****Official RGT Article Thread****

[Splendour]

In your book "Why Would Anyone Believe in God?" you answer the question why people believe in God. More specifically, why the majority of humans believe in God or Gods. As an atheist, I have to ask, why don't I believe in God? Or, more seriously, do you believe that there are cognitive reasons why some people are just biased to be atheists? I actually emailed Robert N. McCauley about his conjecture that autistics might be 'natural' atheists because of their lack of social intelligence, but he responded that he hadn't stumbled upon any hard empirical confirmation of this hunch...yet. Do you know something we don't?

Justin Barrett replies:
As self-proclaimed atheist Jesse Bering has observed it can be very hard to identify true atheists. He even suspects that they comprise a very tiny number of people. By true atheists, I mean people that consistently hold no belief (cognitive commitment that motivates behavior) in superhuman agency. Lots of people say they don't believe in superhuman agency (including gods and ghosts) but will still modify their behaviors around cemeteries on spooky nights ("just in case"). I also run into plenty of people who say they don't believe in God but they really have chosen to act as if they don't believe in God because they are angry with God or don't like God. With these qualifications in place, certainly there are a number of factors that might predispose individuals to become atheists. As I agree with McCauley that theory of mind or social intelligence plays a critical role in theism, those who are weaker in these areas (relative to other higher-order reasoning) might be less disposed toward theism. I find it suggestive that women-who tend to have stronger social intelligence-tend to be more religious than men; and men are disproportionately represented among self-proclaimed atheists. Autism has been referred to as a severe form of "male-brainedness," I believe by Simon Baron-Cohen. I suspect social and environmental factors are even more important in supporting atheism, and I speculate on these in my book.


10 questions for Justin L. Barrett
http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2006/04/10-...-l-barrett.php



A Link Between Autism and Testosterone Levels
http://psychcentral.com/news/2007/09...vels/1271.html


The Male Condition
New York Times August 8, 2005

By Simon Baron-Cohen
Cambridge, England
http://bgrh.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=736299

[All-In Flynn]

Number One Cause of Child Molestation - Sexy Kids, Says Franciscan Friar

Originally Posted by Father Benedict Groeschel

People have this picture in their minds of a person planning to — a psychopath," Groeschel said. "But that’s not the case. Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster — 14, 16, 18 — is the seducer... If you go back 10 or 15 years ago with different sexual difficulties — except for rape or violence — it was very rarely brought as a civil crime. Nobody thought of it that way... And I’m inclined to think, on [a priest's] first offense, they should not go to jail because their intention was not committing a crime.

Pressed for clarification, the New York State-based religious leader explained that kids looking for father figures might be drawn to priests to fill an emotional hole in their lives.

Spoiler:

[Splendour]

The bible says to put no confidence in the flesh.

Wiki on pedophelia:
Causes and biological associations

Although what causes pedophilia is not yet known, beginning in 2002, researchers began reporting a series of findings linking pedophilia with brain structure and function: Pedophilic (and hebephilic) men have lower IQs,[75][76][77] poorer scores on memory tests,[76] greater rates of non-right-handedness,[75][76][78][79] greater rates of school grade failure over and above the IQ differences,[80] lesser physical height,[81] greater probability of having suffered childhood head injuries resulting in unconsciousness,[63][82] and several differences in MRI-detected brain structures.[83][84][85] They report that their findings suggest that there are one or more neurological characteristics present at birth that cause or increase the likelihood of being pedophilic. Evidence of familial transmittability "suggests, but does not prove that genetic factors are responsible" for the development of pedophilia.[86]

Another study, using structural MRI, shows that male pedophiles have a lower volume of white matter than a control group.[83]

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has shown that child molesters diagnosed with pedophilia have reduced activation of the hypothalamus as compared with non-pedophilic persons when viewing sexually arousing pictures of adults.[87] A 2008 functional neuroimaging study notes that central processing of sexual stimuli in heterosexual "paedophile forensic inpatients" may be altered by a disturbance in the prefrontal networks, which "may be associated with stimulus-controlled behaviours, such as sexual compulsive behaviours". The findings may also suggest "a dysfunction at the cognitive stage of sexual arousal processing".[88]

Blanchard, Cantor, and Robichaud (2006) reviewed the research that attempted to identify hormonal aspects of pedophiles.[62] They concluded that there is some evidence that pedophilic men have less testosterone than controls, but that the research is of poor quality and that it is difficult to draw any firm conclusion from it.

A study analyzing the sexual fantasies of 200 heterosexual men by using the Wilson Sex Fantasy Questionnaire exam determined that males with a pronounced degree of paraphilic interest (including pedophilia) had a greater number of older brothers, a high 2D:4D digit ratio (which would indicate excessive prenatal estrogen exposure), and an elevated probability of being left-handed, suggesting that disturbed hemispheric brain lateralization may play a role in deviant attractions.


More here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedophilia

[Splendour]

The Gifts of God
by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

http://www.icr.org/home/resources/re...s_tracts_tgog/

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17).

[Splendour]

Peter Kreeft's site:
Lesson One in Prayer
http://peterkreeft.com/topics/lesson-one.htm



Love
http://peterkreeft.com/topics/love.htm

[Splendour]

A Close Encounter With the Angel of Death
http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/close-encounter.htm

[Splendour]

1 John 3 - IVP New Testament Commentaries
Family Likeness
http://www.biblegateway.com/resource...amily-Likeness

[Splendour]

Washed By The Water of the Word
http://dedicatedfaith.org/2012/02/11...r-of-the-word/

[Splendour]

This is a series I'm still reading but since I enjoyed his essay "Why I Believe Jesus is the Son of God" I'll post his multipart argument here.

A Refutation of Moral Relativism
http://www.peterkreeft.com/audio/05_...nscription.htm

[Splendour]

The Way of Cain (a doctrinal comparison of major religions):

Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain.....
Jude 1:11

http://www****hammadanism.org/Gospel/WayCain.htm

[Splendour]

Quote: "Though we are remarkable, we are merely an outline, a mere copy or representation. We are illusory compared to God, because He is the reality."

Image and Likeness of God by John W. Ritenbaugh
http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/...keness-God.htm


The word “image” deserves further examination. The word "image" could evoke different mental images depending upon one's perspective. Over the past several decades in the United States, "image" has acquired a deceptive application that obscures its true meaning. This application skews one's understanding, interfering with the meaning God intends.

For example, today, a politician hires a publication firm to create an image for him that the people will find acceptable, and, thus, vote him into office. If someone is trying to find employment, they dress a certain way to project a particular image for employers to perceive. Corporations also try very hard to find the right image before the public.

To an American, an “image” has subtly come to mean "the illusion of what something is presented to be" rather than "the essence of what it really is."

In Hebrew, the word translated "image" is not "a deceptive illusion." Rather, image means "the likeness of one subject expressed in another." This difference is important. It means, "the likeness of one subject, God, expressed in the other, man." The verse indirectly says that man is very much like God.

The Hebrew meaning is frequently used in English in reference to family resemblance or characteristics. We say that a child is the spitting image of his father or his mother, possibly referring to physical or social traits.

The "image" is no illusion; it is the reality. It is the family trait. It is the essence of reality."



Read more: http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/...#ixzz26AbxrOyQ

[Splendour]

Introduction: The dictatorship of relativism
by Roger Kimball

An introduction to our symposium "The Dictatorship of Relativism: Who Will Stand Up for Western Values Now?”

Quote: "It wasn’t that long ago that a responsible educated person in the West was someone who entertained firm moral and political principles. When those principles were challenged, he would typically rise to defend them. The more serious the challenge, the more concerted the defense."

http://www.newcriterion.com/articles...elativism-3981

Some wiki bio on Kimball:

"Kimball lectures widely and is a frequent contributor to many newspapers and journals, including The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Spectator, The New Criterion, The Times Literary Supplement, and The New York Sun. Kimball is also a regular contributor to The New Criterion's weblog Armavirumque. In the autumn of 2007 he inaugurated Roger's Rules,[2] a regular column at the Pajamas Media weblog,[3] which was launched in the spring of 2006.

Some of Kimball's work as a writer is polemical, directed against what he sees as the politicization and "dumbing down" of Western culture and the arts."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Kimball

[Splendour]

Faith-based prisons multiply
By David Crary, Associated Press



"A bunch of cats in prison, they never had anyone show them love — even their mother and father," said Anzetta Smith, who served 18 years for attempted murder before graduating from Vance this year. "You get in the program, and everybody shows you love."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religio...-prisons_N.htm

[Splendour]

Nave's topical bible on the topic of "Reproof":
http://naves-topical-bible.com/REPROOF.html

[Splendour]

THE DANIEL DIFFERENCE
http://www.pbv.thunder-bay.on.ca/Net...aniel1str.html