Not long ago I was having a conversation with an atheist acquaintance on social media about the origin of the universe and my friend suggested "nobody" believes there was ever a time when literally nothing existed. Naturally, my response was something along the lines of "Oh, really?" and I posted the Amazon link to physicist Lawrence Krauss' book A Universe From Nothing, the title of which would seem to refute his claim. photo by REUTERS/Leah Millis Curiously, he asked if I'd read the book (as if I'm in the habit of recommending books I didn't write nor haven't read). I didn't bother explaining that I'd first read the book approximately six years ago and had written a review published as the Atlanta Creationism Examiner for the now-defunct Examiner.com website. I briefly entertained the idea of simply republishing the original article here at my website, but that review seemed dated, so I decided not to re-post it. Then, out of the blue, another atheist acquaintance in yet another "discussion" forum posted the link to another six-year-old review of Krauss' book by David Albert, returning it to the forefront of my mind. Which brings us here. Technically speaking, my atheist friend's argument had been correct in the sense that physicists and cosmologists have explained prior to the creation of our universe, time did not exist because it had no means to measure it, given that our measurements for time are exclusively defined by the universe. Thomas Aquinas famously suggested that our universe began with time, not in time. God created the universe literally ex … [Read more...]
Iran’s influence on a global scale
I don't normally provide opportunities for other writers to post material at my blog for a number of reasons. There is the quality control issue--the guest writer must have a talent for writing as well as something to say worth reading. Not to mention (except I am) it takes a bit of effort on my part to screen, edit, format, and publish the work of someone else and I'm a bit lazy by nature. Also, I would be spending time that could be devoted to my own writing or editing, versus to the work of a total stranger, so I don't normally invite or encourage guest bloggers to submit articles for review. On the other hand, when I make an exception and post a guest blog such as this one, I'm giving that writer's effort my endorsement by publishing their work and strongly recommending you read it. About the Author: Avi Kumar grew up in Sri Lanka. As a member of the Tamil minority, he has a unique perspective when it comes to growing up in a war zone. From an early age in order to survive, he learned to remain silent about controversial issues when it wasn't safe to speak about them. Avi has lived in five different countries and speaks ten different languages. Fortunately, one of his ten languages is English, or I wouldn't have had the slightest idea what I was reading. Avi loves wildlife photography and writing about religious and political issues with his unique conservative perspective. Iran’s global influence and threat level keep growing, While Iran may not be an economic powerhouse like Saudi Arabia, Israel or the … [Read more...]
The end of the world as we know it
My favorite bumper sticker during the 2016 presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was this one reflective of my reluctance embrace of either candidate: Prior to his election, I wasn't the biggest fan of Donald Trump. On the other hand, I couldn't think of a worse choice to oppose him in the general election than Hillary--even socialist, never-had-a-real-job-in-his-life Bernie Sanders stood a better chance. Thank God the fix was in, and Clinton became the nominee. To my pleasant surprise, Trump has turned out to be a much better president than I could have imagined. He began conversations with North Korea, lowered taxes, and created an economic boom after eight years of malaise under Obama. As a result of his success, I've grown to appreciate the accomplishments of President Trump. Just imagine what he could get done if virtually everybody in Washington wasn't actively opposing his efforts. Under normal circumstances, I would have expected a period of happiness and economic prosperity to follow. Unfortunately, we do not live under normal circumstances anymore. We live in a world where special prosecutor Robert Mueller has been given carte blanche to ruin the lives, finances, and reputations of American citizens like General Michael Flynn and Roger Stone for the crime of supporting President Trump. The infamous "Steele dossier" used to create this sham investigation/witch hunt was a political hit job that any competent FBI director would have recognized for what it was--a bogus, political hit piece. The federal government under the … [Read more...]
Nathan Phillips, publicity whore
Nathan Phillips If you're just waking up from a deep coma, you might not have heard of Nathan Phillips or Covington Catholic High School. You're definitely in the minority, because pretty much everybody else with access to a television knows who they are. If you've only listened to Hollyweird liberals and the mainstream media, you may not even be aware of the role the Black Hebrew Israelites played in the controversial encounter. Naturally, the media portrayed a group of teens attending a March for Life (anti-abortion) rally as a mob of racist, Trump-supporting white hoodlums surrounding and taunting a poor Native American simply trying to lead a prayer vigil because it so conveniently fit their narrative, which is to depict Trump supporters (and especially pro-life demonstrators) as a bunch of intolerant Neanderthals with the stated goal of taking away a woman's right to choose to abort her child, and often for the sake of convenience. Fortunately for the kids from Covington Catholic, other people who weren't trying to deliberately false narrative about what really happened were also at the Lincoln Memorial and had their cameras. The real story was a far cry from the original narrative peddled to the media by Mr. Phillips. The students from Covington had gathered at the Lincoln Memorial as instructed by their chaperones in advance of their return trip home when a small, militant group of black men calling themselves Black Hebrew Israelites approached them and began shouting racist and homophobic epithets at the teenagers. At that point the only offense committed … [Read more...]
Calling the wrong guy stupid
Dr. Laurence Moran Laurence A. "Larry" Moran (and no, it's not really Moron) is apparently a pretty smart guy. He holds a PhD in biochemistry from Princeton University and served as a college professor for decades at the University of Toronto. He's probably best known for being one of the lead authors of a textbook called Principles of Biochemistry, although in fairness, his personal blog called Sandwalk also attracts a fair amount of internet traffic, which is how I learned about Dr. Moran--ironically enough, while searching the internet for information on Dr. James Tour. What has inspired me to write about my limited knowledge of Dr. Moran was the conclusion to his article harshly critical of Dr. Tour: I suppose I'm going to be labeled as one of those evil "Darwinists" who won't tolerate anyone who disagrees with me about evolution. I'm actually not. I just don't like stupid people who think they are experts in evolution when they have never bothered to learn about it. Here's my advice to graduate students in organic chemistry: if you want to know about evolution then take a course or read a textbook. And remember, there's nothing wrong with admitting that you don't understand a subject. Just don't assume your own ignorance means that all the experts in the subject are wrong too. [emphasis added]Laurence A. Moran, "A chemist who doesn't understand evolution" Wow. If I'm not mistaken, Dr. Moran just described Dr. Tour as being a stupid person. So I'm wondering, is it possible that a chemistry professor wouldn't know who Dr. Tour is? How could he not know? … [Read more...]
