The Trolley Problem
There’s been a lot of talk on Social Media about “The Trolley Problem”, as though this somehow defeats the pro-life position. Here is a great response from Catholic Answers:
Tag: Catholic Answers
When Devin and Doug came to town…
Last month was the Catholic Answers Conference here in San Diego. It was a weekend full of great talks from guest speakers and the Catholic Answers apologists.
However, the real highlight for me was meeting in the flesh two guys with whom I have corresponded for some time, but never actually met in the flesh. These two Catholic Titans were Devin Rose and Douglas Beaumont, both of whom should be familiar to regular readers of this blog as I share their articles often. As a bonus, I also got to meet Matt Nelson!
If you’d like to get a better sense of what it was like at the conference, Devin authored a piece on his conference-going experience:
Early Christian Controversies that Protestantism Can’t Explain
This past Friday, Joe Heschmeyer was on Catholic Answer Live, the audio of which is available here. Joe was talking about one of my favourite subjects, Church History. In particular he was talking about how many of the early controversies in the Church can’t really be explained from within a Protestant framework.
For example, in the Early Church there was a breakaway group in AD 311 called the Donatists. These were rigorists who insisted that the sacraments administered by clergy who had been compromised during persecution were invalid. This was a major issue within the Church of the Early Fourth Century…but it’s an argument that makes no sense within most Protestant frameworks.
If you are interested, the article where he draws out these ideas is available below:
Catholic Answers Summer Series starts this week…
Hey everyone, I know I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, but I just wanted to remind everyone that the Catholic Answers Summer Series starts this week. If you’re in San Diego, you can see the the apologists at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Santa Sophia, but if you live elsewhere, you will be able to catch these talks online:
Catholic Answers Summer Series
The staff from Catholic Answers will be giving talks at at St. Michael’s Church this Summer. Admission is free!
Wednesday, June 14, 2017, 6:30PM
“Common Objections to Catholicism” – Tim Staples
Wednesday, June 28, 2017, 6:30PM
“Your Truth, My Truth” – Karlo Broussard
Wednesday, July 12, 2017, 6:30PM
“Five Great Deceptions” – Cy Kellett
Wednesday, August 23, 2017, 6:30PM
“From Hernan Cortes to Our Lady of Guadalupe” – Chris Check
Wednesday, August 30, 2017, 6:30PM
“How we got the Bible” – Jimmy Akin
What Patrick did next…
If you’ve ever done Catholic apologetics, you will have almost certainly have come across the former host of Catholic Answers Live, Patrick Coffin. Patrick has recently started a podcast which I’ve been listening and I thought it would be a good time to share the interview he gave on The Journey Home where he describes his own journey of faith:
The Best Pro-Life Apologetics Book
Across the dinner table a few months ago, we were discussing the subject of books and what we each thought were the “Must Read” books for adult Catholics. Today I would like to say a few words about a book which I think is the number one book on the subject of pro-life apologetics, “Persuasive Pro-Life” by Trent Horn from Catholic Answers.
I had originally intended to take some time to write a longer review, but since you can currently pick up a copy for $5 or download the eBook for free, it seemed wise to write a shorter review and have it published before the sale comes to an end:
The first thing which should be highlighted is that, although this book is published by Catholic Answers, none of the arguments outlined in the book are based on the Bible or even the existence of God. All arguments are based on easy-to-understand science and clear logic. Even if you are a pro-life atheist/agnostic, you will find this book extremely useful.
Typically, if I like a book, it’ll be in large part because of the way it is organized. This book is no exception. Trent assigns a separate chapter in his book to each pro-choice archetype. These archetypes include:
The Tolerant who personally don’t like abortion, but believe other people should be able to choose it.
The Skeptic who deny that anyone can know when life begins.
The Disqualifier who claim that unborn children do not have a right to life because the unborn are different from born humans.
The Autonomist, for whom it does not matter whether or not the fetus is a human being, because a woman has a right to bodily autonomy.
…
In each chapter, Trent addresses the essential arguments used by each archetype. He then goes on to explain the faulty science, incorrect assumptions or poor logic which are at work. The chapter then concludes with a (somewhat) imaginary dialogue between Trent and a pro-choice advocate. I particularly liked this feature since this shows how to apply practically what you have learned in that chapter. Not only that, it demonstrates how one can engage in pro-life apologetics in a respectful, productive and persuasive manner.
What other pro-life books would you recommend? Who else is going to the Walk For Life this weekend?