Author: Texas Gospel

Seattle arsonist tosses incendiary devices during Thursday-night service

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The sound of worship and praise music at a Seattle, Washington church was abruptly interrupted by an arsonist who threw Molotov cocktails at the building shortly after the opening hymn.

The attack happened around 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18, at the Iglesia ni Cristo church about a half-hour after the service began.   Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Kristin Tinsley told The Seattle Times there were multiple hand-held incendiary devices used in the attack. Tinsley told the paper the improvised firebombs were lit bottles of an unknown liquid.

King5 Television reports none of the estimated 50 people who were inside the sanctuary were injured by the criminal’s actions.  The fire was put out by congregation members before the fire department arrived.

A news release issued by the Seattle, Washington Police Department says, “Seattle Police Arson/Bomb Squad detectives have taken over the investigation and are working with witnesses to develop a suspect description.

Officials have not yet determined a motive for the act of violence against the congregation.

 

No killing in the name of atheism? Really?

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Show me just one person killed in the name of atheism. Can’t do it, can you?  This is a complaint often lobbed by atheists who use a filtered version of history to form a worldview.  How would you answer their complaint?

Respectfully, when an officially atheist country kills someone for his or her religion, this IS an example of a person killed in the name of atheism.  The NAZIs were no friend of religion; they murdered prominent catholic lay leaders, Jehovah’s Witnesses and others because of their religion. You can get the death penalty for possessing a Bible in North Korea today; North Korea is no theocracy.  I could add many more to this list, but  examples such as these are rejected by fundamentalist atheists who claim atrocities may be committed by atheist leaders, but the murders were not done in the name of atheism.  Forgive me for disagreeing, but if you kill someone in an effort to cleanse your country of religion, you are killing in the name of atheism.

It would be wrong for me to say atheism made the leaders of the aforementioned countries become murderers.  They killed for power in an atheist state. It is equally wrong for non-believers to claim that religion makes religious leaders become murderers.  It is their desire for power in a theocracy or country made up of religious people that led them to kill.  Both ideologies can be abused.  Killing can be done in the name of anything, but it is the individual who makes the decision to pick up a weapon or to order others to do so.

Atheist and religious leaders have been responsible for atrocities throughout history.  Blaming religion, atheism, or something other than the leaders themselves is to remove their guilt.  Since the homicide rate doesn’t shoot through the roof near all churches with large congregations, there must be something other than religion to blame for the flaw in the human condition.

What are your thoughts?

What do scientists say about the alleged wall between Christianity and science?

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I wish I had a nickel for every time one of my atheist friends posted something implying you cannot be a scientist and a Christian.  This ridiculous claim is repeated so often that some just assume it to be true.  This came  to mind when I found out this morning that 2017 Nobel Prize winner in Physics Kip Thorne will lecture at my alma mater, Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.  He will speak on ideas and research from his book, “The Science of Interstellar.”

Thorne is an atheist and a scientist, and he apparently does not share the belief that one has to abandon faith to be successful in science.  He told The Guardian, “There is no fundamental incompatibility between science and religion. I happen to not believe in God.”

Again, he’s no shrub. Thorne is a co-founder of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.  Thorne and his team at LIGO made history by making the first direct detection and measurement of gravitational waves, something only theorized by Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

I should address related false belief that is spread through social media posts. It’s not true that while scientists tolerate religion, the top guys are atheists.  Francis S. Collins, whose team mapped the human genome, and who was appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama to head up the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is a Christian.  He has also written books about his beliefs.  One of my favorite is The Language of God.

For those in Texas who would like to hear Thorne’s lecture, it is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16,  at the Lamar University Theater.

Vandals target 231-year-old California church building with misspelled ‘genocide’ graffiti

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Police in Santa Barbara California believe anti-Columbus day sentiment is motive behind vandalism at a church established in 1786.  Someone spray painted “genocide”, smashed a window, and damaged other pieces of church property of the Old Mission Santa Barbara. The Los Angeles Times reports they caused an estimated $25,000 in damage. KYET television published a photo of the damage.

File news reports from the area say the same church was vandalized last year.  Cameras were installed following that attack.  Video from those cameras of this year’s attack is being reviewed by detectives.

The 231-year-old building is home to a community of Franciscan Friars