News source: USA Today, ‘Jury awards $11.3M over defamatory Internet posts’

A Florida woman has been awarded $11.3 million in a defamation lawsuit against a Louisiana woman who posted messages on the Internet accusing her of being a “crook,” a “con artist” and a “fraud.” Legal analysts say the Sept. 19 award by a jury in Broward County, Fla. — first reported Friday by the Daily Business Review — represents the largest such judgment over postings on an Internet blog or message board. Lyrissa Lidsky, a University of Florida law professor who specializes in free-speech issues, calls the award “astonishing.” … Scheff [plaintiff] says she wanted to make a point to those who unfairly criticize others on the Internet. “I’m sure (Bock [defendant]) doesn’t have $1 million, let alone $11 million, but the message is strong and clear,” Scheff says. “People are using the Internet to destroy people they don’t like, and you can’t do that.”

Of course the $11.3 million award is ridiculous but the precedent set here is clear. A good reminder to think twice about whatever I (and you) post online!

News source: Pirating Songs of Praise (via Religion News Blog)

Apparently many feel quote “conflicted” about ’sharing’ Christian music … Here’s a quote from the article that rather shocked me:

Take Matthew, a 13-year-old who attends Hewes Middle School in North Tustin and attends youth programs at nearby Red Hill Lutheran Church. Asked if it’s wrong to take songs for free, he answered: “No, because the artists are making billions of dollars anyways.” Another kid at Red Hill, 16-year-old Mike, a student at Beckman High, said that music is beyond commerce or at least beyond the cash register: “They should give it away ’cause it’s art anyways.”

Okay, so I’ve downloaded some pirated music in my ‘day. I also own nearly 200 legit CDs so I’m no slouch in supporting the music industry. And I have deleted all (or at least almost all?) of the pirated music on my computer. What do you think about “file sharing”? Do we agree that the kids above don’t “get it”? Is anyone teaching morals in church anymore? (Or how about some basic philosophy for that matter, so kiddies will know when they’re making dumb arguments like those above?)

Sam Harris (author of The End of Faith, previously attended to on this blog) has a new book out called “Letter to a Christian Nation“. Now I must say it’s an ingenious title. It’s also ingeniously misinformative, since few (Christian, religious, or atheist) would term the United States a “Christian nation”. While many of its citizens are Christian, the nation itself has become mostly secularized. Instead of Why Faith, perhaps I should change the title of this blog to “Letters to a Secular Nation”? Hmmm.

Since I have not read the book (nor do I have plans to considering what I know about it) I will instead comment on the quotes from it posted on the book’s website:

According to the most common interpretation of biblical prophecy, Jesus will only return after things have gone horribly wrong. Imagine the consequences if any significant component of the US government believed that the world was about to end and that its ending would be glorious. The fact that nearly half of the American population believes this should be considered a moral and intellectual emergency.

I’m not sure why this would be considered an “emergency” considering that there have always been large numbers of Christians in America. I suppose the implication is that there now exists the technology to actually bring about the world’s destruction. Yet anyone who has done even a cursory study of the Bible would never suggest that it even hints that people should willfully bring about the world’s destruction, so Harris’ insinuation here falls flat.

There are also plenty of statistics like “80% of Americans expect to be called before God on judgement day to answer for their sins” or “73% believe in Hell”. While such statements may be accurate, I’m not sure what Harris’ point is in quoting them. This belief is indeed ridiculous if Christianity is false. If it’s false, of course it would be ridiculous to believe that. But if it’s true, it’s quite reasonable. According to Harris, “83% of Americans believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.” Considering that, the statistics above are not surprising.

Is there good evidence for believing Jesus rose from the dead? Check the resources below, and decide for yourself. Don’t allow those like Sam Harris to, in a sense, throw the baby out with the bathwater. I agree that there is a lot of “bad” that goes on in religion, just as there’s even more “bad” that goes on everywhere in life. But does that mean all religion (and Christianity in particular) is untrue? I was an atheist, researched it myself, and came to my own conclusion …

Read more:

• Evidence for the Resurrection of Christ - Five possible theories about what really happened (Peter Kreeft)
• Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? - If Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead, even the apostle Paul admitted that the Christian faith is worthless … (Michael Horner)
• Contemporary Scholarship and the Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ - The longest and most technical of the bunch, but possibly also the most rewarding (William Lane Craig)

Lee Strobel gives his answer the question: “Do You Think Intelligent Design Should Be Taught in School?” See the video linked below for his answer. I think it’s reasonable:

Video: Do You Think Intelligent Design Should Be Taught in School? (1:33)

This is one of several videos based on Strobel’s book Case for a Creator on his site. All are fairly short and viewable online. I’d prefer he’d put them up on YouTube or something so that people could post them on their own sites. Oh well. Still interesting stuff, as well as the rest of Strobel’s site.