Stormbringer's Thunder

Buon giorno. Atheists are all in favor of free speech — as long as it is done to intimidate, harass, ridicule or just plain inconvenience those of us who believe in a Creator. I wonder if this applies to other laws as well. In this case, their "free speech" included putting this mocking billboard on church property : "The Clear Channel Outdoor billboard was placed on the grounds of Christ Cathedral Church and immediately drew the ire of the church’s pastor. The Rev. Waymon Malone successfully had the sign removed just days after it was displayed." It took "just days"? Strange, it should not have taken even that long. The last I knew, nobody has the right to put up signs on the property of another person without knowledge and permission of the property holder. Duh. The professionals in charge claim that the trespassing was done by accident . Huh, some professionals they are. And yet: Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the FFRF, claims that t...

This article almost went unwritten, as there are already several good ones explaining the straw man fallacy. But I committed to writing this series, and I can add my own thoughts as well. The straw man fallacy — everybody does it, it seems. Especially when getting caught up in the emotion of a hea ted exchange of words . However, it is my belief that many people choose to use this fallacy for the sake of provoking emotion in their opponent. If the opponent falls for the trick, then the antagonist can provoke further and "win" the argument on emotion, not facts. "What on Earth are you babbling about, Cowboy Bob?" Now I'll tell you what it is, and maybe you can remember the traps of this nature that owlhoots set for you. Straw man, Flickr / H. Michael Miley ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ) In simplest terms, the straw man argument is when someone will take your statement, argument, beliefs, or position and build a false version of it to tear down:  It  is a misre...

Adjusted September 3, 2024 Buona sera. You really need BOB available in a crisis. If you must get out now, be sure to have BOB handy. No, not me. Don't be silly . I'll be taking care of my own people . No, what you need is a Bug-Out Bag. I assembled my first one in 1990 or so, even though it did not have the moniker "of Bug-Out Bag" at the time. Yes, I remember that Saddam Barack Hussein was calling for Iraqis to attack Americans. Although they did not comply with their "beloved" leader, I was planning for the worst. Later, I realized that it was a good idea to have one, anyway. "But Cowboy Bob, I don't think we're going to be attacked!" Remember September 11, 2001? People were living in fear. I think this fear spread to the rest of the world, because other countries were thinking they were going to be hit as well. But we were jumping at shadows, wondering if another attack was imminent.  It could very well have been. Subsequent ...

Click link below for video commentary — Answering Muslims: Dearborn Police Bar Christian Group from Public Street Near Mosque

This bit from Apologetics 315 was waiting for me in my e-mail this morning : Can Atheists Live Without God? by Norman Geisler MP3 21 Jun 2011 In this audio from The Voice of Truth Podcast , Norman Geisler speaks on the subject: Can Atheists Live Without God?  Geisler discusses what atheists say, what the Bible says, and what the evidence shows. He argues that atheists can't live without God logically, morally, psychologically, and religiously. Full MP3 Audio here . (55 min) [Hint: You can safely skip the first five minutes.]

For some time, I've been wondering if the the obstreperous atheists that I've encountered are social misfits; do they have employment? Will anyone hire people with such attitudes in the first place? (Aside from the New York DMV, I seriously wonder.) I also wonder if some of the viciousness I have seen is symptomatic of more serious emotional and mental issues. "Simple Apologetics" discusses the negativity of atheists. In addition, there are other articles exploring atheism. In this post, my goal is to clarify the logical connections between atheism, determinism, and negative social outcomes. It is very important to note that this post is not saying that atheists (the people) are responsible for more negative social outcomes compared to people with other belief systems. There are a wide range of variables that affect what choices we make. "At the same time, there are clear connections between: a) affirming that everything that exists is composed of matter,...

The librarian started sending me a list of all the bestselling books in the world and I would check out the ones that I wanted to read and I kept noticing that the Bible was the bestselling book in the world. So I decided to read it, not to become a Christian but to disprove it. I thought that if there was a God, He was mean and I didn’t want to do anything with Him because my life up to that point had been a total disaster and I blamed God. Read the rest of the article here, Horatio .

After yesterday's post, I thought you might like some good news about the battles Christians face regarding discrimination and persecution. Medina Valley, Texas — The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned U.S. District Court Judge Fred Biery’s ruling that banned an official invocation, benediction, or any message that can be considered a prayer at Medina Valley School District’s commencement ceremonies. “We are not persuaded that plaintiffs have shown that they are substantially likely to prevail on the merits, particularly on the issue that the individual prayers or other remarks to be given by students at graduation are, in fact, school sponsored," wrote the 5th Circuit Court. Read more about the Medina Valley, Texas appeal here . Houston, Texas — A Houston pastor got to pray in the name of Jesus at a Memorial Day event in Houston, fulfilling a wish that took a lawsuit and a federal judge to make happen. Scott Rainey, lead pastor at the Living Word Chu...

This article is a bit tricky because there are gray areas.  The fallacy of Appeal to Authority (sometimes called argumentum ad verecundiam) can be rather obvious. It can be like children arguing, "Plumbers have secret hiding places for guns in their shoes. The guy at the newsstand said so!" If "the guy at the newsstand" is not a former plumber revealing well-guarded secrets to kids, he is not an authority to which they can appeal. In the simplest sense, argumentum ad verecundiam appears when the "authority" is discussing something outside his or her field of expertise. When zoologist Clinton Richard Dawkins says , "They believe this because they rate a particular bronze age origin myth more highly than all the scientific evidence in the world. It is only one of literally thousands of such myths from around the world, but it happened, by a series of historical accidents, to become enshrined in a book — Genesis.…the fact that half o...

Grab your thinking cap Poindexter, as we are going to cover some territory on this one. The subjects in this article lend themselves to straying off in strange tangents, but I’ll do my best to keep on message.              At the end of its lame-duck session last year, the historically inept, treasonous, and corrupt 111th US Congress repealed DADT (Don’t Ask Don’t Tell). The acronym DADT is a misleading construct coined by a GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) friendly media. DADT was not merely about not asking, and not telling, it was a law that prohibited homosexuals from openly serving in the US armed forces. The marginally less despicable 112th US Congress has carried on from where the 111th left off, and is moving ahead with the process of openly integrating homosexuals into the US military. Marines are already going through “gay sensitivity training,” and it was announced recently that Navy chaplains would wed gay co...