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Apologetics

This category contains 5118 posts

Disclaimer

‘Let no one who is not eager for truth and peace enter here’ (Plato)

Articles on this site express varying points of view, to encourage mature thinking on serious issues. The assumption is that you will want to study a controversial topic from various angles before you arrive at a conclusion, rather than simply believe what someone told you when you were impressionable! (So some stuff here is ‘hot’. Proceed at your own risk!). See the Statement of Faith for John Mark Ministries' theological stance.

Australia: National Debt and Revenue Balance…

Debt: the big lie on which Abbott built a budget Date May 23, 2014 Kenneth Davidson Senior columnist at The Age ‘The impact of the budget is not only wicked but wasteful.’ The 2014 federal budget is built on the big lie that the Australian economy is facing a debt crisis. The proposition that the […]

Student Protests: Why Can’t They Be More Innovative?

Hey hey! Ho ho! those ’70s demos have to go! Date May 25, 2014 Annabel Crabb In this high-tech, connected world, students should lead the way in innovative protests and drop tired rabble-rousing tactics. The last few decades have turned our world upside down. The end of the Cold War changed politics. The advent of […]

10 POLITICAL Things You Can’t Do While Following Jesus

by Mark Sandlin 06-12-2013 In response to my last article, “10 Things You Can’t Do While Following Jesus,” I was accused multiple times of being political. All I was trying to do was follow Jesus. So, I thought it’d be interesting (and generate tons more hate mail) to show what a list would actually look like if […]

Budget 2014: Is this the Australia we really want to be?

  Date May 16, 2014 Hugh Mackay Illustration: Jim Pavlidis. Poll delivers judgment on Coalition ‘Missing’ figures show poor are hit Pain-sharing promise to haunt PM How you responded to last Tuesday night’s budget speech would depend on your point of view, your preoccupations and your prejudices – political and otherwise. If you were a […]

Australians shouldn’t have to choose between growth and fairness

Equality of opportunity must remain an Australian value. We have to equip people to participate in the economy so they can access the benefits of growth. This budget won’t achieve it ‘For Piketty, rising inequality is driven by differences in financial capital rather than human capital’. Photograph: Andy Warhol Foundation/Corbis Penny Wong Monday 19 May […]

The Lucidity of Madmen: the Myth of the ‘Model Moderate Muslim’

Two excellent articles which appeared in the past week: The Lucidity of Madmen: Andrew Bolt, Waleed Aly and the Myth of the ‘Model Moderate Muslim’ Scott Stephens ABC RELIGION AND ETHICS UPDATED 16 MAY 2014 IN A TRIUMPH OF BIPARTISAN NIHILISM, MADMEN ACROSS THE IDEOLOGICAL SPECTRUM HAVE CONSPIRED TO ENSURE THAT NO MATTER REQUIRING A […]

What caused the Arab uprisings?

  May 14, 2014 12:13 AM By Rami G. Khouri The Daily Star The dizzying pace of events across the Arab world during this fourth year of continuous citizen protests for a better life reveals a wide variety of developments in different countries. It is easy to become confused by the very erratic pattern of […]

Huston Smith: Religion in the Twenty-first Century

Religion in the Twenty-First Century [See also here for an excellent series of essays from a wide range of scholars on this broad topic]. By Huston Smith Huston Smith is a philosopher, film producer, and author. He is widely regarded as the most eloquent and accessible contemporary authority on the history of religions. Born in […]

Kidnapping Schoolgirls: why does Boko Haram think that’s OK?

Mark Durie on the Glazov Gang – Islam’s Role in Boko Haram’s Kidnapping of Schoolgirls Posted: 09 May 2014 03:25 PM PDT Here is my recent appearance on the Glazov Gang: In the interview I suffered a slip of the tongue and at one point said that Islam permits a man to have five wives. Of course […]

Liberals and Conservatives (Richard Rohr)

Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation Seven Themes of an Alternative Orthodoxy Seventh Theme: Reality is paradoxical and complementary. Non-dual thinking is the highest level of consciousness. Divine union, not private perfection, is the goal of all religion (Goal). Liberals Versus Conservatives Meditation 21 of 52 At this time in history, the contemporary choice offered most Americans […]