19AR24-43

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AR 24:43 - Destroying the credibility of "scientism"

In this issue:

PERSONHOOD - "the problem of recognizing chimpanzees as persons"

POLITICS - "explaining evangelical voters' support of Trump"

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM - opposing secularists and their allies' "unremitting assault on religion and traditional values"

SCIENCE - J.P. Moreland's "compact popular treatment" on scientism vs the Christian worldview

Apologia Report 24:43 (1,451)

October 29, 2019

PERSONHOOD

"Merely Human" by Jay Watts <merelyhumanministries.org> -- summarized: "Christians are not averse, in principle, to the concept of nonhuman persons. We attribute personhood to the Trinity and to angels, clearly nonhuman beings. We recognize, however, the danger that lies in attempts to elevate animals to our moral equals in the face of glaring evidence they could never operate as such. These efforts ultimately reduce us all to an undifferentiated mess."

Watts begins: "In an effort to protect two chimpanzees living in terrible conditions, Jeff Sebo, the director of the animal studies program at New York University, authored a New York Times editorial calling for chimpanzees to be recognized as persons under the law. Sebo and his colleagues at the NonHuman Nonhuman Rights Project (NHRP) <www.nonhumanrights.org> also filed an amicus brief with the State of New York Court of Appeals arguing that Kiko and Tommy are persons and entitled to habeas corpus in order to force their respective custodians, two different individuals, to defend what NHRP characterizes as unlawful imprisonment before a judge.

"The main thrust of the argument lies in the following claims. (1) Species membership is a scientific classification too arbitrarily determined to ground a substantial concept like moral personhood. (2) The capacities appealed to as morally setting human beings apart from the other animals like sentience, intention, desire, and autonomy all exist in chimpanzees as well."

A discussion of animal welfare versus animal rights follows. The concept of personhood is reviewed, as is human exceptionalism. Watts notes that Christian anthropology grounds our common experience related to these concepts.

Two basic principles are highlighted: "Human beings can be bound legally to behave in a certain manner and punished should they fail to comply. We obviously can't say the same about chimpanzees," and "Admitting chimpanzees and bonobos are more like humans than they are like other animals doesn't make the argument that chimpanzees are morally equal to humans." Christian Research Journal, 42:2 - 2019, pp14-19.

For a look at the topic of personhood in past issues of AR, see <www.bit.ly/2PkI04B>

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POLITICS

"Born Again with Trump: The Portrayal of Evangelicals in the Media" by Eun-Young Julia Kim, Andrews University -- the abstract reads: "Since Trump's ascendancy in American politics and his subsequent election, a number of articles have surfaced in the media trying to explain evangelical voters' support of Trump. This paper analyzes common descriptions and conceptions of evangelicals by identifying recurring descriptions of evangelicals in 110 online articles published in a two-and-a-half-year period surrounding Trump's presidential campaign and election. The results indicate that the answer to the question as to why evangelicals support Trump resides not so much in their theology, but in their aspirations for America and assumptions of what America should be like. This paper argues that it is crucial to recognize and address evangelicals' prevailing attributes as perceived and portrayed by members of their own society in order to keep evangelicalism from descending into an insular, invalid expression." Journal of Religion & Society (v21 - 2019) <www.bit.ly/2BKbpxi>

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RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

"Bill Barr Flames 'Unremitting Assault' on Religion, Traditional Values During Notre Dame Visit" by Kevin Daley (Daily Caller, Oct 13 '19) -- "Concerted attacks on religious liberty have triggered a moral upheaval that contributes to deadly social pathologies, Attorney General William Barr said Friday at the University of Notre Dame. 'The imperative of protecting religious freedom was not just a nod in the direction of piety,' Barr said. 'It reflects the framers' belief that religion was indispensable to sustaining our free system of government.'

"The attorney general said numerous measures of social decline are rising as religion recedes from public life, citing higher instances of drug addiction, mental illness, and suicide. Those outcomes are not random, but the fruit of a dedicated campaign against orthodox religious belief, Barr added. 'This is not decay,' Barr said. 'This is organized destruction. Secularists and their allies have marshaled all the forces of mass communication, popular culture, the entertainment industry, and academia in an unremitting assault on religion and traditional values.'

"Barr said state governments and municipal agencies have been at the vanguard of that effort, noting the board of education in Orange County, California, recently decided religious dissenters may not excuse their children from portions of the school curriculum broaching LGBT issues. Schools are the usual forum for attacks on religious liberty, Barr said." <www.bit.ly/2WfFq1a>

For the speech itself, visit <www.bit.ly/2MK2iCZ> and after the entire thing, [ask yourself "What happened to Barr?" (postscript July 21, 2021)]. Perhaps this reaction is fitting as a response to the "politics" item above. On the other hand (and in a similar anti-Trump sense), can any Roman Catholic ever measure up in the eyes of more legalistic evangelicals?

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SCIENCE

Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology, by J.P. Moreland [1] -- Michael N. Keas, fellow thinker at Biola University with J.P., begins his review: "Strong scientism is the view that science is the only way to acquire knowledge of reality. ...

"Moreland offers a compact popular treatment of how scientism has illegitimately undermined the plausibility of a Christian worldview. ... After destroying the credibility of scientism he outlines how to rebuild the mutually supporting relationship between science and Christianity that has been so important historically. ... He also offers fresh insight into some of today's most controversial topics: intelligent design and theistic evolution. ...

"For additional popular discussion of the book, listen to JP and me in four podcasts" beginning here: <www.bit.ly/2MPcbzn> Philosophia Christi, 21:1 - 2019, pp225-6.

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology, by J.P. Moreland (Crossway, 2018, paperback: 224 pages) <www.amzn.to/2BFEhH0>

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