Author Archives: Four Discoursemen

Wrong Rights

Okay but like – I’ll respect a conservative’s political beliefs when they respect trans people’s right to healthcare, poor people’s right to vote, asylum seeker’s right to safety, young people’s right to good mental health services and a decent standard of education, children’s right not to starve, disabled people’s right to marry without having theirContinue reading “Wrong Rights”

God of the Valley

The Fourth Discourseman It’s a common experience in the Christian life to feel near to God when things are going well. I don’t mean well in a purely worldly sense; spiritual flourishing can ripen in the midst of great worldly pain, and sometimes misfortune even adds to that. There are moments when we know aContinue reading “God of the Valley”

The Unhelpful Taboo of Fascism

The First Discourseman This isn’t meant to be clickbait, or an attempt to probe the boundaries of free speech and thought. Like most overused terms- particularly when they’re overused as an insult- definitions quickly become obscured and relegated to the side-lines, when they should be the starting point of discussion. ‘Fascist’ must be one ofContinue reading “The Unhelpful Taboo of Fascism”

The Limits of Rationality

The First Discourseman It seems every age claims enlightenment- in the eighteenth century The French Revolution considered itself the advent of a new rational era; in the early twentieth century the philosophy of logical positivism affirmed that the only type of knowledge was scientific; then at the end of the century the fall of theContinue reading “The Limits of Rationality”

How thinking mathematically might help us all argue better

The Third Discourseman ‘Trans-women are women’ – this is a statement often spouted by people wanting to fight for transgender rights. For many in our day and age, its truth is not negotiable. It’s blindingly obvious, and even an attempt to debate it is backwards and outdated. Yet some remain who might want to denyContinue reading “How thinking mathematically might help us all argue better”

Good works are good

The Fourth Discourseman Why should we do good works? There’s a way of telling the gospel that makes this a normative question, perhaps even a virtuous question. The logic goes like this. I am a sinner, and the consequence of my sin is God’s righteous judgment. But God has, graciously, provided a way to dealContinue reading “Good works are good”

Lessons from early-modern atheism

The Fourth Discourseman It’s something of a truism to observe that today belief in God is less ubiquitous than it was in past incarnations of our society. I could cite Pew Centre research that seems to show the decline of religion in the United States, or similar data for European countries; but the main pointContinue reading “Lessons from early-modern atheism”