, political, medical, artistic, and cultural developments from Christian faith

Peter L. Berger, A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural. Anchor | Amazon page, Jan 6, 1970.  Berger, one of America's premier sociologists of religion, explores the relationship between religion and society.

Dick Tripp, Christianity and the Beginning of Science. Exploring Christianity, Feb 22, 2016.

Michael J. Buckley S.J., At the Origins of Modern Atheism. Yale University Press | Amazon page, 1990.

David Bentley Hart, Christ and Nothing. First Things, Oct 2003.

Luke Harding, History of Modern Man Unravels as German Scholar Is Exposed as Fraud. The Guardian, Feb 18, 2005.

Charles Taylor, A Secular Age. Harvard University Press | Amazon page, Sep 2007.

John Gray, The Atheist Delusion. The Guardian UK, Mar 14, 2008.

Kenneth Feinberg, What is the Value of a Human Life? NPR May 25, 2008. See also Human Rights Advocacy and the History of International Human Rights Standards. Univ. of Michigan website.

Tales from the Hood, Confronting the Demons of Ethnocentrism. blog entry May 31, 2008.

Matthew Parris, As an Atheist, I Truly Believe Africa Needs God. The Sunday Times, Dec 27, 2008.  Focuses on the need to create stable, transparent institutions where public officials are publicly accountable; I copied this article before it went behind a firewall: click here.

David Berlinski, The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions. Baker Books | Amazon page, Sep 2009.

A.N. Wilson, Why I Believe Again. New Statesman, Apr 2, 2009.

Robert Jensen, How the World Lost Its Story. First Things, Mar 2010.

David Bentley Hart, Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies. Yale University Press | Amazon page, Feb 2010.

David Bentley Hart, Revolutionary Christianity and Its Alternatives. Public Christianity, Mar 3, 2010.  A 31 minute audio lecture.

Alex Rosenberg, An Atheist's Guide to Reality: Enjoying Life Without Illusions. W.W. Norton & Company | Amazon page, 2011.  An attempt to rescue us from nihilism

Alyssa Bereznak, How Ayn Rand Ruined My Childhood. Salon, Apr 4, 2011.

Jilllian Becker, Against God and Socialism. The Atheist Conservative, Apr 29, 2011. “It is human nature to be selfish… Christianity and Communism require human nature to change.” But how far can we get if change is not required?

Ezra Klein, Harvard's Liberal-Arts Failure is Wall Street's Gain. Bloomberg, Feb 15, 2012.

P.J. Saunders, Twenty Questions Atheists Struggle to Answer. Christian Medical Comment blog, May 27, 2012.

David Hoelscher, Atheism and the Class Problem. Counterpunch, Nov 7, 2012.

David Hoelscher, Atheism and the Class Problem, Revisited. Counterpunch, Dec 21, 2012.

Judith Sheluvitz, Why Do Grandmothers Exist? Solving an Evolutionary Mystery. New Republic, Jan 29, 2013.

U.K. Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Atheism Has Failed. Only Religion Can Defeat the New Barbarians. The Spectator Magazine, Jun 15, 2013.

Peter Richardson, The Science Delusion. Truthdig, Jun 20, 2013.

Greg Popcak, Is Atheism a Mental Illness? Patheos blog, Aug 27, 2013.

Christine Gross-Loh, Why Are Hundreds of Harvard Students Studying Ancient Chinese Philosophy? The Atlantic, Oct 8, 2013.

Chris Arnade, The People Who Challenged My Atheism Most Were Drug Addicts and Prostitutes. The Guardian, Dec 24, 2013.

Peter Watson, The Age of Nothing: How We Have Sought to Live Since the Death of God. 2014.

Terry Eagleton, Culture and the Death of God. Yale University Press | Amazon page, 2014.

Gary Gutting, Is Atheism Irrational? An Interview With Alvin Plantinga. New York Times, Feb 9, 2014.

Ravi Zacharias, Why Are You So Afraid of Subjective Moral Reasoning? Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, Feb 15, 2014.

Economist, Faith and Reason: Scientists Are Not As Secular As People Think. Economist, Feb 22, 2014.

The Onion, Expectant Parents Throw Some Values Together at Last Minute. The Onion, Mar 10, 2014.

John Gray, Was Nietzsche Right About Religion? The Ghost at the Atheist Feast. The New Republic, Mar 21, 2014.

Giles Fraser, Good Luck, Physicists, With Those Tricky "Meaning of Life" Questions. The Guardian, Mar 24, 2014.

Vince Vitale, God's Not Dead. Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, Mar 8, 2014.

Alan Lightman, Book Review: 'Why Science Does Not Disprove God' by Amir D. Aczel. Washington Post, Apr 10, 2014.

Elizabeth Stoker, Harvard's Satanic Debacle: Lessons from a "Black Mass" Cancellation. Salon, May 16, 2014.

ThinkApologetics, Poll Shows Atheists and Christians Are Using a Different Definition of Faith. ThinkApologetics, Jun 8, 2014.

Closer to Truth, What is the Meaning of Consciousness? Closer to Truth website, Jun 2014.

Ray Williams, The Cult of Ignorance in the United States: Anti-Intellectualism and the Dumbing Down of America. Psychology Today, Jul 7, 2014.

Sam Harris Challenged by MIT Grad Student on Science-Driven Morality. youtube video, Aug 7, 2014.

Sam Harris, Free Will Does Not Exist. Secular Talk, Sep 3, 2014.  An 8 minute video.

Sam Harris, The Self is an Illusion. Big Think, Sep 16, 2014.  See 2:25 mark

Ted Davis, Through Science to God: Eugenics as Religion. Biologos, Sep 25, 2014.  highlights how liberal Protestants sided with the Eugenics movement

David P. Barash, God, Darwin, and My College Biology Class. New York Times, Sep 27, 2014.

Eric Metaxas, Miracles: What They Are, Why They Happen, and How They Can Change Your Life. Viking | Amazon page, Oct 2014.

Reina A.E. Gattuso, Suck: Toward a Better Politics of Nakedness. Harvard Crimson, Oct 23, 2014.  Gattuso wants a relational ethic shared in common.

Alfred Mele, Free Will: A Modest Proposal. Slate, Nov 2, 2014.

Daniel Yudkin, The Philosophical Implications of the Need to Urinate. Scientific American, Nov 4, 2014.

Clifford Staples, The Ethical Failure of Philosophical Skepticism. The Imaginative Conservative, Nov 28, 2014.

Luke Savage, New Atheism, Old Empire. Jacobin Magazine, Dec 2, 2014.

Paul M. Hughes, Forgiveness. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Dec 23, 2014.

Eric Metaxas, Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God. Wall Street Journal, Dec 25, 2014.

Jack Miles, Why God Will Not Die. The Atlantic, Dec 2014.  Science reveals how much we don't or can't know, yet we want closure

Prayson Daniel, Kierkegaard: Subjectivity is Truth. blog, Jan 19, 2015.

Leigh Weingus, Why Julianne Moore Stopped Believing in God. Huffington Post, Jan 30, 2015.  asserting that the narrative we perceive is self-generated

David Brooks, Building Better Secularists. New York Times, Feb 3, 2015.

Justin P. McBrayer, Why Our Children Don’t Think There Are Moral Facts. New York Times, Mar 2, 2015.

John Gray, What Scares the New Atheists. The Guardian UK, Mar 3, 2015.

Stephen Mackereth, God, Science, and the Red Pill. Harvard Crimson, Mar 9, 2015.

Clay Routledge, Atheists Love Aliens. Psychology Today, Apr 2, 2015.  And Annie Holmquist, Atheists Are More Likely to Believe in Aliens. Why? Intellectual Takeout, Apr 12, 2017.

Natasha Crain, Are Christians Less Intelligent Than Atheists? Here’s What All Those Studies REALLY Say. blog, Apr 23, 2015.

C.S. Lewis Doodle, The Poison of Subjectivism. C.S. Lewis Doodle video, Apr 29, 2015.

E.J. Dionne, A Senator's Faith and Humility. Washington Post, May 3, 2015.

Mark Baeurlein, What's the Point of a Professor? New York Times, May 9, 2015.

Gracy Olmstead, Against Kant and Consumerism. The American Conservative, May 14, 2015.  a book review of Matthew Crawford, The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction. Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Amazon page, Mar 2015.

John Gray, What Scares the New Atheists. The Guardian UK, Mar 3, 2015.  gives a very good historical and philosophical overview of atheism

Sam Harris & Noam Chomsky Email Exchange. Young Turks video, May 14, 2015.  See 8:43 mark for Sam Harris' cultural imperialism

David Hoelscher, How the Humanist Movement Fosters Economic Injustice. Counterpunch, May 28, 2015.

Molly Worthen, Wanted: A Theology of Atheism. New York Times, May 30, 2015.  on the lack of concrete moral principles in secular humanism

David Niose, Anti-Intellectualism is Killing America. Psychology Today, Jun 20, 2015.

Key and Peele, For Realsies? video, Jun 29, 2015.  Humorously raises the question of whether consent is the most important part of a sexual relationship, or whether there is something more.

David Cayley, Craig Calhoun, Rajeev Barghava, The Myth of the Secular. CBC Radio, Jul 2, 2015.  part 6 features John Milbank and Radical Orthodoxy

Jamilah Lemieux, Trying to Forgive the Black Church: Dylann Roof Can’t Have My Mercy, But I Can Try to Make Peace With Black Christianity. The Nation, Jul 2, 2015.

Rachel Feltman, New Study Predicts the Slow, Inevitable Death of the Universe. Washington Post, Aug 11, 2015.

Ben Brumfield, The Universe is Slowly Dying, Study Shows With Unprecedented Precision. CNN, Aug 11, 2015.

David Kaiser, How Politics Shaped General Relativity. New York Times, Nov 6, 2015.  intriguing how socio-political and cultural forces shape the development and reception of science

Richard Rohr, Quantum Entanglement. blog, Nov 12, 2015.  parallels the unknown relation of Newtonian, Einsteinian, and quantum theories to other areas

David Byrne, How Progressives Stole Christian History. Crisis Magazine, Dec 16, 2015.

Peter Wehner, The Christmas Revolution. New York Times, Dec 25, 2015.

Steven Stankevicius, New Atheists Must Become New Vegans: Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and the Extra Burden on Moral Leaders. Salon, Jan 9, 2016.  On why animal suffering should be a moral factor

John Gray, Why Humans Find it Hard to Do Away With Religion. New Statesman, Jan 20, 2016.  

David Hoelscher, New Atheism, Worse Than You Think. Counterpunch, Jan 29, 2016.

Glenn M. Harden, The Sex Trade, Evil, and Christian Theology. Wipf and Stock Publishers | Amazon page, Apr 7, 2016.

Robert Epstein, The Empty Brain. Aeon, May 18, 2016.  the brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories; it is not a computer; encounters are irreducibly personal

James Blachowicz, There is No Scientific Method. New York Times, Jul 4, 2016.

Matt Young, Atheists Should Follow Jesus, Too. The Human Gadfly blog, Oct 11, 2016.

Amanda Gefter, The Evolutionary Argument Against Reality. Quanta Magazine, Apr 21, 2016.

Tania Lombrozo, For Some, Scientists Aren't The Authority On Science. NPR, Nov 28, 2016.

Colin Ramsay, James Uren, Pain Leads to Empathy and Self-Preservation: Should We Make Robots 'Feel' It? Aeon, 2017.

Hank Green, Family Obligations: Crash Course Philosophy #43. Crash Course, Jan 23, 2017.  a fascinating, short video on different views of obligation towards our parents; raises the question of moral intuition, whether there is an objective relational vision, and cultural and personal views

Tim Keller and Jonathan Haidt, The Closing of the Modern Mind. The Veritas Forum, Mar 1, 2017.  On political pluralism, tolerance, and religion

Phil Torres, From the Enlightenment to the Dark Ages: How "New Atheism" Slid Into the Alt-Right. Salon, Jul 29, 2017.

Relevant, Russell Brand Sat Down with Theologian Alister McGrath for a Fascinating Conversation About Faith. Relevant Magazine, Jul 31, 2017.

David Bentley Hart, Human Dignity Was a Rarity Before Christianity. Church Life Journal, Oct 26, 2017.

James Bishop, Leading Scholar and Skeptic, Bart Ehrman, Concedes That the Synoptic Gospels Present a Divine Jesus. James Bishop blog, Jan 22, 2018.

Nicholas St. Fleur, In Cave in Israel, Scientists Find Jawbone Fossil From Oldest Modern Human Out of Africa. New York Times, Jan 25, 2018.

Yoram Hazony, The Dark Side of the Enlightenment. Wall Street Journal, Apr 6, 2018.  Today’s advocates oversell the benefits of unfettered reason. They dismiss the contributions of tradition, religion and nationalism to human progress.

Robert Wright, Why Pure Reason Won't End American Tribalism. Wired, Apr 9, 2018.  a "mindfulness" perspective on affect vs. reason

Adam Forrest, The Seven Types of Atheist. Vice, Apr 23, 2018.  From philosopher John Gray

Aaron R. Hanlon, Steven Pinker's New Book on the Enlightenment Is a Huge Hit. Too Bad It Gets the Enlightenment Wrong. Vox, May 17, 2018.

Ben James, A Sneaky Theory of Where Language Came From. The Atlantic, Jun 10, 2018.  With mention of Noam Chomsky and others who believe that linguistic complexity emerged near-instantaneously.

Sigal Samuel, Artificial Intelligence Shows Why Atheism Is Unpopular. The Atlantic, Jul 23, 2018.

Benjamin Fearnow, Artificial Number of Witches Rises Dramatically Across U.S. as Millennials Reject Christianity. Newsweek, Nov 18, 2018.

Camille Paglia, ‘Hillary Wants Trump to Win Again’. The Spectator, Dec 4, 2018.  says "comparative religion is the true multiculturalism and should be installed as the core curriculum in every undergraduate program. From my perspective as an atheist as well as a career college teacher, secular humanism has been a disastrous failure"

Frank Bruni, A ‘Disgusting’ Yale Professor Moves On. New York Times, Mar 19, 2019.  re: Nicholas Christakis, who argues for an evolutionary biological basis for morality, saying, "Complex societies are possible and durable only when people are emotionally invested in, and help, one another; we’d be living in smaller units and more solitary fashions if we weren’t equipped for such collaboration; and human thriving within these societies guarantees future generations suited to them."

Scotty Hendricks, Atheism Is Inconsistent with Science, Says Dartmouth Physicist Marcelo Gleiser. Big Think, Mar 27, 2019.

Tom Holland & AC Grayling, History: Did Christianity Give Us Our Human Values? Unbelievable?, Dec 6, 2019.  an 80 minute video of a debate between Holland as a historian and Grayling as a philosopher

John Horgan, The Coronavirus and Right-Wing Postmodernism. Scientific American, Mar 9, 2020.  “Does right-wing skepticism toward the coronavirus have anything to do with the postmodern philosophy of Thomas Kuhn?” Kuhn emphasized radical skepticism, perhaps taking Descartes to his logical end.

Alan Bean, The Four Horsemen of the New Atheist Apocalypse Meet World History Through the Lens of Three New Books. Baptist News Global, Jan 11, 2022. “Three thoughtful responses to Enlightenment mythology: John Dickson’s Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History, Tom Holland’s Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, and David Bentley Hart’s Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and its Fashionable Enemies.” Although, unfortunately, the “four horsemen” do not seem to have responded to these three books.

Richard Beck, The Incoherence of Post-Christian Morality. Experimental Theology | Substack, Mar 19, 2024. On the lack of moral absolutes and metanarrative, yet moralism and judgmentalism especially from “the progressive left.” Optimistically, this is evidence of the imago dei despite denials that we are God’s beloved creations with moral accountability. Pessimistically, this is evidence of postmoderns dressing up power relations as moral relations.

Slavoj Žižek, Christian Atheism: How to Be a Real Materialist. Bloomsbury | Amazon page, April 2024. See review by Matt McManus, Žižek’s Left-Wing Case for Christian Atheism. Jacobin Magazine, May 25, 2024. “In his new book, Slavoj Žižek advances a provocative understanding of Christianity as a progressive, secularizing force. It’s classic Žižek — by turns brilliant and infuriating.” Intriguing for its connection with philosophy, especially those characterized as politically Left. Suggests that atheism is an after-effect of Christianity.

Christopher Beha, Losing Faith in Atheism. The New Yorker, Feb 14, 2026.

“My own passage into and back out of unbelief—one marked by a close reading of works that earlier illiberal societies had attempted to suppress on religious grounds—has strengthened my liberal commitments. But it’s also made me acutely aware of liberalism’s very real limitations. As a means for allowing people with different conceptions of the good to live together fruitfully and peacefully, liberalism seems unmatched in human history. As a means of generating its own conceptions of goodness that feel compelling to most human beings, its record is quite mixed, perhaps because that’s not what it was ever designed to do.

What’s more, when liberals treat some version of scientific materialism as so self-evidently true that it must serve as the default context for public discourse; when they make allegiance to “reason” and “evidence,” as they define these terms, the price of admission into such discourse; and when they attempt to banish metaphysical or spiritual or even frankly religious talk from our politics and our culture, they are not practicing liberalism as its greatest exemplars understood it. They are eliminating from our shared vocabulary many of the concepts on which any justification for liberalism beyond the purely practical would have to depend.

I am not suggesting that the solution to our problems is for secular liberals to find God. But I am suggesting that religious believers be considered natural allies in the fight against irrational illiberalism, rather than its primary cause. This need not mean abandoning secularism, and it certainly doesn’t mean abandoning liberalism. It means, perhaps, seeing liberalism as so many liberals wish believers would see their faith: not as the expression of a universal truth to which every person must eventually submit but as a human construction—one of the finest we have ever made—worth defending even when it is helpless to defend itself, yet capable of being swept away by the same hands that built it in the first place.”

Our conversation stations approach a topic and explore the spiritual and intellectual background related to it. We believe people desire love, goodness, justice, beauty, belonging, truth, and order because we are made in the image of God. But apart from God, we do not know how to further define those things, nor do we always interpret that desire as pointing to God, or as God at work in us. These artistic displays help us make those connections. See here to see them all.

Whose Justice? (and instructions) and Christian Restorative Justice Study Guide for more help understanding the paradigm

Whose Justice? a special version created for Harvard Law School with input from the law students

Is a Good Friend Hard to Find? (and instructions and conversation tree)

What Can We Do About Evil? (and instructions and conversation tree) and smaller version and brochure version

Que Podemos Hacer Sobre La Maldad? for the Asociacion Dominicana de Estudiantes Evangelico, 2014

What Story Do You Live In? (and associated message)

Does the Good Outweigh the Bad? (and instructions)

Race What's the Problem? (and instructions) and brochure version

Find Your Heart's Desire? (and instructions and theological essay)

Find Your Heart's Desire (version 2)

Is Religion Just a Cultural Thing? (and instructions)

The Bible Gospel, Guide, or Garbage?

Who Do You Think Wrote This? (and instructions)

How Much of an Atheist Are You? (and instructions)

Your Body: Does it Have a Purpose? (and instructions) 

What Are You Here for Anyway? (and instructions)

How Much Truth is in Harry Potter?

God, Peace, and Violence (and instructions) 

Is God a Liberator or an Oppressor? (and instructions)