I’m sure that Tangi was a good experience.

I should note that I don’t see evolution and the Genesis narratives as contradictory worldviews or understandings of the truth…

Allow me to address a couple of things:

Do I need to explain how this undermines your claim that your god exists “inside you”? Do I need to explain the massive social divisions this suggests is the purpose of your god?…

I think this is what stands in the way, hypothetically, between you and me, or people like me and people like you, no matter how well you listen, or how much effort you give to assisting people in need:

"... all people are endowed with a morality that…

That go for stephen joyce (and others) as well? :-))

Hey I know many of the religious persuasion try to live good lifes. But being as such, is not a guarantee. We all screw up. And if…

I'm glad you managed to stay awake! :)

Thanks for sharing about the warmth of what you encountered growing up as well, even though…

Simon, thanks for your comment. Allow me to note that it was never my intent to argue for Christianity here. Nor was my intent to explain everything related to…

Andin, please accept…

A 2000+ year old document telling explaining how the universe was created, the history of the middle east and how we should treat each other (including foreigners, homosexuals, and women) we now find…

Because of US culture I wonder how many of the respondents have real live atheists in their lives ;) The beauty of living in New Zealand is the diversity of cultures and views.

True. That's what I point out in the article I wrote on the Stephen Fry comments where I state a case a non-theist could make in response to it.

That was what I intended to imply with "Utilitarian calculus, the whole of that balancing act.

rather they believe that the…

The comeback is that the universal truth could exist without God's…

I think the argument is often misunderstood.

It’s not saying that people who…

Not also a balance of goods vs harms? Like "he's going to miss out on something small, but she's going to get something big, so that's OK, in balance"? I tend to think we've almost forgotten half of what utilitarianism is…

To be fair, Francis did rhetorically say "some make" not "I make", so…

I was pondering this. Francis’s column reminds me of my mother’s Christianity; open, tolerant and accepting of difference. She was raised, however, by a woman who was massively intolerant of other Christians – who didn’t, in face,…

Good call. It's probably just splitting hairs but I would say that the ability to accept the 'other' where there are differences requires humility. Everything else I mentioned in that sentence, such as empathy etc, is about going…

Thats not the historical jesus, thats the mythic fella created when the Nicene creed was written.

Doing difference well starts with some simple concepts

Acceptance is probably more important than humility and whatever else you said.

Good question. It's hard to know as the Christian community is so big and diverse. Doubtless there will definitely be some who think it but…

Do you think this kind of attitude is in the majority amongst your fellow Christians? I mean at this time, rather than in…

With all due respect, Rae — this is exactly why I don't talk about my experience of faith around here much, or in any great depth. To have a part of my life that is intimate,…

There are good principles in many other religions too, and in plenty of people who don't make a religious…

The…

It was a good experience. It’s nice to be able…

Ross, I forgot to also add that at this point it wasn't for lack of trying. There a couple of great ladies who came very close to being on this initial board, but in the end they didn't quite see it…

Good question, Ross. My long term ideal is a more diverse board, or at least some functionality that enables a wide range of voices to feed into what NewsLeads does and how it is shaped. Informally that is happening but the…

A quick question: why is your board all blokes?