In becoming a more and more non-Christian — if not anti-Christian — Australia, like most of the West, has lost something more than religious faith. Even some long-time atheists are starting to acknowledge that Christianity contributed something vital to the spirit of the West.
In Arthur C. Clarke’s The Songs of Distant Earth, the SF writer imagined a human society expunged of religion. It was worth it, Clarke claimed in a thinly-disguised self-insertion, despite conceding that the richness of human experience, particularly literature, had been all but erased. Lost in the great purge were virtually all the great works …
Continue reading The slow murder of Christianity by the zealots of Mammon
The left have been vocal in (rightly) condemning clerical abuse, but they have remained shamefully silent about disturbing revelations of pedophilia in their own ranks. Worse, too many on the rainbow left seem determined to normalise pedophilia as "just another sexual orientation". No matter which side of politics you’re on, kiddy-fiddlers should never be welcome.
Originally published at Incite.
Do read on ...
The intent of this post is not to to adopt a position for or against any of the issues mentioned in it – be it same-sex marriage, euthanasia or abortion – but to point out that humanism, even secular humanism, does not, ipso facto, dictate a particular position on any of them. Yet many secular humanists seem to assume, indeed openly argue, the opposite.
This does a disservice both to the public sphere, and to humanism itself, leading as it does, some secular humanists to adopt deeply anti-humanist attitudes. Do read on ...
Punching a girl, without provocation, even from Antifa, isn’t at all heroic. This is apparently an unpopular opinion in some circles, but one must stick to one’s principles even when, especially when they’re unpopular, if they’re to be worth anything at all. Do read on ...
My latest for Whale Oil blog The Public Sphere and the Private Domain in the Free Speech Wars This post for Whale Oil blog was originally intended to be a much longer article for my A Devil's Curmudgeon, but I necessarily edited it down for brevity. Mostly I cut some material from the second part, …
Malcolm Lambert’s Crusade and Jihad traces 1600 years of the history of Islam and Christianity, and the clashing ideologies of jihad and the Crusader movement. In particular, Lambert examines why the latter faded away, while the former remains a dynamic and often violent force in the world. Crusade and Jihad: Origins, history and aftermath Malcolm Lambert …
Continue reading The Curmudgeonly Review of Books: Crusade and Jihad
A Devil's Curmudgeon 