Welcome to episode 34 of the Knight and Rose podcast! In this episode, Wintery Knight and Desert Rose start a new discussion about truth in religion. Are religious truth claims the same as ordinary truth claims? How can you test a religion to see if it is teaching the truth? If you like this episode, please subscribe to the podcast, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We would appreciate it if you left us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Podcast description:

Christian apologists Wintery Knight and Desert Rose discuss apologetics, policy, culture, relationships, and more. Each episode equips you with evidence you can use to boldly engage anyone, anywhere. We train our listeners to become Christian secret agents. Action and adventure guaranteed. 30-45 minutes per episode. New episode every week.

Episode 34:

Episode  Summary:

Wintery Knight and Desert Rose continue discussing whether all religions are equally valid paths to God. In this episode, we look at what different worldviews say about whether the universe is actually designed, or only appears to be designed. We look at scientific evidence for design of the universe, our galaxy, our star, our planet and our moon. We then answer objections to design in nature, and talk about our experiences presenting this evidence to skeptics. This is the second episode of a three-part series.

Speaker biographies

Wintery Knight is a black legal immigrant. He is a senior software engineer by day, and an amateur Christian apologist by night. He has been blogging at winteryknight.com since January of 2009, covering news, policy and Christian worldview issues.

Desert Rose did her undergraduate degree in public policy, and then worked for a conservative Washington lobbyist organization. She also has a graduate degree from a prestigious evangelical seminary. She is active in Christian apologetics as a speaker, author, and teacher.

References

• Michael Strauss lecture at Stanford University
• The Fine-Tuning of Nature’s Laws by Luke Barnes
• Is There Scientific Evidence for the Existence of God? How the Recent Discoveries Support a Designed Universe by Walter Bradley
• A Fortunate Universe? by Luke Barnes and Geraint Lewis
• The Privileged Planet DVD or Prime Video
• The Privileged Planet book and audio book
• William Lane Craig vs Christopher Hitchens debate
• Romans 1

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Music attribution:

Strength Of The Titans by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5744-strength-of-the-titans
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

In Canada, things a cost a lot more than in America. Canada imposes a lot of anti-business regulations and taxes on businesses. For example, businesses have to pay part of the costs of “free health care” for their employees, and they pass those costs on to consumers. Joe Biden also introduced a lot of government regulations since he became president. And we’re paying for it.

Here’s an article about a new study in the UK Daily Mail:

Joe Biden’s slew of regulations implemented over the course of his two-and-a-half years running the country have cost every American household nearly $10,000.

If the president continues on his current regulation path and is reelected for a second term in 2024, according to the report from the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, Americans could be slammed with a $60,000 increase in costs by 2028.

The study is authored by Casey B. Mulligan, an economist and professor of economics at the prestigious University of Chicago. He also served as chief economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Here are some of the key findings from the study:

• • As of the end of 2022, the Biden administration imposed new regulatory costs on American households and businesses at a pace surpassing that of the Obama administration during a comparable period.

  • The added costs from these Biden-era final rules, which include both their current and expected future costs, amount to almost $10,000 per household. If regulatory costs continue to rise at the same rate as they did during the Obama administration, the total costs of Biden’s rulemaking over an eight-year period would almost reach $60,000 per household.

  • While the automobile fuel economy and emissions standards contribute the greatest single cost, they still account for only a third of the total regulatory costs. Collectively, health, labor, telecommunications, and consumer finance regulations impose costs that exceed those of automobile regulations.

It looks like the costs imposed by these regulations will get a lot worse, should Biden win a second term. $60,000 per household.

The UK Daily Mail article notes that these costs are separate from inflation, which has also increased during Biden’s first term:

The regulations have contributed to only one part of the massive increased financial burden on Americans since Biden took office, with inflation also impacting consumers’ bottom line.

From Biden’s election in 2020 to current day, inflation has risen a total of 16.45 percent.

Some items are affected more than others – like food and grocery costs.

Americans saw the cost of beef rise at a much faster rate than average inflation with a 20.4 percent increase from April 2021 to April 2022. And in that same time period the cost of chicken went up by 13.4 percent, while eggs went up by 11.2 percent.

I’m really surprised to see Biden polling competitively with Trump and DeSantis in swing states. In my mind, people should notice that their savings are going down, and their debts are going up, and realize that something is going wrong with our laws and policies.

Far-left CNN posted this in May 2023:

Americans’ debt levels continue to climb to new heights at a time when economic conditions are becoming increasingly less stable.

Household debt balances set a fresh record high of $17.05 trillion during the first quarter, growing $148 billion or 0.9% from the fourth quarter of last year, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported Monday.

That debt load has spiked by $2.9 trillion since the end of 2019.

During the first quarter, the increases in debt were seen across practically all categories, with larger (and new record) balances for mortgages, home equity lines of credit, auto loans, student loans, retail cards and other consumer loans.

Does anyone know why Biden is polling around 50% versus Republican candidates? I don’t understand why anyone would vote to impoverish themselves and their families. Americans aren’t doing well under his leadership, and we should vote for a change of direction in 2024.

For years on this blog I’ve been observing what happens to freedom of speech and freedom of religion in countries where the secular left takes power. Michigan is a state that used to be purple, but they’ve moved further and further to the secular left. Let’s take a look at some of their recent leftist actions, then find out what is in their latest piece of anti-free-speech legislation.

Things started to get ugly when the Democrats did very well in the 2022 mid-term elections:

Democrats are projected to win key races and ballot measures across the board in the Great Lakes State, led by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s re-election victory. The party is also set to win multiple tight U.S. House races, enshrine a right to abortion in the state’s constitution, and take control of the state legislature for the first time in 40 years.

It’s the first time since 1983 that Democrats have had control of the legislature. When I think of purple states like North Carolina, they still have a very good conservative legislature. So a Democrat legislature really shows you how far Michigan has fallen. You would think that after Gretchen Whitmer’s horrendous handling of COVID (compared to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis) that they would have thrown the Democrats out, but they didn’t.

It’s not just putting a right to abortion into the state’s constitution. They also repealed the right to work without joining a union:

Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer enacted legislation repealing right-to-work laws in the state on Friday, the first time such laws have been overturned in five decades.

So, if you are working in a union dominated field, you have to join a union and pay dues. Unions are overwhelmingly Democrat, and they tend to get involved in the worst social issues. I could never join a union, and now people are being forced to.

This case of a secular leftist shooting an 84-year-old pro-life woman was particularly disturbing:

A Michigan man who shot an 84-year-old woman campaigning against abortion was sentenced to 100 hours of community service on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

She was shot in the back by the gunman. But Democrats LOVE when guns are used against Republicans, so he gets a slap on the wrist.

What about election fraud? That’s apparently not a serious thing in Michigan:

A local official in Flint, Michigan, was sentenced to six months of house arrest Monday for misconduct in office after sabotaging a ballot box in her own election in 2020.

After votes were cast in the 2020 primary election for her seat as township clerk, Funk sabotaged the ballot box, making the ballots ineligible for a recount, according to investigators.

She went on to win the general election later that fall.

It’s OK, because Democrats are allowed to do that. Michigan in particular has poor election integrity, coming in at rank 28 out of 50, in a recent ranking of election integrity.

Well, with all that said, let’s see the latest atrocity from the far left in Michigan, reported by Daily Wire:

A Michigan hate speech bill that has passed the state House and is now in the hands of the Senate is alarming conservatives, people of faith, and legal experts.

The bill, HB 4474, is part of a package of legislation that would replace Michigan’s existing Ethnic Intimidation Act and make it a hate crime to cause someone to “feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened.” Under the bill’s framework, “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” are included as classes protected against intimidation. If passed, the hate speech legislation would make violators guilty of a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of $10,000.

Here’s a good comment explaining what the bill means to Christians and conservatives who are stuck in Michigan:

Rep. Angela Rigas, a Republican freshman in the state House, told The Daily Wire that including sexual orientation and gender identity as a “protected class” specifically targets conservatives who speak out against radical gender ideology.

“The state of Michigan is now explicitly allowing the gender delusion issue to be used as a ‘protected class.’ This opens up numerous issues when it comes to the courts and the continued weaponization of the system against conservatives,” Rigas said. “We saw similar concerns when they wanted to pass blocks on ‘conversion’ therapy. It seems Dems want to be in the business of telling people how to think. We are determined to keep choice and opinion a free choice despite those efforts.”

I’m not sure why people would continue to pay taxes to the secular leftists in the Michigan government. You’re literally paying for the rope that the fascists will use to hang you. And why? Because you say something that’s offensive to them.

Get out of that state.