Kevin Stilley

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Discussion Questions for “The Language of God”

Collins, Francis S. The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. New York: Free Press, 2007.  ISBN.  0743286391

The following are discussion questions for “The Language of God” that I created for the monthly meeting of of the Atheist Christian Book Club. For information on the Atheist Christian Book Club you can go to the website  or seek us out on Facebook.

CHAPTER 1: FROM ATHEISM TO BELIEF

Collins says that for him agnosticism was a place of retreat where he wouldn’t actually have to seriously consider the evidence for or against belief. That is obviously not true of those in this book group, but do you think it is generally true for most agnostics? Is agnosticism a position that is held in order to avoid the question of God’s existence altogether?

Collins writes that the Moral Law was the primary thing that made him reconsider his atheism. What about those in our book group. Is there a “one thing” that creates cognitive dissonance and makes the atheists in the group pause to reconsider?

CHAPTER 2: THE WAR OF THE WORLDVIEWS

A similar question for the Christians; is there a question that makes you uncomfortable with your faith? Collins talks about four questions that he struggled with during the early days of his newfound belief. Is there a question like that that makes the Christians in the group sometimes doubt? If not currently, was there a question you struggled with at some time in your life?

Collins lists four difficult questions that he struggled with as a new believer; (1) Isn’t the idea of God just wish-fulfillment?, (2) What about all the harm done in the name of religion?, (3) Why would a loving God allow suffering in the world?, and (4) How can a rational person believe in miracles? Were you satisfied with the answers Collins has arrived at and shares here?

CHAPTER 3: THE ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE

Collins writes, “Immanuel Kant wrote: “Two things fill me with constantly increasing admiration and awe, the longer and more earnestly I reflect on them: the starry heavens without and the Moral Law within.” I have heard some former atheist/agnostics similarly indicate that these two things, nature and the moral law, seemed to be ever present in the back of their mind/heart as an indication that there had to be something more than just the material even when they were most intellectually opposed to the idea of God. I’m curious if those two concerns have any influence on the atheists/agnostics in our book group?

Collins writes, “Based on these and other observations, physicists are in agreement that the universe began as an infinitely dense, dimensionless point of pure energy. The laws of physics breakdown in this circumstance, referred to as a “singularity.” Is there the same kind of unanimity among the members of this book group as there seems to be among physicists? Collins seems to think that the question of origins hinges upon the question “What happened before the Big Bang?” Would the book club members agree?

Collins’ timeline (number of years) differs from some of the Christians in the room. For those who hold to a young earth theory of creation, how important do you think it is to adhere to a “thousands of years” formula instead of a “millions or billions of years” formula?

The question of old earth vs. young earth is primarily a discussion held within the camp of Christianity. However, how does it affect those of you who are atheistic/agnostic?

Collins writes of the Anthropic Principle, that “The existence of a universe as we know it rests upon a knife edge of improbability.” (page 73) This same fine-tuning argument also had an influence on the author of a previous book we read, Anthony Flew. The author gives three possibilities; (1) an infinite number of universes, (2) we are just very, very lucky, or (3) The precise tuning of all of the physical constants and physical laws to make intelligent life possible is not an accident, but reflects the action of the one who created the universe in the first place. What do you think?

Collins quotes a number of famous scientists who believe that “”It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us.” (pages 75ff). Do you think that Stephen Hawking, Freeman Dyson, Arno Penzias and other such scientists (such as Collins, himself) forfeit their scientific bona fides by taking such a position?

The author claims that “there is nothing inherently in conflict between the idea of a creator God and what science has revealed.” Do you agree or disagree with him? Why? (page 81) The author further claims that “the opening words of Genesis (“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”) are entirely compatible with the Big Bang.” Do you agree or disagree with him? (pages 82-83)

CHAPTER 4: LIFE ON EARTH – OF MICROBES AND MEN

Collins says that “no serious scientist would currently claim that a naturalistic explanation for the origin of life is at hand” but warns Christians not to result to a God of the gaps apologetic. He encourages them to adopt an approach using “positive reasons, based on knowledge, rather than default assumptions based on (a temporary) lack of knowledge.” However, for those of you who are atheists, does “the inability of modern science to develop a statistically probable mechanism” for the origin of life give you any intellectual pause? (pages 92-93)

Collins writes, “No serious biologist today doubts the theory of evolution to explain the marvelous complexity and diversity of life. In fact, the relatedness of all species through the mechanism of evolution is such a profound foundation for the understanding of all biology that it is difficult to imagine how one would study life without it.” Is this true? Are there no serious biologists that doubt the theory of evolution? Is Collins being fair to those who disagree with him on this matter? (page 99)

CHAPTER 5: DECIPHERING GOD’S INSTRUCTION BOOK – THE LESSONS OF THE HUMAN GENOME

Collins asserts that the difference between macroevolution and microevolution is “increasingly seen to be artificial. But then to illustrate it is a distinction without a difference he uses the example of a stickleback fish with armor becoming a stickleback fish without armor. I think most critics of Darwinism would find this example not to be compelling. A fish becomes a fish. A virus becomes a slightly different virus. How is this evidence for the “tree of life”? Was his example sufficient for you to think that the distinction between macroevolution and microevolution is “arbitrary”? (pages 131-132)

In reference to similarities between human and mouse genomes, Collins writes, “This evidence alone does not, of course, prove a common ancestor; from a creationist perspective, such similarities could simply demonstrate that God used successful design principles over and over again. As we shall see, however, and as was foreshadowed above by the discussion of “silent” mutations in protein-coding regions, the detailed study of genomes has rendered that interpretation virtually untenable—not only about all other living things, but also about ourselves.” Do you think that the evidence provided by Collins actually supports his claim that it is untenable to believe that God used successful design principles over and over again? (pages 133-137)

Does Collins provide compelling evidence from genetic similarities to prove that humans and other life forms have a common ancestor? (pages 137- 142)

CHAPTER 6: GENESIS, GALILEO, AND DARWIN

Collins writes about the emotional distance between Christian believers who are adherents of Darwinism and those who reject this biological theory. What do you think about this? Is it difficult for these to “sides” to coexist in theological harmony? (pages 145-147)

CHAPTER 7: OPTION 1 – ATHEISM AND AGNOSTICISM (WHEN SCIENCE TRUMPS FAITH)

Collins writes about the hostility between some believers and unbelievers. How common is this? Why do you think this is so? (pages 159ff)

The author of our book quotes Dawkins as saying, “”It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, ‘mad cow’ disease, and many others, but I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world’s great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate.” Do the atheists in our group believe that faith is evil? (page 163)

Collins quotes Stephen Jay Gould as saying that since “Science can work only with naturalistic explanations; it can neither affirm nor deny” the existence of God. Do you agree with Gould? (page 166)

The author refers to four different groups:
1. Strong Atheists = have a firm conviction that no deities exist.
2. Weak Atheism = the absence of belief in the existence of a God or gods
3. Strong Agnostics = believes there is no way that human kind will “ever” know if there is a God
4. Weak Atheists = believes only that it is not possible to know “yet” whether or not there is a God

What is the composition of atheists/agnostics in our group in regard to these four descriptions?

CHAPTER 8: OPTION 2 – CREATIONISM (WHEN FAITH TRUMPS SCIENCE)

Does Collins accurately reflect the beliefs of most Young Earth Creationists when he claims that they believe in Microevolution, which he defines as small changes within a species, but do not believe in Macroevolution, which he describes as one species evolving into another species? Many of the young earth creationists that I know are much more flexible with the definition of Microevolution, and define it as changing from one genus, or one order, into another genus or order. (page 172) Does this matter, or is this a distinction without a difference?

Is Collins being a bit hysterical when he declares that should YEC scientific claims be true then, “it would lead to a complete and irreversible collapse of the sciences of physics, chemistry, cosmology, geology, and biology.”? (page 174) He makes it sound down right apocalyptic; are YEC that dangerous?

CHAPTER 9: OPTION 3 – INTELLIGENT DESIGN (WHEN SCIENCE NEEDS DIVINE HELP)

Collins asserts that if the logic of Intelligent Design “truly had merit on scientific grounds, one would expect that the rank and file of working biologists would also show interest in pursuing these ideas, especially since a significant number of biologists are also believers.” (page 187) However, haven’t historians of science like Thomas Kuhn (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) written that just the opposite is true? Does not history tell us that science that none of the revolutionary paradigmatic changes that science has undergone were quickly accepted on the basis of reason/evidence alone? Is head-counting an appropriate way to determine truth?

Collins claims that ID is a God of the gaps theory and that science is busily filling in those gaps with things other than God, and thus the theory is collapsing. If so, what then happens with faith? (page 195)

CHAPTER 10: BIOLOGOS (SCIENCE AND FAITH IN HARMONY)

Within Christianity there is frequently contentious debates among believers about what is the right approach/beliefs regarding creation. How do those of you who are atheists react when you witness such debates?

Collins points out that BioLogos is not a scientific theory? (page 204) Does that seem like a copout for a group of scientists to be organizing around a non-scientific theory?

CHAPTER 11: TRUTH SEEKERS

Collins tells his conversion story in the final chapter. We have on several occasions honestly discussed the question, “What would it take for you to become a person of faith?” and “What would it take for you to become a disbeliever?” Has this book modified your answers to these questions?

One of the previous books we discussed was written by the world’s leading intellectual atheist and documented his conversion to theism. This book was written by the person who may be the world’s leading medical geneticist and why he is a Christian. Has the stature of these two authors provoked any intellectual movement from those of you who are atheists?

DID ANYONE HAVE A CHANGE OF OPINION (ABOUT ANYTHING) AS A RESULT OF READING THIS BOOK? HAS ANYONE CHANGED AS A RESULT OF THE YEAR WE HAVE SPENT READING AND DISCUSSING TOGETHER?

Supplementary note: Several of the atheistic authors we have read in our book group have indicated that all inerrantists believe in a young earth. This is not true. For a survey of the different viewpoints of inerrantists you can read the following short article:

https://www.christianpost.com/news/does-believing-in-inerrancy-require-one-to-believe-in-young-earth-creationism-114464/

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Billy Graham knew where he was going

Billy Graham went home to be with his Lord today. I cannot even begin to discuss the the eternal significance of his ministry nor his many contributions to humanity. Instead, I share the following story which I picked up from an unknown source some time ago:

In January 2000, leaders in Charlotte , North Carolina, invited their favorite son, Billy Graham, to a luncheon in his honor.

Billy initially hesitated to accept the invitation because he struggles with Parkinson’s disease. But the Charlotte leaders said, “We don’t expect a major address. Just come and let us honor you.” So he agreed.

After wonderful things were said about him, Dr. Graham stepped to the rostrum, looked at the crowd, and said, “I’m reminded today of Albert Einstein, the great physicist who this month has been honored by Time magazine as the Man of the Century. Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn’t find his ticket, so he reached in his trouser pockets. It wasn’t there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn’t find it. Then he looked in the seat beside him. He still couldn’t find it.

The conductor said, “Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I’m sure you bought a ticket. Don’t worry about it.” Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket.

The conductor rushed back and said, “Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don’t worry, I know who you are. No problem. You don’t need a ticket. I’m sure you bought one.”

Einstein looked at him and said, “Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going.'”

Having said that Billy Graham continued, “See the suit I’m wearing? It’s a brand new suit. My wife, my children, and my grandchildren are telling me I’ve gotten a little slovenly in my old age. I used to be a bit more fastidious. So I went out and bought a new suit for this luncheon and one more occasion.

You know what that occasion is? This is the suit in which I’ll be buried. But when you hear I’m dead, I don’t want you to immediately remember the suit I’m wearing. I want you to remember this:

I not only know who I am .. I also know where I’m going.”

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Interesting quotes from “The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln” by Stephen L. Carter

“They know nothing of free black people. They are committed Abolitionists because they hate slavery and because they want to do good, but they have no particular interest in people of your race…. Like so many people of liberal persuasion, they value their own progressive opinions more than they value the people they hold those opinions about.” (page 116)

* * * * *

“The ways of the rich…. A very strange breed…. And Mr. Belmont, they say, is pretty nearly the richest of them all…. That should make him, I suppose, very nearly the strangest of them all.”

“Yes, sir,” said Jonathan, aware that the syllogism did not quite work, but unwilling to say so.  (page 160)

* * * * *

“It is the nature of men, sir, especially great men, to see themselves as indispensable. Whereas it is in the nature of women to see their friends and families as indispensable.” (page 454)

* * * * * *

“In politics all rumors tend to be believed as long as they are harmful to the other side.” (page 461)

* * * * *

“The seance of self-justification had become too eerie.” (page 483)

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The Bible – select quotes

The distribution of Bibles, if the simplest, in not the least efficacious of the means of extending the blessings of the Gospel to the remotest corners of the earth; for the Comforter is in the sacred volume: and among the receivers of that million of copies distributed by the Society, who shall number the multitudes awakened thereby, with good will to man in their hearts, and with the song of the Lamb upon their lips? The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the divine inspiration of the holy Scriptures, must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper, till the Lord shall have made “bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
~ John Quincy Adams

For me the Word of God is a happening, not a thing. Therefore the Bible must become the Word of God, and it does this through the work of the Spirit.
~ Karl Barth

Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them.
~ E. Paul Harvey

The Bible is the cornerstone of American liberty. A student’s perusal of this sacred volume will make them a better citizen.
~ Thomas Jefferson. According to Daniel Webster, Jefferson said this to him in regard to why the Bible was foundational in the educational plan he helped program for the school system in Washington D.C. Daniel Webster to Professor Peace, June 15, 1852 in The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster, edited by Edward Everett, (Boston: Little, Brown, & Co. 1903).

The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.
~ Dwight L. Moody

I know not a better rule of reading the Scripture, than to read it through from beginning to end and when we have finished it once, to begin it again.
~ John Newton, in The Works of the Rev. John Newton (London: Nathan Whiting, 1824), page 466.

The Bible is the Constitution of Christian civilization.
~ Gordon Palmer, in By Freedom’s Holy Light (NY: Devin-Adair Co., 1964), page 4

I could not believe that anyone who had read this book would be so foolish as to proclaim that the Bible in every literal word was the divinely inspired, inerrant word of God. Have these people simply not read the text? Are they hopelessly uninformed? Is there a different Bible? Are they blinded by a combination of ego needs and naivete?
~ Bishop John Shelby Spong

A Book which will lift men up to God must have come down from God.
~ R.A. Torrey, quoted by A.W. Pink in “The Miraculous Power of the Bible Shows Forth That Its Inspirer Is The Almighty”

If every book but the Bible were destroyed not a single spiritual truth would be lost.
~ R.A. Torrey, quoted by A.W. Pink in “The Completeness of the Bible Demonstrates Its Divine Perfection”

Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.
~ A.W. Tozer

The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.
~ A. W. Tozer

It is impossible rightly to govern the world without God and the Bible.
~ George Washington

If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we or our prosperity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.
~ Daniel Webster

God himself has condescended to teach me the way. He has written it down in a book. Oh, give me that book! At any price give me the book of God. Let me be a man of one book.
~ John Wesley

We search the world for truth: we cull
The good, the pure, the beautiful
From graven stone and written scroll:
And, weary seekers of the best,
We come back laden from our quest,
To find that all the sages said
Is in the Book our Mothers read.
~ John Greenleaf Whittier

The Bible is the one supreme source of revelation of the meaning of life.
~ Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States

When you have read the Bible you will know that it is the Word of God, because you will have found it the key to your own heart, your own happiness, and your own duty.
~ Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
~ The Bible, Hebrews 4:12
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America’s Christian Heritage

The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were … the general principles of Christianity…. Now I will avow, that I then believed, and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.
~ John Adams, in The Works of John Adams: Second President of the United States, vol. 10 (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1856), page 43.

Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
~ John Adams, in a message on October 11, 1798, to the officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts

The first and almost the only book deserving of universal attention is the Bible.
~ John Quincy Adams

Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate the age, by impressing the minds of men, with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, of inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity… in short, of leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system.
~ Samuel Adams, in a letter to John Adams, 1790. In Four Letters: Being an Interesting Correspondence Between Those Eminently Distinguished Characters, John Adams, Late President of the United States; and Samuel Adams, Late Governor of Massachusetts. On the Important Subject of Government. (Boston: Adams and Roads, 1802), pages 90

Let us not trust to human effort alone, but humbly acknowledge the power and goodness of Almighty God who presides over the destiny of nations, and who has at all times been revealed in our country’s history, let us invoke His aid and His blessings upon our labors.
~ Grover Cleveland, 22nd President of the United States

The strength of a country is the strength of its religious convictions.
~ Calvin Coolidge

We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.
~ Justice William O. Douglas, in a Supreme Court decision, March 1952

When England grew corrupt, God brought over a number of pious persons and planted them in New England, and this land was planted with a noble vine.
~ Jonathan Edwards, in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 1.

The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this Truth–that God governs in the Affairs of Men.
~ Benjamin Franklin, addressing the Constitutional Convention on June 28, 1787

In the year of Chist, 1755, This building was piously founded,
for the relief of the sick and miserable.
May the God of mercies bless the undertaking.
Whoever shall introduce into public affairs the principles of Primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.
~ Benjamin Franklin, composed for a cornerstone inscription for the Pennsylvania Hospital, 1751

The Bible is the anchor of our liberties.
~ Ulysses S. Grant

The Bible is the cornerstone of American liberty. A student’s perusal of this sacred volume will make them a better citizen.
~ Thomas Jefferson. According to Daniel Webster, Jefferson said this to him in regard to why the Bible was foundational in the educational plan he helped program for the school system in Washington D.C. Daniel Webster to Professor Peace, June 15, 1852 in The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster, edited by Edward Everett, (Boston: Little, Brown, & Co. 1903).

Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.
~ Thomas Jefferson

Almighty God … hath diffused the glorious light of the Gospel, whereby, through the merits of our gracious Redeemer, we may become the heirs of His eternal glory.
~ Thomas Jefferson, November 11, 1779, in a Day of Prayer proclamation while Governor of Virginia. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 3, 18 June 1779 – 30 September 1780. ed. Julian P. Boyd (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1951), pages 177-179

Let us look forward tot he time when we can take the flag of our country, and nail it below the Cross, and there let it wave as it waved in the olden times, and let us gather around it and inscribe for our motto, “Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever,” and exclaim, Christ first, our country next!
~ Andrew Johnson, America’s 17th President

The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed.
~ Patrick Henry

The general diffusion of Christian knowledge hath a natural tendency to correct the morals of men, restrain their vices, and preserve the peace of society.
~ Patrick Henry

It is announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.
~ Abraham Lincoln, March 30, 1863, in his Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day. In the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln.

We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, int he deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace too proud to pray to the God that made us.
~ Abraham Lincoln, proclaiming a National Day of Prayer, March 30, 1863.

We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government. Far from it. We have staked the future on the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, control ourselves, and to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.
~ James Madison

The Bible is the Constitution of Christian civilization.
~ Gordon Palmer, in By Freedom’s Holy Light (NY: Devin-Adair Co., 1964), page 4

Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.
~ William Penn,

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just. And this be our motto – “In God is our Trust.”
~ The Star Spangled Banner

I believe that no one can read the history of our country, without realizing the Good Book, and the Spirit of the Savior, which have, from the beginning, been our guiding genius. Whether we look at the first Charter of Virginia, or the Charter of New England, or the Charter of Massachusetts Bay, or the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the same objective is present, a Christian land governed by Christian principles. I believe the entire Bill of Rights came into being because of the knowledge our forefathers had of the Bible and a belief in it. Freedom of Belief, of expression, of assembly, of petition, the dignity of the individual, the sanctity of the home, equal justice under the law, and the reservation of the people, I would like to believe that we are living today in the Spirit of Christian religion. I would also like to believe long as we do, no great harm can come to our country.
~ Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. In an interview with Time Magazine, February 14, 1954.

I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion. But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of public institutions.
~ Alexis de Tocqueville

Whatever makes a person a good Christian makes him a good citizen.
~ Daniel Webster

If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we or our prosperity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.
~ Daniel Webster

Let us not forget the religious character of our origin.
~ Daniel Webster

The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles…to this we ow our free constitutions of government. The Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed. No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.
~ Noah Webster, in the preface to Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828

America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scriptures.
~ Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, on May 7, 1911 in a speech delivered in Denver, Colorado

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Christian Involvement In Politics

church and state

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The Christian’s goal is not power, but justice. We are to seek to make the institutions of power just, without being corrupted by the process necessary to do this.
~ Charles Colson

The strength of a country is the strength of its religious convictions.
~ Calvin Coolidge

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievance.
~ Constitution of the United States, Amendment I

We the people of the State of North Carolina, grateful to Almighty God, the Sovereign Ruler of Nations, for the preservation of the American Union and the existence of our civil, political, and religious liberties, and acknowledging our dependence upon Him for the continuance of those blessings to us and our posterity; do for the more certain security thereof and for the better government of this State, ordain and establish this Constitution.
~ Preamble to the North Carolina State Constitution, 1868

We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.
~ Justice William O. Douglas, in a Supreme Court decision, March 1952

One of the painful indictments of our savorlessness is that according to voting records, there are enough unregistered Christians to swing any election.
~ Bill Gothard

God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?
~ Thomas Jefferson

Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe. And if a member of Civil Society, who enters into any subordinate association, he must always do it with a reservation of his duty to the General Authority; much more must every man who becomes a member of any particular Civil Society, do it with a saving of his final allegiance to the Universal Sovereign.
~ James Madison, in Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, 1785

We have staked the whole future of American civilization, no upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capability of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.
~ James Madison

The Bible is the Constitution of Christian civilization.
~ Gordon Palmer, in By Freedom’s Holy Light (NY: Devin-Adair Co., 1964), page 4

Jesus said that we are to render to God the things that are God’s and to Caesar those that are Caesar’s. Our Caesar is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. In order for us to render to Caesar the things that are due him, we should indeed participate in our government. Our Lord would have it so.
~ Adrian Rogers

I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion. But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensible to the maintenance of public institutions.
~ Alexis de Tocqueville

There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men, than in America.
~ Alexis de Tocqueville, in Democracy in America (NY: Harper & Rowe, 1966. pages 303-304

It is impossible rightly to govern the world without God and the Bible.
~ George Washington

It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits and humbly implore His protection and favor.
~ George Washington, his his Thanksgiving proclamation of October 3, 1789

While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.
~ George Washington

If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution which was framed in our convention, where I had the honor of presiding, might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical society, certainly, I would never have placed my signature upon it.
~ George Washington, inauguration speech

I have often expressed my sentiment, that every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, out to be protected in worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.
~ George Washington, in a letter to the United Baptist Churches of Virginia, May 10, 1789

Whatever makes a person a good Christian makes him a good citizen.
~ Daniel Webster

If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we or our prosperity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.
~ Daniel Webster

Let us not forget the religious character of our origin.
~ Daniel Webster

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Interview With Phillip Johnson

Pure Barry Goldwater Conservativism

Politics – Select Quotes

William F. Buckley – Select Quotes

Quotes – Master List

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Freedom – select quotes

freedomFreedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be.
~ James Baldwin

Freedom is that instant between when someone tells you to do something and when you decide how to respond.
~ Jeffrey Borenstein

The trouble with free elections is, you never know who is going to win.
~ Leonid Brezhnev

None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.
~ Pearl S. Buck

I preach deliverance to others, I tell them there is freedom, while I hear my own chains clang.
~ John Bunyan

The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
~ Edmund Burke

The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree.
~ Thomas Campbell

Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.
~ Albert Camus

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is roots; the other, wings.
~ Hodding Carter

In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are more than just ideals to be valued – they may be essential to survival.
~ Noam Chomsky

A right is not what someone gives you; it’s what no one can take from you.
~ Ramsey Clark

Freedom has a thousand charms to show,
That slaves, howe’er contented, never know.
~ William Cowper

You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man’s freedom. You can only be free if I am free.
~ Clarence Darrow

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.
~ Moshe Dayan

History does not teach fatalism. There are moments when the will of a handful of free men breaks through determinism and opens up new roads.
~ Charles de Gaulle

The only freedom that is of enduring importance is the freedom of intelligence, that is to say, freedom of observation and of judgment, exercised in behalf of purposes that are intrinsically worth while. The commonest mistake made about freedom is, I think, to identify it with freedom of movement, or, with the external or physical side of activity.
~ John Dewey

To begin with unlimited freedom is to end with unlimited despotism.
~ Fyodor Dostoevsky, in The Devils

Who would be free themselves must strike the blow. Better even to die free than to live slaves.
~ Frederick Douglass

Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will.
~ Frederick Douglass

No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.
~ Frederick Douglass, in an 1883 Civil Rights Mass Meeting speech in Washington, D.C.

Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.
~ William O. Douglas

As far as your self-control goes, as far goes your freedom.
~ Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man’s life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.
~ Albert Einstein

We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom.
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed – else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail?
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, in “Boston” Stanza 15

If you would enjoy real freedom, you must be the slave of philosophy.
~ Epictetus

We must not believe the many, who say that only free people ought to be educated, but we should rather believe the philosophers who say that only the educated are free.
~ Epictetus

We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.
~ William Faulkner

Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom.
~ Marilyn Ferguson

We have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights.
~ Felix Frankfurter

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
~ Viktor Frankl

Freedom lies in being bold.
~ Robert Frost, in an interview by Bela Kornizer of NBC news on November 23, 1952.

You have freedom when you’re easy in your harness.
~ Robert Frost

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.
~ Mahatma Gandhi

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

For every man who lives without freedom, the rest of us must face the guilt.
~ Lillian Hellman

The fact, in short, is that freedom, to be meaningful in an organized society must consist of an amalgam of hierarchy of freedoms and restraints.
~ Samuel Hendel

We feel free when we escape – even if it be but from the frying pan into the fire.
~ Eric Hoffer

It is possible to read the history of this country as one long struggle to extend the liberties established in our Constitution to everyone in America.
~ Molly Ivins

A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.
~ Thomas Jefferson

No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him.
~ Thomas Jefferson

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned — this is the sum of good government.
~ Thomas Jefferson

I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.
~ Thomas Jefferson

I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.
~ Thomas Jefferson

Freedom is like taking a bath — you have to keep doing it every day!
~ Florynce Kennedy

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
~ John F. Kennedy

The wave of the future is not the conquest of the world by a single dogmatic creed but the liberation of the diverse energies of free nations and free men.
~ John F. Kennedy

People hardly ever make use of the freedom they have. For example, the freedom of thought. Instead they demand freedom of speech as a compensation.
~ Søren Kierkegaard

There are two freedoms, the false one where one is free to do what he likes, and the true where a man is free to do what he ought.
~ Charles Kingsley

Every right is married to a duty; every freedom owes a corresponding responsibility; and there cannot be genuine freedom unless there exists also genuine order, in the moral realm and in the social realm.
~ Russell Kirk, in Redeeming the Time (Wilmington: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 1996), page 33

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
~ Abraham Lincoln

Him that I love, I wish to be free — even from me.
~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Most men, after a little freedom, have preferred authority with the consoling assurances and the economy of effort which it brings.
~ Walter Lippmann, in A Preface to Morals

Without general elections, without unrestricted freedom of press and assembly, without a free struggle of opinion, life dies out in every public institution, becomes a mere semblance of life, in which only the bureaucracy remains as the active element.
~ Rosa Luxemburg

Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim.
~ Thomas Macaulay

I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
~ James Madison, in a speech to the Virginia Convention in 1788

We are free, truly free, when we don’t need to rent our arms to anybody in order to be able to lift a piece of bread to our mouths.
~ Ricardo Flores Magon, in a speech on May 31, 1914

There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life — happiness, freedom, and peace of mind — are always attained by giving them to someone else.
~ Peyton Conway March

If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too.
~ Somerset Maugham

We have to call it “freedom”: who’d want to die for “a lesser tyranny”?
~ Mignon McLaughlin, in The Neurotic’s Notebook

Freedom means choosing your burden.
~ Hephzibah Menuhin

The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinion of others, to do so would be wise, or even right… The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.
~ John Stuart Mill

Freedom is not merely the opportunity to do as one pleases; neither is it merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives. Freedom is, first of all, the chance to formulate the available choices, to argue over them — and then, the opportunity to choose.
~ C. Wright Mills

We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
~ Edward R. Murrow

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.
~ Napoleon Bonaparte

Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, in Twilight of the Idols

The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support the rights of people you don’t agree with.
~ Eleanor Holmes Norton

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
~ Thomas Paine

If a man does only what is required of  him, he is a slave.
If a man does more than is required of him, he is a free man.
~ Chinese Proverb

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.
~ Jean-Paul Sartre

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
~ George Bernard Shaw, in Man and Superman, “Maxims: Liberty and Equality,”

If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.
~ Carl Shurz

How can you call a man free when his pleasures rule over him.
~ Socrates

My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
~ Adlai Stevenson, from a speech in Detroit, 1952

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.
~ Henry David Thoreau

It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have these three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence to practice neither.
~ Mark Twain

So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.
~ Voltaire

The history of men’s opposition to women’s emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.
~ Virginia Woolf

To enjoy freedom, if the platitude is pardonable, we have of course to control ourselves. We must not squander our powers, helplessly and ignorantly, squirting half the house in order to water a single rose-bush; we must train them, exactly and powerfully, here on the very spot.
~ Virginia Woolf

No nation ancient or modern ever lost the liberty of freely speaking, writing, or publishing their sentiments, but forthwith lost their liberty in general and became slaves.
~ John P. Zenger

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Kevin Stilley on For Christ and Culture Radio

I am a frequent contributor to the For Christ and Culture radio program hosted by Barry Creamer daily on KCBI radio FM 90.9.

Here are links to some of the shows on which I have appeared.

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Early Western Civilization classroom resources

EARLY WESTERN CIVILIZATION – HIS1103

Prolegomena

Class #1 – Introduction

Research Paper Preparation

Class #2 – What is History?

Class #3 – Pre-History

Class #4 – Mesopotamia – Sumer & Akkad

Class #5 – Egypt

Class #6 – The Patriarchal Period

Class #7 – The Hittites

Class #8 – Western Semitic Power Grabs / David, Solomon, & Rehoboam (The United and Divided Kingdom)

Class #9 – Assyria, Babylon, the Medes & The Persians

Class #10 – Examination #1

Class #11 – “Meanwhile in Greece…”

Class #12 – Greek Mythology & Religion

Class #13 – The Persian Wars

  • — Marathon, Thermopylae, Sparta

Class #14 – Birth of Democracy

Class #15 – The Peloponnesian Wars & Alexander the Great

Class #16 – Pre-Socratic Philosophy

Class #17 – Socrates, Sophists, Plato

Class #18 – Aristotle

Class #19 – Hellenistic & Early Roman Philosophy

Class #20 – Examination #2

Class #21 – Romulus to Hannibal

Class #22 – Roman Prosperity

Class #23 – Roman Empire

Class #24 – Six Flags Over Israel

Class #25 – Roman Provinces & Israel During The Intertestamental Period

Class #26 – The Jewish War With Rome & The Destruction of the Temple

Class #27 – Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (Ancient Art, Science, Literature, etc.)

Class #28 – Western Civilization & The Kingdom of God

Class #29 – Final Examination

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Early Western Civilization Final Exam

The following is a final exam that I gave to my Early Western Civilization students back in 2007. How would you have performed on it?
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Final Exam – Early Western Philosophy

Match the following emperors with the events at right that occurred during their reign.

____ Nero A.     Destruction of Jerusalem
____ Diocletian B.      Edict of Milan
____ Titus C.      1st to spend time fighting barbarian invaders
____ Tiberius D.     Burning of Rome
____ Octavian (aka. Augustus Caesar) E.      Birth of Christ
____ Marcus Aurelius F.      Death of Christ
____ Constantine G.     “The Great Persecution” of Christians

 

Match the following places and entities with the best description or event  from the second column.

____ Rome A.     Located in North Africa
____ Jerusalem B.      Cradle of Western philosophy
____ Mesopotamia C.      Cradle of Western civilization
____ Miletus/Ionia D.     Destroyed in 70 A.D.
____ Carthage E.      Aristotle’s school
____ Hadrian’s Wall F.      Located in Britain
____ Bosphorus G.     City of seven hills
____ Lyceum H.     Plato’s school.
____ Academy I.       Strait connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara.

 

Match the stories, statements, literary works, and cultural constructions below with the best correlate in the second  column.

____ Romulus & Remus A.     Plato
____ Agrarian Law B.      Aristotle
____ “Veni, vidi, vici” C.      Designed to provide plebians with land.
____ The Aeneid D.     Oracle at Delphi
____ “You can never step in the same river twice.” E.      Written by Julius Caesar in a letter to the Senate.
____ “Man is the measure of all things.” F.      Protagorus
____ No living man is wiser than Socrates G.     Babylonian creation epic
____ Nicomachean Ethics H.     Founding of Rome
____ Enuma Elis I.       Early collection of laws from ancient Babylon
____ Hammurabi Code J.       Heraclitus
____ Theaetetus K.      Publius Virgilius Maro (Virgil)

 

Fill in the blank.

“All western philosophy is a __________ to Plato.” (Alfred North Whitehead)

Match the people below with the best correlate from the second column.

____ Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus A.     Teacher of Alexander the Great
____ Hannibal B.      Roman general/dictator to whom George Washington is often compared.
____ Spartacus C.      Julius Caesar’s chief rival for power in Rome.
____ Pompey D.     Argued against the possibility of motion.
____ Xerxes E.      Carthaginian general in 2nd Punic War.
____ Thales F.      Leader in the Gladiatorial War
____ Zeno G.     King of Persia
____ Aristotle H.     Early western philosopher who predicted an eclipse.

 

From Student Presentations:  Select any ten of the following and in one sentence share with me a general description of each person selected.  (Nitocris, the Amazons, Helen & Paris, Leonidas, Lycurgus, Plutarch, Solon, Pericles, Themistocles, Parmenides, Zeno, Cimon, Nicias, Alcibiades, Agesilaus, Antisthenes, Diogenes, Democritus, Alexander, Cato the Elder, Aemilius Paullus, Tiberius & Gaius Grachus, Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Antony, Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, the Cynics, the Skeptics, Philo, Plotinus).

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

 

Short Answers

Name one conspirator in the death of Julius Caesar.

What school of early western philosophy is noteworthy for its interest in numbers?

What did Francis Schaeffer say was the main reason the Romans could not tolerate Christianity?

What is henotheism?

What is an oligarchy?

What is a polis?

What role did a Tribune play in Roman society?

 

Chronology

____  Select the correct order for the following births.

  1. Birth of Christ 2. Birth of Socrates    3.  Birth of Julius Caesar   4.  Birth of Daniel the prophet
  2. 1, 2, 3, 4
  3. 4, 3, 2, 1
  4. 3, 2, 4, 1
  5. 4, 2, 3, 1

____  Select the correct order for the following philosophers, earliest to latest.

  1. Thales 2. Socrates    3.  Plotinus   4.  Augustine
  2. 1, 2, 3, 4
  3. 1, 2, 4, 3
  4. 1, 3, 2, 4
  5. 1, 4, 2, 3

 

____  Select the correct order for the time in which the following kingdoms/empires were prominent.   1. Egyptian     2.  Babylonian      3.  Roman     4. Greek    5.  Medes & Persians

  1. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
  2. 5, 1, 2, 3, 4
  3. 1, 5, 2, 4, 3
  4. 1, 2, 5, 4, 3

True/False (circle the correct answer)

True / False The sophists were more concerned about what is objectively true, than with what is useful or expedient .
True / False Socrates’ book “Escape From Reason” played an important role in leading Augustine to Christianity.
True / False When condemned to death, Socrates was given the chance to propose an alternative penalty and he suggested the he receive free meals in the Pryntaneum.
True / False Aristotle did not believe that politics was an appropriate subject for philosophy and that Plato was wrong to have inquired into the nature and practice of politics.

 

Essay Questions:

On separate sheets of paper, give comprehensive well-ordered treatments to the following topics.

  1. Either, (a) based upon our discussions in class, define history and explain its importance for those holding a Christian worldview, or (b) explore some Biblical texts which have been intertwined with our study of Early Western Civilization.

 

  1. (a) Julius Caesar’s rise to power, or (b) Daniel’s visions and the flow of human history.

 

  1. Compare and contrast Plato and Aristotle, their ideas, and their influence.

 

 

 

Grading for this exam:

Essay questions  – 10 points each

Short answer & chronology – 2 points each

All other questions – 1 point each

 

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