It is unfortunate that the Herald appears to have a bee in it’s bonnet about Brian Tamaki and the Destiny Church. I say unfortunate, because the Herald does not appear to have the tools, understanding or, indeed, the inclination to approach the topic of donations to a church, or to the pecunious “Bishop” in question, [...]

Though many people are highly critical of the columns of Garth George, I often find that, past the general curmudgeonly nature of his columns, he often makes a great deal of sense. Unfortunately, he tends to couch his points in a fashion designed to bring out the worst in the blogosphere. It is not simply [...]

Last year the report in the Herald on the Parachute Music Festival was a one paragraph filler on how hot it was. This year Parachute made it to page two – because it rained. Honestly, you would think that journalists could find something more exciting to write about than the weather!
They could, for instance, have [...]

I am at the Paracute Christian Music Festival this weekend, so blogging will be light and sporadic. I am always amazed at how massive this thing is. We arrived at the campground to put up a tent for youngest MacDaughter & friends at 11:20 (20 minutes after the gates open officially) and we had a [...]

Yes, I know this is a bit late to be a proper review, but I’ve only just found time to see it. So this is not a review, but three observations. WARNING: SPOILER ALERT.
Firstly, it is visually arresting. I saw it in 3D, but I suspect that it would be an equally gorgeous visual experience [...]

I don’t know about you, but I find the Atheist ad campaign amusing on many levels:

There is the almost evangelist zeal shown by the rapidity with which the money for the ads has been raised. Now if only us religious zealots could be that zealoty…
Then there is the whole delicious irony of displaying a philosophical [...]

Apparently today is the 150th Anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species. At the time, it was considered probably the most controversial book of all time, although, today, it is probably more boring than controversial and more of a scientific curiosity than a valid scientific treatise. Most of Darwin’s theory has been [...]

The word cult is derived from the Latin word cultus meaning worship or adoration. The hallmark of any cult is the adoration and exultation of a leader, to the detriment of the worship of God. In this context Garth George is perfectly correct to be concerned that Brian Tamaki and his Destiny church has all [...]

Canterbury sees the opening of New Zealand’s first Faith Healing clinic. There are a number of churches that hold regular faith healing meetings, of course, but this is the first “clinic” where the faith healing is offered “on demand”, as it were. The MacDoctor maintains an open mind on faith healing. As a Christian, I [...]

Stuff reports on a gallery that invites all-and-sundry to write in a bible as part of its “Made in God’s Image” exhibition. Predictably, the bible in now full of scrawled obscenities and mocking words in much the same way as a blank wall is soon full of inane graffiti – or the comment section of [...]