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He is a bit of a wombat.

If there is an argument to be had here it is likely that it is morally wrong to break legitimate law (e.g. it doesn't matter if you break some law which systematically enforces heinous human rights abuses). The issue then becomes one of characterising legitimacy. Legitimacy might come from...

What about 'Yes, and the Government should own some of them"?

Bingo. Certainly you can argue otherwise, but this strikes me as the most reasonable path. I know a couple of thoughtful Christians who view the bible as a mix of history, poetry, parable, etc. No doubt it is a challenge to work out which is which, and there are strong arguments to found in...

I'm sure that you are intelligent enough to understand what a false dichotomy is.

Does a dog have Buddha nature or not? Mu (Translation: false dichotomy)

No. I am saying that non-literal interpretation is an important form of biblical exegesis, and that historically it has even been a dominant trend if we go back to the fathers of the Catholic church. It would be wrong to say that the Bible is a metaphor, simpliciter. The more reasonable middle...

I somewhat agree with you Moll, but your poll choices are poorly constructed. The obvious choice that you have denied is "retain student welfare, but in an altered form" (or similar). I see (means-tested) student welfare as a valuable way to increase the access of socioeconomically...

Quoting Saint Augustine, courtesy of wikipedia: It not infrequently happens that something about the earth, about the sky, about other elements of this world, about the motion and rotation or even the magnitude and distances of the stars, about definite eclipses of the sun and moon, about...

I can't give you an answer as I am neither a Christian nor a theologian. My point is that it is overly simplistic to assume that a Christian must defend a literal reading of the Bible given that (1) other approaches are available and (2) biblical literalism, as I understand it, is a relatively...

Heya, I'm not sure if I understand your first question. Do you mean to ask how to make sense of the beginning of a given world if all possible worlds exist (necessarily)? Full blown modal realism doesn't have to deal with the problem of genesis, and instead only needs to consider possibility...

Again - parables?

Simple answer: much of the bible is non-literal and instead is composed of parables.

The Starling Equation: J = K[(Pc - Pi) - (πc - πi)] J = Fluid movement (mL/min) K = hydraulic conductance (mL/min . mm Hg) Pc = capillary hydrostatic pressure (all pressure in mm Hg) Pi = interstitial hydrostatic pressure πc = capillary oncotic pressure πi = interstitual oncotic pressure This...

I have encountered a few lawyers working in medical malpractice who have completed medical degrees. A medical degree is undeniably useful in understanding the details of such cases (practice standards, surgical techniques, different therapeutic regimes, cognitive status of the patient, etc)...

A selection of absolute faves: Sigur Ros - ( ) Steve Earle - Transcendental Blues NIN - Year Zero Me'Shell Ndegeocello - The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams The Shins - Wincing the Night Away D'Angelo - Voodoo Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Anything you can put your mind to hombre.

Meme theory is an interesting background theory which has the potential to explain social change over time. However, it is highly abstract and somewhat limited by the kind of explanations it can offer. Just as evolutionary biology is unable to supplant physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology...

Also, prior to Dawkins there is a body of literature stemming from Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. While Lamarck's theories are a bit sketchy when applied to the Girraffe's neck, they gain traction in the cultural sphere. Evolutionary economists, e.g. Schumpeter and Veblen, provide an example of...

I like this topic so I thought I would pilfer something I posted a while ago, including a passage from a book (Darwin's Dangerous Idea, 1991) by the philosopher Daniel Dennet. Briefly, the 'meme' concept arose because the notion of 'evolution' is so abstract that its basic requirements - (1)...