Colin archive at Zeal For Truth

Loading Newer »

Less

Author Archive for Colin

Star Trek as Ethics

Published by Colin November 18, 2008 in General. 30 Comments

Since my last post on War and Veterans, I had the opportunity to watch some Star Trek. I am a huge fan of The Next Generation and watch at least three episodes a week. I could probably write a book about the ethics of Star Trek, but I thought that the one I watched yesterday had a particularly relevant dilemma to the discussion we’ve been having on the nature of sacrifice, collateral damage and war.

In this episode, machines called “exocomps” have been proven to be very handy in fixing problems on a mining station. Data, however, has determined that he believes the exocomps are alive - and that it is wrong to force them to labour on the station. A problem eventually occurs where Picard and LaForge are trapped on the station and it becomes possible to send the exocoms out into space and blow them up to free the trapped officers. The following situation takes place:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iJVsTyauvw

Commander Riker is the utilitarian and the consequentialist - he wants to do the greatest good, even if it means sacrificing others. He believes it is “less evil” to sacrifice the exocomps for the trapped officers than to pursue a more ethically pure path. Data (often personified as a pure logical being), however, acknowledges that it is unethical to sacrifice any innocent life by force, and is required to make a choice - insubordination to his superiors or acting to preserve innocent life. Eventually, they argue and determine that it is best to try and ask the exocomps if they would freely try and save the trapped officers.

In axiomatic thinking - which is the type of thinking we are dealing with here - the examples don’t exist to prove or dispove the theory, but to illustrate it. Empiricism presumes that a theory is only as good as its ability to work in consequence - but this ignores the possibility of any knowledge, ethics or morality outside of human experience (such as Christianity) and even ability (such as communism or anarchism). In other words, because no human is capable of performing the ethically pure action of saving the exocomps, it does not “disprove” or “nullify” the ethical principle. In the same way, just because humans are incapable of keeping God’s law and living up to his moral standard in practice, it does not mean that God’s law is nullified or unbinding. We are still judged by this standard, even though it is “unrealistic.”

This example illustrates my point to some degree. It is wrong, and always wrong, to sacrifice innocent life as part of a “greater good.” It does not suddenly become less wrong because of a given situation or for given consequences (”reality”).Morality is above reality - reality must be derived from the purity of reason, logic and morality - not the other way around. Even though Data’s actions are impractical, radical and unrealistic (only he, as personified logic, can chose to save the exocomps - no human was willing or able to do it) they are correct. Ethics is not on a sliding scale based on how able we are to work them out or how “realistic” they are. The failing is not with the theory or the ethical axiom - it is with humanity’s inability to adhere to the greater principle.

Links: We Got Some

Published by Colin November 14, 2008 in General. 2 Comments

The Economy
GOP should ask why U.S. is on the wrong track by Ron Paul

U.S. Shifts Focus in Credit Bailout to the Consumer

The Treasury Department on Wednesday officially abandoned the original strategy behind its $700 billion effort to rescue the financial system, as administration officials acknowledged that banks and financial institutions were as unwilling as ever to lend to consumers.
…
The program, still in the planning stages, would for the first time use bailout funds specifically to help consumers instead of banks, savings and loans and Wall Street firms.

The End of Wall Street’s Boom

Politics
Evangelicals and the 2008 vote - a map by Christianity Today

Catholics making a stand on abortion

Stossel writes about the road to serfdom.

More
Teenagers and TV sex (abstract to an article published in the journal Pediatrics)

How to Get Your Email Inbox to Zero Every Day

Raped 13 year old girl stoned for adultery in Somalia

On War Veterans and What Should be Remembered

Published by Colin November 12, 2008 in Religion and Politics. 45 Comments

Because this issue is tremendously sensitive for so many around the world (for a variety of reasons, I might add) I want to place a few fundamental points directly at the top. First of all, I have a rich tradition of veterans in my own family - my grandfather in the US was drafted and served in WWII. My father fought several years in the bloodiest era of the Ireland/UK conflict. My grandfather-in-law, whom I consider as my own flesh and blood, fought in three wars. My Grandfather in England was a conciousness objector during WWII - and probably bore many scars from this experience as well.

I have to note this at the start because, sadly, many readers struggle with separating abstract positions from specific persons (”how dare you say that about my grandfather who…” ). Secondly, they have difficulty separating tradition, ideology and propaganda from historical reality (”We were good and we were fighting evil…”).

The Premise
My only major assumption from which I am deriving my argument is that the State is not a morally neutral entity. Every single person, family or organisation that comes into contact with the state is either a victim or a collaborator with an entity that is wholly and entirely premised on theft, murder, lies and subjugation. If you have problems with this premise, then you might have problems with this piece. Please take the time to view these resources (1, 2, 3, 4) to give this argument a fair shake, as it will not be dealt with here.

Veterans are Primarily Victims
Veterans have similar ambiguity about their situation. Many are victims of the state - they were threatened with jail, fines even death unless they killed other men they otherwise would have no conflict with whatsoever. They were/are forced to commit crimes against others in order to prevent crimes being committed against them by the state. Many who sign up willingly are also victims - as these have been deceived by the state in order to engage in a cause that they might originally believe to be just, but only much later might realise was wrong.

Veterans, for the vast majority, are victims and should be remembered in the same way we remember those affected by murder, genocide and persecution. But we must also remember who did this to them - we must remember who is responsible for so many widows, fatherless children and a legacy of lost life - namely, the State.

It is one of the greatest ironies that it is the state which pushes for the celebration of veterans. The state wants us to remember “the sacrifice” of these men (as though most went to war willingly or without being deceived) and not the fact that many of these victims were in fact sacrificed.

There is No Moral Legitimacy in Aggressive War
I have reflected on this recently, as I have become good friends with a German my age here in England. We have remarked several times about how we would be on opposite sides of a conflict, quite possibly trying to kill each other if, by chance, we happened to be living in the 1940’s. I want only the best for my good friend - and how many men, who otherwise might be friends, whose wives would be friends, whose children would grow up together - wantonly killed one another under either the threat of aggression against them by their own nations or because their government led them to believe that their fight was one for the greater good.

There is no morality present in the philosophy of “the end justifies the means” - that by committing evil, we can bring about good. It is morally bankrupt. Morality is absolute and unchanging. It is not subject to men - it is above them. Any “morality” that can be bent, broken or adjusted based on the relative morals of society or by the designs and strategies of men is not morality whatsoever.

Soldiers Give Us Freedom?
Lastly, there is a tremendously erroneous idea propagated as part of this subject - that soldiers are somehow responsible for “our freedom.” In many instances, nothing is further from the truth.

The soldier, by his very nature, is contrary to freedom - his job exists to destroy property and life, as well as subjugate the freedom of individuals. Consider that if freedom comes from the military, then it is no better than mob-rule and might-makes-right. Is this a moral philosophy?

We do not gain our freedom from the military or as a gift of a benevolent state - as though our freedom were a welfare check or a gun. We obtain our freedom, as Thomas Jefferson eloquently wrote, from “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” Freedom is a gift from God, and choice and responsibility are given to men from His hand. Nature speaks of the greatness of God to do this and also testifies, in how He ordered it, to the fact of freedom as the inherent state of all men.

Aggressive war is a crime - a blasphemy against God’s order and purpose for men. This is what should be remembered. Offensive war (or pre-emptive, to use the new term) is sin and cannot bring about good, which only comes from God (James 1:17). In fact, the same passage reaffirms the moral objectivity of God and the absoluteness of his order: “with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” If we dare to view wars and veterans in the same light, than we have to re-evaluate our support for wars, the way we remember veterans and the legitimacy and morality of our current authorities.

Conservatives: This is Your Own Fault

Published by Colin November 5, 2008 in Politics. 68 Comments

While I am not interested in as ridiculous a tirade as Focus on the Family engaged in during this stupidity, I would like to make a few interpretations and predictions regarding the next four years of the Barack Obama administration.

First of all - a note to all you conservatives who voted for McCain and also Bush in 2004 - I am blaming you. This is what a voting philosophy of the lesser of two evils has gotten you. You marginalised and mocked the one man who even held a glimmer of old-right economic values and fiscal conservatism. Take a moment to consider the so-called “conservative” candidates you’ve supported as the lesser of two evils since Ronald Regan:

John McCain
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
Bob Dole
George Bush
George Bush

Are you now surprised that America, which generally supports you when you campaign for things like balanced budgets, lower taxes, private property rights, civil liberties, families and free-enterprise, has now elected the party of one of the most unpopular congresses in modern US history? You have allowed your party to be completely subjugated by a neo-conservative group of right-wing socialists - and this is what you deserve - a taste of your own medicine. I washed my hands of the GOP five years ago, partly because I saw this coming - it was an inevitable correction in the political marketplace.

Any changes that Obama now makes using expanded executive power is your fault. You gave George W. Bush unprecedented power in the executive to do all manner of unconstitutional things - now, the man you most fear inherits that power. You had the mandate to reverse the power of the executive branch and you expanded it more than ever - and Obama will now wield that with a vengeance.

In fact, you have set a precedent for using a congressional majority to vest power in the executive, because by circumventing the legislative branch, political agendas can now go through faster and with more force. Welcome to the Obama administration, because of the power you gave George W. Bush, expect the next 40 years of the left-wing agenda to come to pass in eight.

I suspect this includes:

Wage and price controls - When the economy continues to go sour after the bailout fix has run out, including massive inflation, Obama will use his expanded executive power to control wages and prices. There will be record unemployment, increased poverty and shortages of gas, food, healthcare and other essentials.

More wars - towards the end of the Obama administration, I expect him to send in troops or air strikes in some new country - probably Pakistan or Iran. Who knows, if the economy gets bad enough, Obama might very well start WWIII with Russia by sending troops to “protect democracy” in Eastern Europe.

Universal Healthcare - This will still take congress’s approval, but Obama will get some form of universal healthcare - putting the final nail in the coffin of what used to be the greatest and most innovative system in the world.

More Federal Control in Education - Again conservatives, this is your fault. You encouraged Bush to dramatically increase federal involvement in education. Now enjoy Obama using this new power to expand the role of the Department of Education.

I am glad that Obama has won. I can’t imagine what another four years of neo-conservative power-mongering would bring. Hopefully conservatives find a moment to humbly reflect in all of this - and repent of just how far they’ve fallen. Their zeal for power overshadowed their traditions and principles.

It might take another new-deal and depression for them to get it - but so be it. This may not be the candidate you directly voted for all these years, but he is the unintended consequence of every vote for a right-wing, neo-conservative socialist as the lesser of two evils. Conservatives: you deserve Barack Obama.

Tithing and the Language of Christian Giving

Published by Colin November 3, 2008 in Religion and Theology. 9 Comments

Here is a fascinating thing: almost every church I have ever been to, whether as a member or just visiting, did not agree that tithing was mandatory. Yet, I cannot think of one that did not use the terminology “tithing” in relation to giving. This is a problem. Why is it that churches which claim to be against tithing still retain the language of a concept that is not applicable to Christians?

A Lack of Faith?
Why is the legacy of tithing, via language, still present in churches which claim to have nothing to do with the practice? I have no easy answer, nor do I want to take what some might consider an obvious answer of nefarious motives. At the same time, I have to wonder if there is a lack of faith at the heart of the problem.

There is no question that church staff and churches in general, are some of the most underfunded operations in existence. For the work that these people do, they have to bear a lot of struggle and risk because their beneficiaries will not pay for the service that they provide. I have tremendous respect for any pastor who leaves a stable vocation for the sake of the gospel to go into what is a known financial mine-field. Because this is the case, I have no doubt that it is difficult to teach proper application of what God’s Word says about giving - perhaps the financial difficulties are so great that church leaders are willing to take money given in an erroneous understanding of giving, and be silent about it, as a consequentiallist action. In other words, it is ultimately correct that the believer give - therefore, why he gives (even if he feels under compulsion from an unbiblical tithing rule), is not as important.

Imagine if a person came up to a pastor on a Sunday morning and said - “I am ready to commit my life to Jesus,” but then followed with, “because I heard that Jesus can fix my marriage, get me a new car and help me pay my mortgage.” The man is coming to Jesus, but his motives are wrong. Is it correct that the pastor just run with this, even though this man has no idea why he actually needs Jesus? No. If the pastor goes through the sinner’s prayer with this guy, it’s not going to mean anything to him- a waste of words and time. But if the pastor explains why he actually needs Jesus, he risks losing this man’s enthusiasm. But any good pastor would risk it, because he knows that it is correct and because motives matter, not the form of results. By the same token, giving is important, but not gifts which are given with unbiblical motives such as obligations, tithes and leader’s approval.

God himself rejects those sacrifices and offerings which are given to him out of incorrect motives.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you’ (Jeremiah 7:21-23).

Biblical Principles Encourage Pure Motives in Giving and Receiving
Stress about paying the bills is something everyone deals with - but this does not justify circumventing our responsibilities to both give and receive biblically. I believe, by the way, that the bible teaches a proportional giving model - giving as one is able, regardless of such pharisaisms as percentages, gross versus net and so on. Giving is another way to worship God and articulate faith. It’s also a way to live out biblical principles of supporting the work of the gospel and those who minister. It’s an essential and indispensable part of the Christian lifestyle, and in the same way it is given, so should it be received.

Clearly there is a mutual struggle with giving among both those who give and those who receive. For those who give, to do so freely and without compulsion takes maturity, wisdom and a willingness to articulate faith with money. However, it is clearly not a walk in the park for those who receive, who must be willing to correct, rebuke even reject money which is given with an unbiblical attitude.

Links: Focus on the Family’s America Under Obama, more

Published by Colin October 31, 2008 in Current Events. 7 Comments

Focus on the Family Action’s Letter from 2012 in Obama’s America. This hilarious letter basically takes every major problem that could happen short of the apocalypse and blames all of it on Barack Obama. Here are some of the more interesting nuggets:

The Supreme Court in 2011 nullified all Federal Communications Commission restrictions on obscene speech or visual content in radio and television broadcasts. As a result, television programs at all hours of the day contain explicit portrayals of sexual acts.

I didn’t know that the only thing holding back hard-core pornography on the television was the FCC. I guess we all really want to watch porn all day - as this is what these people think the market would ask for, if left to it’s own devices. Thank goodness for the wise, powerful and all-moral FCC.

A Taliban-like oppression has taken over in Iraq, and hundreds of thousands of “American sympathizers” have been labeled as traitors, imprisoned, tortured, and killed. The number put to death may soon reach the millions.

Leaving Iraq of course will lead to a new holocaust in the country.

President Obama directed U.S. intelligence services to cease all wiretapping of alleged terrorist phone calls unless they first obtained a warrant for each case… Since 2009, terrorist bombs have exploded in two large and two small U.S. cities, killing hundreds, and the entire country is fearful, for no place seems safe.

Oh no! Now government has to get a warrant for wiretaps! Because of this four bombs have gone off - if only we had given the government more of our civil liberties!

In mid-2010, Iran launched a nuclear bomb that exploded in the middle of Tel Aviv, destroying much of that city

Which of these countries will have nukes in 2012: Iran or Israel? Hint: one of them already has them, and has made multiple threats to use them against ther other? Hint: it’s not Iran.

As a result, those evangelical publishers could no longer distribute any of their books through any of these bookstore chains. Any Christian publisher that dares to print works critical of homosexual behavior faces the same fate. As a result, several Christian publishers have gone out of business.

Ahh! Christian publishers, many of which publish heresy anyway, are out of business? How is the church going to make money? Next we’ll find out that president Obama was stealing from the collection plate too?

A coming scandal?

Red Sex, Blue Sex - Why do so many evangelical teen-agers become pregnant?

The George Wallace We Forgot

Socialism, Sarah Palin style:

For her part, Sarah Palin, who has lately taken to calling Obama “Barack the Wealth Spreader,” seems to be something of a suspect character herself.

She is, at the very least, a fellow-traveller of what might be called socialism with an Alaskan face. The state that she governs has no income or sales tax. Instead, it imposes huge levies on the oil companies that lease its oil fields. The proceeds finance the government’s activities and enable it to issue a four-figure annual check to every man, woman, and child in the state. One of the reasons Palin has been a popular governor is that she added an extra twelve hundred dollars to this year’s check, bringing the per-person total to $3,269.

A few weeks before she was nominated for Vice-President, she told a visiting journalist—Philip Gourevitch, of this magazine—that “we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.”

Perhaps there is some meaningful distinction between spreading the wealth and sharing it (“collectively,” no less), but finding it would require the analytic skills of Karl the Marxist.

LA TImes will not release Video that may show Obama supporting terrorists

The Behavioral Revolution

An Obama speechwriter says she’s voting for McCain…

Not only has this party belittled working people in this campaign from Joe the Plumber to the bitter comments, it has also been part of tearing down two female candidates. At first, certain Democrats and the press called Senator Clinton “dishonest.” They went after her cleavage. They said her experience as First Lady consisted of having tea parties. There was no outrage over “Bros before Hoes” or “Iron My Shirt.” Did Senator Clinton make mistakes? Of course. She’s human.

But here we are about a week out and it’s déjà vu all over again… Governor Palin and I don’t agree on a lot of things, mostly social issues. But I have grown to appreciate the Governor…

I was dead wrong about the surge and thought it would be a disaster. Senator John McCain led when many of us were ready to quit. Yet we march on as if nothing has changed, wedded to an old plan, and that too is a long way from the Democratic Party.

I can no longer justify what this party has done and can’t dismiss the treatment of women and working people as just part of the new kind of politics. It’s wrong and someone has to say that…

Links: This is the libertarians fault!!!!

Published by Colin October 24, 2008 in Current Events. 4 Comments

A Slate.com article blames US “libertarian” policies for the current failing market, arguing for more intervention and stating that the current crisis proves libertarians are wrong. This Reason.com article is offered as a rebuttal.

Iraq Inches Closer to Security Pact With U.S.

The draft also includes provisions on another knotty issue — whether American soldiers would have immunity from Iraqi law. Senior Iraqi officials said the draft language would give Americans immunity from Iraqi law when they were on military operations but would not apply if they were off duty….

Many Iraqi members of Parliament say that the proposed immunity provisions, which the United States supports, are too broad, and that they want American troops to be subject to Iraqi law for all their actions. The Americans say that their troops must have immunity when on military missions….

“The heart of the matter is the jurisdiction over the searching of all cargos that are shipped to Iraq or from Iraq,” said Ali Adeeb, a close ally of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. “There is the possibility that the cargo contains weapons that may hurt Iraq, although the American side committed that no weapons of mass destruction would be sent to Iraq.”….

Adding to the volatility, attacks against Christians have increased in the past two weeks and nearly 1,900 Christian families have fled their homes in fear, said Abdul Qadir al-Obaidi, the Iraqi minister of defense.

Palin is the mom in Bobby’s World?

A few weeks ago, the truth was revealed that artificial inflation of certain stocks would eventually hurt the market….and the conspiracy to hide this on Wikipedia.

Bloomberg gets the rule changes to stay in power, voters aren’t happy.

Thirty years of warmer temperatures go poof

Gap narrows between rich and poor, but the UK is still bad. And, oddly enough, if you look at the Gini coefficient scores, the US is worse.

Vote al Qaeda, Vote McCain

San Fran May Decriminalize Prostitution

Published by Colin October 23, 2008 in Religion and Politics. 17 Comments

In case you didn’t see it on CNN - the citizens of San Francisco have an opportunity to decriminalize prostitution on Novemeber 4th. From the AP:

San Francisco would become the first major U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution if voters next month approve Proposition K — a measure that forbids local authorities from investigating, arresting or prosecuting anyone for selling sex.

The ballot question technically would not legalize prostitution since state law still prohibits it, but the measure would eliminate the power of local law enforcement officials to go after prostitutes.

First of all, I think it is sad to see the reason why that proponents of this measure hope it will be passed:

…proponents of Proposition K say their proposal has a better shot in San Francisco, which they believe is more sexually liberal than the city across the bay.

Sexual liberation is the worst reason to support decriminalisation of prostitution, in the same way that the desire to actually do drugs is a terrible excuse to push for drug legalisation.

The main concern here is freedom. The fact that adults should have the right to buy, sell and consume whatever they want so long as there is no aggression. Governments have no legitimate authority, not from God or from natural law, to use aggression to prevent people from making decisions that are contained within their own sphere of ownership - namely their body and their property.

There is no question that desires to prevent prostitution are correct and good - but not by law, not by aggression. We may educate them about both the natural and spiritual consequences of their actions, and we may do it with as much passion and conviction as possible, but we have no authority, not even from God, to act as “little gods” and police people’s non-criminal (that is non-aggressive) sin.

If every Christian, instead of ticking of a box authorizing criminal use of government force, instead went out and shared the gospel with one person, just one person, this world would be a lot closer to radical change for the better.

John Stossel’s Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics

Published by Colin October 20, 2008 in Politics and Current Events. 1 Comment

Despite being across the pond - I gladly seized an opportunity to watch John Stossel’s latest 20/20 special: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics.

Part one is spent dispelling the general idea that politicians can’t do anything they promise and that people are foolish for trusting them. Stossel quickly moves away from the ticky-tacky Obama/McCain “debate” and demonstrates that both candidates are making promises that they can’t/won’t keep and that it is government itself, despite the good intentions of politicians and their supporters, that is the problem.

Stossel uses a skating rink to demonstrate that order is best achieved “spontaneously” with the mutual self-interest of people slipping into harmony as people desire a) to be free and b) to be safe. He then tries to “plan” the skating rink by making rules and giving orders to the skaters, who subsequently fall, crash and otherwise fail. They no longer have fun either. People acting based on their own decisions and priorities are also the most cooperative and move society forward.

Part two moves into practical applications of this basic premise, starting with the credit crunch. He challenges the idea that many on the left make - that “deregulation” has led to this problem. He brilliantly shows how the past two presidents intervened in the economy to encourage home ownership by people who could never afford to own one - in other words, it was government meddling that blew up the housing market.

But not only did the government create the problem - they now want to solve it by more intervention. The economists he interviews argue that bailouts only encourage and reinforce bad behaviour. It is best that those companies that made poor decisions be allowed to fail.

In the third part, Stossel shows how incompetent government has been at disaster relief. The ninth ward of New Orleans is still in ruins. Many home-owners and others physically cannot rebuild because they are being held back by multiple approval processes. The decrepit ninth ward is highlighted against a nearby neighbourhood which was rebuilt by private charity, from Habitat for Humanity to drivers passing by to Brad Pitt.

Mayor Ray Nagin argued that government was making it easier to build a home. Stossel tests this out by going in to the permit office to get the right authorisation. It took more then ten minutes for the secretary just to list the forms to him. Nagin was unapologetic about the red-tape, arguing that it was necessary to protect historical districts.

In part four, Stossel shows the unintended consequences of McCain-Fiengold and campaign finance laws. He shows how these laws have basically destroyed the possibility for new candidates to run and even for non-candidates to participate in politics - even to just support a ballot measure. He cites a couple women in Colorado who made a couple signs against a local annexation measure and were sued for not establishing the right committee or reporting their expenses.

And for dramatic effect - he shows how both McCain and Obama have circumvented the laws anyway. The money, instead of going directly to politicians, still floods into politics through affiliated groups.

Farm subsidies are attacked by Stossel in part five. The idea that these are going to small family farms is dispelled and it is shown that these subsidies are just being collected by wealthy farmers.

Stossel’s special, like many he has done, is brazenly libertarian and equally attacks the fallacies present in both conservative and left-wing thinking.