If you are unfamiliar with Hamilton's "Aaron Burr, Sir," I highly recommend giving it a quick listen before proceeding. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1CEolFz5do There is one line from this song that resonates in particular: "If you stand for nothing, what will you fall for?"Hamilton the Musical Just take a moment to reflect upon this quote. For those of... Continue Reading →
A Defense of Theism in Modernity: A Longitudinal Review
By definition of agnosticism, I’m somewhat agnostic, and yet, I am a strong theist. The two can coincide because agnosticism is concerned with knowledge, and "theism" focuses on belief. Agnosticism describes God as unknowable, and through a means of natural knowledge, I agree in terms of knowing God fully, though one can come to partially... Continue Reading →
Finding Faith within “Indoctrination”
Far too many people tell me that my beliefs are nothing more than a fairy tale, that faith is nothing more than religious "indoctrination," and that if I were "more educated," I wouldn't be so superstitious. Quite honestly, these words are not only discriminative, but also incredibly isolated from truth. I'm hoping that the existence... Continue Reading →
Countering Islamophobia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m4kvrAikuA Stereotypes After the recent horrendous shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, I think this post is needed, if anything, to spread awareness of what we can do as fellow human beings to counter such unprecedented hatred and prevent such an atrocity from recurring. The support of the community in New Zealand so far has been... Continue Reading →
Understanding Omniscience and Free-Will
A popular atheistic argument is that omniscience and free-will are incompatible. First, I will define both as many religious adherents (particularly Judaism, Catholicism, and Islam) understand these attributes: Omniscience: the state of knowing everythingFree-will: the power to choose one's actions "The power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do... Continue Reading →
My body, my rights
You're absolutely right, but what if I were to tell you that this is not the issue being debated? “God is entirely ‘pro-choice’ ... he is entirely for our freedom since he gave us freedom in the first place. But some choices negate our vocation to love. Some choices can never bring happiness. We are... Continue Reading →
God does not hate gays
First and foremost, God does not hate anyone. The Christian notion of God is that He is love, the very antithesis of hatred. In this post, I will not deny that homosexual love is real love, nor will deny that same-sex attraction is something innate, not chosen. However, I challenge you to take both of... Continue Reading →
Belief is not Brainwashing
When I define belief, it is something that one chooses to profess as one's own despite knowledge or awareness of other conflicting forms of belief. It is a conscious choice.Brainwashing, on the other hand, does not allow for one to have knowledge or awareness of anything other than what is explicitly presented. Can certain beliefs... Continue Reading →
Knowledge: Virtue or Vice?
Have you ever read the book Flowers of Algernon? This story always comes to mind when I think about knowledge, particularly the extent to which it is a blessing or a curse. In brief, the novel by Daniel Keyes follows a character named Charlie who is developmentally disabled and part of a controversial surgical procedure... Continue Reading →
How can there be a God and Evil/Suffering in the World?
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was a popular agnostic philosopher and religious skeptic. He argued, "If God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, there could be no evil," which meant that he essentially believed that an all-powerful, all-knowing and genuinely-good God would not allow the evils that are quite apparent in our world today to exist. Though,... Continue Reading →