For reasons that are both understandable and regrettable, apologetics, the science of demonstrating the reasonableness of religious doctrine, is not often mentioned in public life these days. In part, this is due to the demands of charity and prudence, to avoid unnecessary and often acrimonious strife among religious denominations in a nation which has benefited from the political genius inherent in James Madison's First Amendment.
But there is a certain intellectual laziness that has infected theological and religious discussion, driven by an easy-going relativism and an inability to sustain an argument through to its necessary conclusion, resulting from a general loss of faith in rational discourse -- not just in theological circles, but in the public square at large.
Read Full Article »