So close to finishing my new theme layout… hopefully that’ll be completed soon and won’t cause any major disruptions to the site.

Added as a new member to the blogroll: AiGBusted — which is not about the company, but Answers in Genesis. The blog is focused on debunking creationism as a whole and Answers in Genesis in particular.

I commented briefly on the Vox Day and Common Sense atheism debate — mostly analyzed the argument put forth by VD. Roughly: Christianity’s conception of evil, pain, suffering, injustice in the world is better than any other on offer.  Therefore, one ought to be a Christian.

The argument is essentially one premise and a conclusion. Two obvious methods of attack: contest the premise, or contest that the conclusion follows from the premise. My vote is to choose the second method — it does no harm to accept the premise even if you do not agree with it, the conclusion does not follow regardless.

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Also, a friend of mine got in a discussion with a street preacher last night (and I wasn’t there). He picked up a large ( 9in by 20 in) paper photocopy of a  US $100 bill with a message on the back from Way of the Master (Ray Comfort) on the back.

I also have recently found some youtube videos of “open air preaching” — and I think I’m going to have to try and write up how I think it’s best to handle the street-preacher situation.

I’m talking about what to do when you get this kind of standard street preaching:

Notice that the username is “RationalResponder” — One of the most frequent objections that I hear to engaging in religious debates is something along the lines: “You can’t argue with reason against a position that isn’t based on reason.” Or some similar wording.

I understand the point that’s being made, but the main issue I have with that is: the people who you think are being ‘irrational’ — and they may well be — do not think that they are being irrational.

They will argue that they are being rational, and they often think they are being rational. This is a good thing; a person who shares rationality as a value has definite potential.

Think of it this way: if a Christian is offended by reading, ‘Christians are irrational’ — that leads to common ground that being rational is a good thing. If you think they are being irrational, point to where and what; he will have to try and respond how those beliefs/actions are rational. You both have a specific point to argue over; and you both agree on the values behind it.