Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

To Give a Defense

Home
Catholic

2017-03-09T17:16:18-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Is the Infant of Prague Idolatrous?

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 5:16 pm By Scott Eric Alt

Every so often the Catholic apologist will be minding his own business, fulfilling the precepts of the Church, when a Tasmanian Devil of anti-Catholicism will come whirling by. TD will wreak mad and aimless destruction on whatever is in its path, and the Catholic apologist will be left behind to calmly clean up the mess and restore order to the community. Such is my task today, after Rhology compared the Infant of Prague to a Shinto statue of Buddha, based solely on the visual impact of seeing a picture of the one followed by a picture of the other. I’m guessing at the subtext here, but I think that Rho means for us to say something like this: “Aha! IP is Buddha in quasi-Christian disguise!" [Read more] Read more

Answers for Calvinists

Idolatry

2017-03-09T17:17:52-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Killing Jesus: Could Christ Have Spoken From the Cross?

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 5:17 pm By Scott Eric Alt

The best that can be said is that “slow suffocation” is a debated and unsettled question even among medical experts. So why is Mr. O’Reilly certain enough on this point that he can deny Christ’s very words from the Cross? Does he have this revelation from the Holy Ghost? And why would the Holy Ghost inspire Mr. O’Reilly to contradict St. Luke? Did the Holy Ghost mislead Luke? Did Luke mishear the Holy Ghost? Has the Church been mistaken about the infallibility of Luke’s gospel for 2000 years? Should Martin Luther have taken that book out of the canon too? And why would the Holy Ghost wait so long to correct all this, and why would he choose a talk show host from Fox News? [Read more] Read more

Answers to Media Fictions

Biblical Exegesis

Book Reviews

2017-03-09T17:19:25-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome Vol. I

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 5:19 pm By Scott Eric Alt

It is worse than irony. The very same lysergic, Francis-bashing acid, which one can buy — almost on a daily basis now — from John Bugay, that trippy anti-Catholic man in Pittsburgh, is also being sold by some Catholic bloggers themselves. Now, obviously, one expects all this from Mr. Bugay. But I don’t intend to conclude my review of PFDS with him. PFDS is a mental fog — a hookah-inhaled hallucinogen — that has put a lot of already stoned minds, and some sharp ones that should know better, into a tripped-out purple haze — whether of paranoia (traditionalists), pink elephant sitings (liberal media and Catholic progressives) or a hazy and tiresome spiritual certitude (Mr. Bugay). [Read more] Read more

Answers for Calvinists

Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome

The Mass

2017-03-09T17:20:53-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

James White Agonistes

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 5:20 pm By Scott Eric Alt

The Dividing Line of May 21, 2013, found here, is all the evidence I need that Dr.* James White is so predisposed to see lack of intelligence, seriousness, credibility (fill in your noun of choice) in Catholic apologists, that he will let himself be played on like a pipe. No need for Catholic apologists who engage Dr.* White to wait for him to invent straw men. You can hand him one of your own making: He will grab it, tear it to shreds, stomp upon it, and cackle in triumph. Meanwhile, you can proceed with your serious apologetic. [...] Read more

Answers for Calvinists

Humor

Protestant Denominations

2017-03-09T17:23:29-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Primer on Moral Law, With Reference to Same-Sex “Marriage”

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 5:23 pm By Scott Eric Alt

I shall begin where I did earlier: “Of things that exist, some exist by nature, and some from other causes.” With the help of Aquinas, we may amend that to read, “Of things that exist, some owe their existence to God, and some to other causes.” That is the beginning of all right reason. And if it applies to the question of Rights, it applies no less to the moral law. No one, I expect, would argue that Aristotle’s words apply to only tangible things. Rights, though intangible, exist; for that is how people talk about them. People talk as though intellect, and love, and reason, and logic, and freedom do exist, and do matter, in a much more profound way than a world of tangible things. [Read more] Read more

Same-Sex "Marriage"

2017-03-09T17:24:46-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Pentecost: To Woo Back a World’s Desire

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 5:24 pm By Scott Eric Alt

The more I look at the world I find myself in today, the more I am convinced that the twenty-first-century Church must be the first-century Church. We must allow our hearts, our spirits, our lives to be an upper room—a cenacle—in which the fire of the Holy Spirit can ignite and prompt us, if necessary, to shame and martyrdom. For once again the Church finds itself confronted with the very thing it was confronted with in the first century: paganism. The only difference today is that it is a secular, and often a statist, paganism. But it is no less hostile to truth and to the ways of God. It is no less ugly a place to find yourself in in time. St. Paul said we are to preach the truth in season and out of season. [Read more] Read more

Books & Writing &c.

Liturgical Year

2017-03-09T17:35:03-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Counterblast to Dr.* James White and His Blithe Denial of 48,509+ Protestant Sects

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 5:35 pm By Scott Eric Alt

Dr.* James White (Th.D., D.Min., etc., etc.) seems to walk through life with the assumption that, if he can just get the number of sects low enough, he can sleep the sleep of the just. Contrariwise, some Catholic apologists seem to feel that the higher the number, the greater the case against Protestantism they have. But the fact is, St. Paul says that there is one Church. Does it really matter whether there are 48,500 sects, or 9000, or two? The Scriptures continually warn us against any division in the body of Christ. [...] Read more

Answers for Calvinists

Humor

Protestant Denominations

2017-03-09T17:36:37-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Ephesians Chapter Four: Only One Church

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 5:36 pm By Scott Eric Alt

If in Gal. 1:7 St. Paul says that there is not any other gospel, in Ephesians he doubles down. In that book he says that there is not any other Spirit, there is not any other hope, there is not any other God, there is not any other faith, there is not any other baptism, and there is not any other Church. When I was a Protestant, I was aware of the Catholic “one Church” interpretation of this passage. But when I looked at it I would protest, thus: But the phrase “one Church” is not there! Only, I was wrong. [...] Read more

Answers for Calvinists

Biblical Exegesis

Humor

Protestant Denominations

2017-03-09T17:39:02-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Primer on Rights, With Reference to Same-Sex “Marriage”

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 5:39 pm By Scott Eric Alt

"Of things that exist, some exist by nature, some from other causes.” That is the famous opening of Book II of Aristotle’s Physics, and if you’re philosophically-minded it’s impossible to get that sentence out of your head. It is the beginning of all correct reason. A tree exists by nature, but a park is made by man. For Aristotle’s “nature,” the Christian will substitute God, since the tree does not spring up ex nihilo; things that exist imply a maker, and Aquinas improves on Aristotle. Thus of things that exist, some are created by God and some by man. And since they are, in fact, created, it follows that they are created for a purpose. It follows, too, that their purpose is defined by the maker alone. [Read more] Read more

Same-Sex "Marriage"

2017-03-09T17:45:34-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Salon’s Mary Elizabeth Williams Attempts to Lecture the Catholic Church on Same-Sex “Marriage”

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 5:45 pm By Scott Eric Alt

It behooves any who be honest to get the expression “marriage equality” out of his head. No one believes in any such thing. I doubt very much that Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon believes in it. I would be stupefied into a coma if she told me that she thought it was all well and good if I were to marry two women; or two men; or one woman and one man; or my cat; or a three-year-old child; or six cows; or the exhumed body of King Tut. The reason she doe not believe I may do these things is because she doesn’t believe in marriage equality. To find out what does believe in, and why it amounts to the destruction of marriage, we need to read her latest piece of easily-stunned piffle with a careful eye. [Read more] Read more

Answers to Media Fictions

Same-Sex "Marriage"

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the central prayer of Christian faith, taught by Jesus?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Lord's Prayer The Jesus Prayer The Hail Mary The Shema

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion About Me Answers for Calvinists Answers to Media Fictions Answers to Objections Anti-Catholicism Apologetics Apostolic Succession Atonement Authority of the Church Baptism Benedictines Biblical Exegesis Blogging Book Reviews Books & Writing &c. Calvin's Institutes Capital Punishment Catholic Church Chastity Christology Church Fathers Church Social Doctrine Confession Contraception Conversion Stories Crusades Debates Depression & Suicide Deuterocanon Development of Doctrine Ecumenism English Language Eucharistic Adoration Exorcism Extra Ecclesiam Fisks & Rebuttals Freedom of Religion Freedom of Speech Fundamentalism Gender Politics Gender Theory Good Works Homosexuality Humor Idolatry Immaculate Conception In the News Inquisition ISIS Islam Just for Fun Just War Justification LCWR Limbo Liturgical Abuse Liturgical Year Magisterium Marriage and Family Mary Mortal Sin New Evangelization NFP Papacy Papal Documents Papal Infallibility Personal Narrative Politics Pope Francis Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome Population Control Praying to the "Dead" Priesthood Primacy of Peter Protestant Denominations Purgatory Radical Islam Radical Traditionalists Real Presence Right to Conscience RIght to Life Saints Same-Sex "Marriage" Seven Quick Takes Social Justice Social Media Sola Scriptura Spirit of Vatican II SSPX The Eucharist The Mass The Resurrection Traditionalism Vatican II Year of Mercy

Select a Month August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 November 2018 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 April 2018 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 May 2013 April 2013 February 2013 January 2013

TRENDING AT PATHEOS Catholic