SAFT Podcast

Hindi was a language that was created for the common folks by a foreign Christian missionary. The reason? Sanskrit was considered an elite, religious language only to be spoken by the few. The efforts of Christian missionaries in enabling the Indian to communicate and disseminate ideas is overlooked and derided, often in Hindi speeches. Linguistic scholar and researcher Dr Babu K Verghese unpacks the riveting historical contributio...

With the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022, the discourse on abortion has increasingly gained prominence world over including in India. However the pro-life movement in India has not garnered the visibility it deserves in comparison to the pro-abortion movement. In this episode we contextualize the abortion issue to India by talking to Johanna and Simon Durairaj, founders of the pro-life organization Life for All. We tackle major m...

One of the "nastiest evangelists". That's how Rajiv Malhotra tagged William Carey. But is this foreigner the unsung father of modern India and not Raja Ram Mohan Roy? Why did he fight against Sati? Why did he contribute towards linguistic and agricultural leaps? More importantly, why did he do all this while his fellow countrymen looked to merely pillage India? Vishal Mangalwadi joins in on what is an insightful dial...

As if almost out of nowhere, God is making a stunning comeback in the West. New atheism's leading voices have softened their approach to Christianity, spirituality and religion. Some have become Christians too! Secular thinkers are starting to realise that the air they breathe is distinctly Christian. The growing meaning crisis has shown that atheism has nothing to offer. In this dialogue author Justine Brierley unpacks how ex...

Does Christianity have a warm embrace for those who grapple with doubts and questions regarding the faith? If so how much should one ought to press those questions? What are the pitfalls when wrestling with doubts and questions? And how should the local churches help someone in that journey? Tim Barnett of Red Pen Logic converses on the sweeping trend of deconstructing the Christian faith and how we can best engage it with wisdom a...

Ever wondered why we can't find any human who has kept the moral code to the letter? Where do we get the sense of guilt and shame from? And why is it that the most rational thing to do is not the most right thing to do? Wondering how these observations add up? Join us as the world's leading expert on the moral argument walks us through on how to use these realisations about morality to point towards God.

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"Do the gods love the pious because they are good or are they good because the gods love them?" This ancient Greek dilemma has implications for the moral argument even today. And what if God commands us to commit an evil? Does it cease to be evil? Or does it remain evil?

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Record a question and stand a chance to be featured on SAFT Podcast: https://www.speakpipe.com/saftpodcast
Ep #83 - ...

Will anyone ever argue that the abhorrent evils around us aren't really evil? Will anyone say sexual assault is wrong for some and right for others? As it turns out, some may, if it means God's existence can be denied. How should one navigate such a dialogue? Tune in to find out. 

Watch the entire Podcast at: https://youtu.be/LEt1_6t8mEk

Links and citation:
Michael Ruse, Darwinism Defended (London: A...

It's one thing for you to say 'stealing is bad'. It's yet another thing for you to say that I shouldn't steal. What gives humans and the institutions that we made (police, judiciary, international tribunals etc.) power to mandate moral behaviour over other humans? Where's the overruling authority to base the idea of 'moral duty'? And why can't atheism ever answer this? Tune in to find ou...

"I don't believe in god but I am still a good person."
"I don't think you need god to be good." Ever wondered what's the response to these? Tag along as we break down why good atheists don't disprove anything, but rather they too point towards a universal moral law giver.

Links and citations:
Richard Taylor, Ethics, Faith, and Reason (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1...

A tiger kills but never m*rd*rs. We apply the same nuance to man's close imitators too - the apes. Why is that? What does that distinction tell us about our understanding of right and wrong? Does this point towards a universal law-giver with human interests? Tune in to find out.

Links and citations:

Lewis Wolpert, Six Impossible Things before Breakfast (London: Faber and Faber, 2006), 215

Paul Kurtz, The Courage to Beco...

It may be a good thing to be a doctor, but must therefore we all be doctors? What does this thought experiment tell us about moral value and moral duties? Understanding this distinction will show you why God is only true foundation for morality.

Links and citation:

Lewis Wolpert, Six Impossible Things before Breakfast (London: Faber and Faber, 2006), 215
If HEAVEN Is Better, WHY Don't YOU Go There NOW? h...

Does our apprehension of the moral order point us towards God? What are the different forms of moral argument that thinkers of the past have drawn up? Tag along with us as we begin the 5th Season of SAFT Podcast exploring the Moral Argument.

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If HEAVEN Is Better, WHY Don't YOU Go There NOW? https://youtu.be/3t8TVpRC0Kg

SAFT Podcast Season 4 Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaYfapFz2p2UHfXJvpSJ6l6XrZlam2NRW

SA...

Is Christianity a white man's religion? If not, given the extensive depth of theological and philosophical exploration done in the West, how do we present God, Gospel and Christ to the Eastern mind? Is it an attempt that ends up in compromising Biblical truths? Or won't merely preaching the Gospel be enough?! What is the need for these cultural gymnastics?! Jacob Cheriyan has been pioneering the project God and Eastern Mi...

Is time travel possible? Well, it depends what we know of time. If B-Theory of time is true then we just need to build the vehicle that can do the job. In fact some claim that if the B-Theory of time is true then the Kalam Cosmological Argument will fail. Is that so? Ashish John, a physics teacher by profession, joins us to help us walk through this quagmire topic of time.


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1. William Lane Craig, Re...

Does quantum mechanics lend a escape hatch away from the cause of the universe? Just as the axe pre-existed in the form of iron and wood couldn't the universe have pre-existed in some form before the Big Bang? If everything must have a cause why must God be excluded? To answer these many other common objections to the Kalam Cosmological Argument Asher John of The Carpenter's Desk join us!

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1. W...

Alright fine! The universe has something behind it. But you still cannot say it is God who created it or that the force that created the universe is omnipotent or that it is even a personal mind! Why can't it be a force like gravity? Why can't it be the universe itself! Join us to explore the identity of the cause of the universe in this episode. 

Links and citation:

• Craig, William Lane. Reasonable Faith: Christian Trut...

One of the biggest scientific discovery of recent past that shook atheist scientists was the expansion of the universe. An unchallenged field of scientific knowledge is that the universe is running out of the limited energy we have. What do these mean for the Christian? It means the evidence for a Creator is overwhelming! Tune in to know more.

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• Craig, William Lane. Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologet...

If you start to count up from 0 to the largest number will you ever finish counting? It would take literally forever! How about starting to count down from the largest number all the way down to 0? Is it even possible to start, let alone asking how long it would take?! This impossibility faces anyone who says the universe never began to exist or has always existed. Join us to learn more about this simplified philosophical argument ...