In his book 1776, David McCollough repeatedly describes George Washington as a man who sees the world not as he wishes it to be, but as it really is. He makes the point that this was one of Washington's greatest traits as a leader of the army.

After listening to Collins's lecture, and/or reading his book, do you think he is a man who sees the world as it really is, or as he wishes it to be?

- Brian Cassel

Posted by at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Paul Draper was one of our three panelists for the "Is it reasonable to believe in God?" event on November 17th (the others were Nicholas Wolterstorff and Linda Zagzebski).

The material below was provided as a handout to all 400+ who attended the event, and provides a good starting place for a new discussion.

WHY I CAN’T REASONABLY BELIEVE IN GOD
Paul Draper

Continue reading "Why Paul Draper can't reasonably believe in God" »

Posted by at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

"Life can only arise and persist in a Universe that is big and old, dark and cold, with its planets and stars and galaxies separated by vast distances. These are necessary features of a life-supporting Universe. Astronomy has transformed the simple-minded, life-averse, meaningless Universe of the sceptical philosophers.... "

Continue reading "Questions and answers about our universe" »

Posted by at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The theory of ‘Intelligent Design’ holds that the sort of complexity displayed by biological organisms could not have come about by the processes postulated by Darwin’s evolutionary theory; such organisms could have arisen only through the work of an intelligent designer. Now it is often urged that, unlike, say, the theory of gravity, such a theory is not ‘a real scientific theory’. This, however, could be taken in two different ways.

Continue reading "Is Intelligent Design a genuine scientific theory?" »

Posted by at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)