Tag Archives: Education

Podcasts

Brian Auten interviews William Lane Craig

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The interview is here on Brian’s excellent site, Apologetics 315.

The MP3 file is here. (29 minutes)

Topics:

  • The Reasonable Faith Chapters program: why?
  • Brian’s new Reasonable Faith chapter in Belfast, Ireland
  • WLC’s new book “On Guard” for beginning Christians (coming out in March!)
  • WLC’s upcoming debate with physicist Victor Stenger on March 1, 2010
  • WLC’s upcoming debate with philosopher Michael Tooley, later on in March
  • How did WLC become a Christian?
  • Which books and scholars influenced WLC the most?
  • What is the focus of WLC’s current research
  • What books should a beginning Christian read to start defending their faith?
  • What books should an intermediate Christian read to start defending their faith?
  • What degrees can a Christian do to be accredited in apologetics?
  • The importance of having a mentor to help direct your studies
  • What dicipline is an essential jumping-off for Christian scholars?
  • Whice argument for Christianity is the most effective?
  • What should a person study to develop their personal character?
  • What skills are necessary for study, and how do you develop them?
  • Which scholars does WLC admire as role models?
  • How can a person develop to improve their public speaking skills?
  • What does WLC do to prepare for this debates?
  • How does apologetics connect with the concept of “spiritual warfare”?
  • How can you use apologetics to help the development of your children?
  • How important is your marriage compared to your studies?
  • What is the ultimate goal of the apologetic enterprise?
  • Does God have a specific or a general will for each individual?
  • What legacy does WLC hope to leave behind?

Brian did a good job on this interview. He’s a very nice person, too.

In fact, he’s so nice that he managed to persuade Biola University to offer a 10% discount on William Lane Craig’s Philosophy of Religion DVD set. It’s big and expensive ($135!), but you only need to buy it once, and Brian recommends it. I think that this set is a lot better than the Kalam Cosmological Argument set that is also available.

Here is Bill’s previous debate with Victor Stenger, and here is his previous debate with Michael Tooley.

News

New York high school bans Christian club, allows 60 other clubs

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Story here from LifeSiteNews.

Excerpt:

A student has teamed up with the Alliance Defense Fund to file a lawsuit against a New York school district after school officials cancelled her once-flourishing Christian club.

At the beginning of her freshman year at Half Hollow Hills High School East, the student was told that the Ichthus Club, a student-led group where she was one of the leaders, had been cancelled without any advanced notification. Four years earlier, her older brother had met strong resistance before the club was finally allowed to form.

School officials claim that unspecified budget cuts and a lack of student popularity spurred their decision. However, leaders in the club point out that it had more than 55 student attendees last year, and complain that approximately 60 other student clubs, including the Gay-Straight Alliance and Amnesty International, were allowed to continue.

[…]“Christian student groups in public schools shouldn’t be discriminated against simply because they are religious,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman.

“Singling out a religious student club while letting the vast majority of the others remain constitutes viewpoint discrimination and is unconstitutional. In addition, it’s simply false that this club is not popular with students. More than 90 students signed a petition in favor of allowing the club to continue meeting.”

Another reason why Christians need to vote for lower taxes and school choice. We cannot be paying the government to undermine our own worldview with our own money in government-run secular-left public schools operated by teacher unions. The only solution is to cut taxes, keep your money and homeschool or pay for private schools. These schools don’t favor our worldview and they never will.

News

John Stossel’s documentary about public schools and school choice

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Awesome: (41 minutes)

The documentary features Jay Greene, and his book “Education Myths”, which I recommend.

Here’s an article from Jay P. Greene in National Review.

Excerpt:

This year, when you hear President Obama and congressional Democrats talk about increasing government spending to create jobs, you should understand that it isn’t really about jobs. It’s about paying off powerful interest groups that helped these Democrats gain power — a fact that’s clear from the billions they’ve directed to education.

Last month, President Obama held a jobs summit, after which he urged Congress to spend some of the money being repaid by bailed-out banks on programs to address unemployment. The House of Representatives responded by drafting legislation that, according to the Washington Post, “provides $23 billion to help states pay teacher salaries.” The curious thing is that education has actually seen an expansion in payrolls over the last two years, while every other major sector of the economy (save health care) has seen huge job losses.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people employed peaked in November 2007. Over the next two years, the private sector lost more than 7 million jobs. The construction industry lost more than 1.5 million jobs. Manufacturing lost more than 2 million jobs. The education-and-health-services category, however, added more than 900,000 jobs.

My previous post on education featured a video on school choice from the Cato Institute.