Atheism is Dead: Atheism - The New (Emergent) Atheists, part 4 of 4

Here is the Fourth part of a great series from Atheism is Dead. It is brilliant! Check out my article on the same subject if you haven't seen it yet.

Atheism is Dead: Atheism - The New (Emergent) Atheists, part 4 of 4

Proposition 8 - Upheld

When I woke up this morning and I was reminded from a news report that the California Supreme Court would be ruling on the constitutionality of Proposition 8 to day. The ruling came down about 10 AM, PST. I just read the results at the Huffington Post and SF Gate. Basically, the Court is going to let the Proposition stand as is. I was surprised. Considering that this was the same court that legalized Marriage between people of the same gender, I was surprised that they would go on and uphold the proposition that went against its earlier ruling because the majority of us Californians voted for it. I'm not going to get into the reason why I supported Prop 8 last year here because I argued in favor of it else where on this blog. What I do want to point out that this snuck up on me. I did not hear anyone talk about this event today or bring it up. I knew it was coming. I even heard that opponents of Proposition 8 are discussing whether to get their thoughts on the ballot either for the next general election in 2010 or the next Presidential election in 2012. Here is a quote from the final ruling made by the California Supreme Court today.

"Proposition 8 does not by any means "repeal" or "strip" gay individuals or same-sex couples of the very significant substantive protections afforded by the state equal protection clause either with regard to the fundamental rights of privacy and due process or in any other area, again with the sole exception of access to the designation of 'marriage' to describe their relationship."

So to summarize, Proposition 8 stands, but the Same-Sex Marriages that have already taken place in California wiull still stand.

Jesus: Legend, Teacher, Critic, or Son of God?

Dr. Robert Price and Dr. Greg Boyd debate on who Jesus is. I admit that Price was very articulate, but wrong. Price argued that Christianity worships a legendary Christ. Boyd argued for the Christian teachings of Jesus. Price tried to argue that the Jesus of Christianity is a product of legend. He tried to argue that there have been cases where people have become exalted and deified and augmented by legend while the person is still alive or within 20 to 30 years of their deaths. He used the example of a Jewish Messiah in 1660s, Sabatai Savi, who centuries ago was thought by many to be the messiah, but had eventually converted to Islam. He also used the example of Charles Mansion. Both men even had miracles ascribed to them. Price's idea is that Jesus' miracles are legendary. The problem is that unlike Jesus...no one thinks of these other guys as messianic. We can show and prove that they are not deity. After 2000 years, Jesus' claims and those that his followers made about him still stand. I wish Boyd had spent some time refuting Boyd on this point. But Boyd still did a great job. The debate is below.