I have a lot of respect for the intellectual integrity and honesty of the turnip. It is also a healthy addition to a balanced diet, politicians aren’t so tasty. Read more comments by ropata

John Key’s response is a time honoured tradition.Hana Te Hemara, the person at the centre of the “Kill a White” row, has threatened to sue Auckland’s Sunday Star newspaper because the paper has refused to apologise for running the original story. Hana Te Hemara says the media blew the whole issue out of proportion and she wants an apo […]

Obama should not accept the prize at this early stage of his presidency; it's akin to Bush's "Mission Accomplished" hubris.Read more comments by ropata

Hi, I'm new to your blog, enjoying some exploration and new discoveries! You might be interested in this review of Zizek's Monstrosity of Christ at a blog called 'The Dunedin School'.Read more comments by ropata

HiI think you meant to say :Let’s hope his arrival will encourage the right kind of debate, with more light than heat.Despite the protestations of posturing atheists, the God Delusion really was an amateurish and arrogant attempt at theology. Dawkin’s most recent book, The Greatest Show on Earth, marks a return to his own field of evolution, so perhaps […]

In response to a great piece by John Minto : this blogger asserts that NZBus drivers should be happy to be treated like serfs and produce wealth for the fat cat owners whose ‘work’ is sitting around watching their money pile grow. And the shareholders should not have to suffer any recessionary loss of profit, that’s for the lower classes.Word for Today: USUR […]

I don't think "distortion" is the correct word for applying a Christian template to the Old Testament. Jesus and the Apostles established a new faith, it's true, and challenged the emphases of some Hebrew traditions, but I seriously doubt that Messianic passages in the OT were systematically or intentionally distorted. Are you going to po […]

tildeb,So atheism confers superior rationality and humanity? I beg to differ. From a physicist On the Breaking of Bad Habits Acquired in One’s Youth: Smoking and AtheismAuthors like Weinberg and Dawkins helped me maintain a kind of physical addiction to the atheistic outlook. I certainly took pleasure in reading them far beyond what was justified by the cont […]

Yes I quite agree. The drivers should be happy to be treated like serfs and produce wealth for the fat cat owners whose ‘work’ is sitting around watching their money pile grow.The owners should not have to suffer any recessionary loss of profit, that’s for the lower classes.Word for Today: USURYRead more comments by ropata

Reality According to Garth:Brian Tamaki’s adoring followers : personality cult for weak-mindedJohn Key’s adoring followers : objective and intelligent news gatherersBrian Tamaki : Self-aggrandizing exploiter of poor suckersJohn Key : Wonderful exponent of the virtues of capitalismRead more comments by ropata

I don’t want MY taxpayer dollars spent on sucking up and bribing a military dictatorship thanks.. geopolitical power games are not NZ’s style, not within our capabilities, and certainly NOT part of our foreign policy mythos of moral leadership & conscience (uneven & pragmatic as it may be).Read more comments by ropata

Galileo is someone I greatly admire, so is Luther. I’m not defending the suppression of ideas at ALL. I linked the conversation at M-and-M because it is a much-needed counter to this endless (and in your case, emotive) narrative that there’s a big conflict between the church and science. Also, I don’t think mention of Stalin helps advance t […]

Great takedown of Ayn Rand in Slate: How Ayn Rand Became an American Icon : The perverse allure of a damaged woman.The figure Ayn Rand most resembles in American life is L. Ron Hubbard, another crazed, pitiable charlatan who used trashy potboilers to whip up a cult. Unfortunately, Rand’s cult isn’t confined to Tom Cruise and a rash of Hollywood dimwits. No, […]

Speights != Otago.Southland and Canterbury did pretty darn well..Read more comments by ropata

The fact is the Jesus Christ walked on this Earth 2000 years ago, demonstrated his divinity many times, blessed many a thirsty soul with his words, and his Spirit is at work even now. The old theologians may not have contended with neuroscience but they certainly addressed the facile claim that God is imaginary. I believe God *is* verified by science, and He […]

Cedric, no need to get panicky. It’s just a historical comparison in response to an earlier comment. I really like your above quote BTW — it reminds me of the title of Sagan’s book “The Demon Haunted World : Science as a Candle in the Dark”. So it has been. But the Gospel has also been a candle in the dark, and I think that […]

To understand physics I might read Newton, Hawking, or Tipler, and possibly try some basic experiments. To understand cognition I might read Pinker, Freud or Robert Winston, or talk to a shrink. To understand biology I might read Gould or Dawkins or Darwin. etc etc. There is truth in all these domains: the hard yards in these sciences has been done to a grea […]

The human race survived OK for millennia without science. But religion has a vast and rich history … I commend to you this “Modest Plea for a Historically Responsible Atheism” at The Dunedin School blog;We cannot ignore Christianity as a whole and the problematic of the Incarnation in particular, Žižek claims, because these things from an e […]

Thanks for this interesting review! >The past haunts the present and there can be no exorcising the spirits of History.The future haunts the present also, if problems with the Large Hadron Collider are any indication :)Read more comments by ropata

Reality is too challenging for poor old phlu. He’s really cranking out the paranoia today.And that kids, is why you should stay off drugs.Read more comments by ropata