Staring into the Abyss: Why Peter Singer makes the New Atheists nervous.

I came across an interesting article the other day by Dinesh D’Souza

here is an excerpt:

“I write this fresh from debating bioethicist Peter Singer on “Can we be moral without God?” at Singer’s home campus, Princeton University. Singer is a mild-mannered fellow who speaks calmly and lucidly. Yet you wouldn’t have to read his work too long to find his extreme positions. He cheerfully advocates infanticide and euthanasia and, in almost the same breath, favors animal rights. Even most liberals would have qualms about third-trimester abortions; Singer does not hesitate to advocate what may be termed fourth-trimester abortions, i.e., the killing of infants after they are born.”

His conclusion is perceptive as well…

“Some of Singer’s critics have called him a Nazi and compared his proposals to Hitler’s schemes for eliminating those perceived as unwanted and unfit. A careful reading of his work, however, shows that Singer is no Hitler. He doesn’t want state-sponsored killings. Rather, he wants the decision to kill to be made by private individuals like you and me. Instead of government-conducted genocide, Singer favors free-market homicide.”

“Why haven’t the atheists embraced Peter Singer? I suspect it is because they fear that his unpalatable views will discredit the cause of atheism. What they haven’t considered, however, is whether Singer, virtually alone among their numbers, is uncompromisingly working out the implications of living in a truly secular society, one completely purged of Christian and transcendental foundations. In Singer, we may be witnessing someone both horrifying and yet somehow refreshing: an intellectually honest atheist.”

(HT – STR)

Does Christianity lead to a different kind of life?

I was reading this morning and came a cross a passage that I thought was well written and thought provoking in a good way:

“Lots of Christians are stuck knowing something of the history and rules of the history and rules of Christianity, but it does not translate into a different kind of life. There is also a growing group of people with a different challenge: they know little to nothing of the Christian story. Whether no story or the wrong story, each prevents us from pulling our life into alignment with God–and it is really our life that counts. This pursuit of God and his story has nothing to do with earning some advantage from God, avoiding hell or achieving heaven; it is born from simple, focused desire to arrange our life to follow Jesus.”–Todd Hunter (Christianity Beyond Belief, 51)

That last part is what Christianity is…following Jesus. Becoming his daily apprentice. Certainly heaven is real, but we do not believe in Christianity someday…eternal life is available today, and then tomorrow, and the day after. That is the good news of the Kingdom of God that Jesus announced. God’s power and presence are now available so that whoever asks for it can live a different kind of life. That life starts the day you make Jesus your leader, teacher, and savior (cf. John 17:3).