True Reason: Christian Responses to the Challenge of Atheism.

A few weeks ago I blogged about the Reason Rally that will be held later this month in Washington, DC. The primary goal of the rally is to promote how atheism is the only reasonable worldview.

The Christian Apologetics Alliance has put together a book of essays that refute this claim both philosophically and evidentially. Several essays demonstrate how reason is not possible given the truth of naturalism, while several others provide evidence that makes Christianity a reasonable worldview to believe is true. The connection between science and faith, the reliability of the Gospels, and the problem of evil are all addressed in this book. Other topics include the claim that the God of the Old Testament is evil by promoting slavery and commanding the annihilation of nations.

Check out the main page for the book at True Reason and the Amazon page here.

Reviews by:
Christiana Szymanski

Please note that it appears that those organizing the Reason Rally have little intention of having a thoughtful and reasonable discussion with Christians, as evidenced by their invitation of Westboro Baptist Church to the event yet refusal to invite Christian philosophers and scientists- the ones who could carry on a reasonable discussion.

The Courageous Movie and The Purpose of Apologetics

Have you ever wondered what the point is in Christian apologetics? Does it seem like a favorite past-time of only the "smartest" Christians, but nothing more than that? I hope to offer compelling answers to those questions in this post.

A couple weeks ago my wife and I watched the movie Courageous (the book "The Resolution for Men" is based on the movie). In short, it is a piercing and convicting story about several men who, as the result of the tragedy in one of their lives, committed to actively being godly examples for their families and teaching them the higher ways of God. The commitment was not taken lightly. The men got together with their families and had a formal ceremony in which they pledged the following before each other and God:

• I DO solemnly resolve before God to take full responsibility for myself, my wife, and my children.
  
• I WILL love them, protect them, serve them, and teach them the Word of God as the spiritual leader of my home.
  
• I WILL be faithful to my wife, to love and honor her, and be willing to lay down my life for her as Jesus Christ did for me.
  
• I WILL bless my children and teach them to love God with all of their hearts, all of their minds, and all of their strength.
  
• I WILL train them to honor authority and live responsibly.
  
• I WILL confront evil, pursue justice, and love mercy.
  
• I WILL pray for others and treat them with kindness, respect, and compassion.
  
• I WILL work diligently to provide for the needs of my family.
  
• I WILL forgive those who have wronged me and reconcile with those I have wronged.
  
• I WILL learn from my mistakes, repent of my sins, and walk with integrity as a man answerable to God.
  
• I WILL seek to honor God, be faithful to His Church, obey His Word, and do His will.
  
• I WILL courageously work with the strength God provides to fulfill this resolution for the rest of my life and for His glory.
  

The Reason Rally and True Reason

On March 24th, 2012, a large event will take place in Washington DC called the Reason Rally. The purpose of this event is to promote the naturalistic (atheistic) worldview as being not only compatible with but demanded by reason. Speakers at the rally will include Dr. Richard Dawkins and Dr. Lawrence Krauss. Both offer passionate arguments against religion and are sure to fire up the crowd.

As many Christians are aware, their worldview offers an understanding of the world that is not only reasoned through carefully but can explain much more of reality than can the naturalistic worldview. Christian apologist William Lane Craig offered a philosophical and scientific critique of Dawkins' book "The God Delusion" that can be found here. Craig also debated Krauss here.

There will be a Christian presence at the rally that will offer reasoned responses to the ideas and challenges that are proposed. They will be offering both positive arguments for the truth of Christianity and negative arguments against the truth of the naturalistic worldview (see my post on the importance of offering both positive and negative arguments here). I state this explicitly because the only arguments atheists (including Dawkins and Krauss) tend to offer are negative against religion (in general). They do not offer positive arguments for their atheism (atheism is assumed to be the default position if "religion" is argued to be inconsistent with reality or "evil"), nor do they address claims of specific religions. The web site for this coordinated Christian presence and response can be found at http://www.truereason.org/. The Christian Apologetics Alliance will also be publishing a book in response to the rally in early March.