Mark Meador
Michael Novak, First Things: On the Square
Could it possibly improve things to believe that the long pain of human evolution was set in motion by chance alone? The atheist view of the world is actually rather bleaker than that of Jews and Christians: Suffering under the weight of evil is meaningless, and so is any struggle against evil. Everything in the atheist’s world begins and ends in randomness and chance.
Few atheists seem to be as rigorously honest as Friedrich Nietzsche, who warned that if God is dead, it is wishful thinking to hold that reason alone can confer “meaning” on life. Reason has been outmoded by chance.
1 Responses • Good and Evil, Tue 29 Jul 2008
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A nation without a conscience is a nation without a soul. A nation without a soul is a nation that cannot live.
Winston Churchill
Beauty by Roger Scruton.
A brief and highly accessible introduction to a timeless topic.
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Forgiving Enemies in Northern Ireland
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How the Victoria and Albert Museum dealt with the dying of Christianity: “This situation is unprecedented in western civilisation: even 50 years ago, when these galleries of one of the richest collections in the world were last displayed in the V&A, they could assume that everyone was familiar with the rudiments of Christianity. Now, in a twinkling of an eye, 2,000 years of culture in the profoundest meaning of the word have been largely forgotten.” (Anna Somers Cocks, The Art Newspaper, December 2009 • 2010 01 05)
The God that Fails: David Brooks: “Many people seem to be in the middle of a religious crisis of faith. All the gods they believe in — technology, technocracy, centralized government control — have failed them in this instance.” (New York Times, December 31, 2009 • 2010 01 05)
From Winchester to Westminster: Jonathan Aitken discusses Sir John Templeton recently in the American Spectator; here’s a quote from the late philanthropist on gratitude: “Thanksgiving opens the door to spiritual growth. If there is any day in our life which is not thanksgiving day, then we are not fully alive. Counting our blessing attracts blessings. Counting our blessings each morning starts a day full of blessings. Thanksgiving brings God’s bounty. From gratitude comes riches—from complaints, poverty. Thankfulness opens the door to happiness. Thanksgiving causes giving. Thanksgiving puts our mind in tune with the Infinite. Continual gratitude dissolves our worries.” (The American Spectator • 2009 09 11)
• Welcome, National Affairs (2009 09 08)
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• Why AI is a dangerous dream (2009 09 08)
• Restoring the Fresco of Progress (2009 08 28)
• The Case for Working With Your Hands (2009 06 04)
The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith by Mark A. Noll.
With characteristic rigor and insight, Mark Noll revisits the history of the American church in the context of world events.
on 2008 07 29
Uh, no.
The world and the universe has no inherent meaning. We aren’t given it like a slave would be given instructions. If you want a cause, you’ll have to find it.
The fight against evil is a cause. Sure, you can lose, but if it was foreordained with victory, what would be the point? There is no greater glory than to give your all in defense of all that which is good.
As for randomness… we live on Newton’s level, not the quantum one. The laws are firm and rigged here.
As for “reason not giving purpose”... DUH. Reason is a way of finding out truth, purpose isn’t about truth (although it is based on it)- it is about devoting your time to something.