Dr Paul Allen

After a Christian charity worker who walked away from homosexuality following his conversion to Christ offered his powerful testimony on a radio show, law enforcement threatened him with possible jail time and a stiff fine for allegedly breaching his country’s law banning LGBT “conversion practices.” The Maltese government’s action against Matthew Grech, 33, is believed to be the first of its kind and is being viewed as a test case by free speech groups and Christian organizations that aim to protect the rights of former gays and lesbians to tell their stories and live freely without harassment from LGBT groups. Some of the latter assert that Christian teaching on marriage and debate surrounding LGBT lifestyles must be treated as criminal offences. Grech’s message is simple: A decade ago, he experienced a conversion to Christ, realized that sexual acts outside of male/female marriage are a “sin,” and freely chose to give up the homosexual life he had been living. If convicted, he faces...

Myth #1: There are no good arguments for atheism. We should admit up front that there are some decent reasons a person might have for being an atheist, and we should be careful not to casually dismiss these reasons. To be sure, not every atheist actually has these reasons in mind, but such reasons exist and we should take them seriously. In fact, failing to take them seriously can do considerable harm. Of course, taking them too seriously is also a problem. Also, keep in mind that there can be good arguments for false conclusions. When considering reasons for any position, think of the situation in terms of a balance scale, the old kind with two pans. Each side of the scale represents one side of the argument. And the weights in the pans are the reasons supporting that pan’s respective side of the argument. Both sides can contain relatively large weights, which would represent that side’s stronger arguments. But even so, one side can ultimately weigh more. To put it differently, a...