Again

It happened again today. After a few 'quiet' days, that sense of loss and distance came back with tears and a thud. Ben is so far far away... The Proclaimers' song comes back to me "I would walk a thousand miles just to hear your voice again." So I listen to the recorded message from his mobile. Three times.

Blogger bashing

The ABC blog of the Atheist Convention has generated lots of interest and some 500 comments in the last few days. Most of the comments are vigorously anti-theistic, some amount to blogger bashing. Maybe 5% or less are from believers of one sort or another. Most of the arguments are neither new nor terribly well thought through.

Why did I take it on? Firstly to help make the idea of debate credible, because some atheists would like it to be a non-debate along the lines of, 'there's no proof for God so there's nothing to discuss.'

Secondly, I wanted to try and offer a serious and orthodox Christian response, because many atheists seem to think that such people (serious and orthodox Christians) don't exist. 

Finally, I hoped to couch the language in terms of belief and commitment, because many atheists say they don't have beliefs (at least about the God question). On that last point I wrote a post called Credo which tacitly makes it clear that atheists too have their set of beliefs.

The blog will go for another week or so...

Blogging the atheist convention

I've been looking forward to the Rise of Atheism for a long time. The
convention I mean... It is on this weekend in Melbourne and promises
to be a big affair. Richard Dawkins is the star attraction.

While I imagined a quiet weekend of soaking up the atmosphere it seems I
have now found myself a 'job'. I will be a guest contributor to the
ABC Religion blog that will cover the convention. You can find the
ABC blog here.