David Robertson discusses faith, culture and politics from a Christian perspective - this podcast was known as Quantum of the Wee Flea. Now it has been turned into a radio programme with Rhema FM.
Episodes
Dec 20, 2016
Dec 20, 2016
22 min
This week, in the last Quantum for 2016, David Robertson looks at some of the world view messages that we're hearing (or not hearing) being expressed through the media.
1) Gender / Transgender Update.
2) University and Education
"Social constructionism is the doctrine that all human roles are socially constructed. They’re detached from the underlying biology and from the underlying objective world."Dr Jordan Petersen
3) Secular swimming pools
BBC - Funds raised to open pool in Lewis on Sabbath
National Secular Society - Sabbath swimming campaign succeeds, thanks to islanders and secularists
SPIN ALERT - Of course, another way of looking at this story is that, since the Indiegogo 60 day crowdfunding campaign was about to expire without meeting its fundraising pledge target, the 'All-or-Nothing' campaign would have collapsed without raising a penny unless the NSS had stepped in at the end to fund 20% themselves.
"The special mark of the modern world is not that it is skeptical, but that it is dogmatic without knowing it. It says, in mockery of old devotees, that they believed without knowing why they believed. But the moderns believe without knowing what they believe - and without even knowing that they do believe it. Their freedom consists in first freely assuming a creed, and then freely forgetting that they are assuming it. In short, they have always an unconscious dogma; and an unconscious dogma is the definition of a prejudice."G.K. Chesterton, from an article in the Illustrated London News, March 15, 1919.
4) Conflict in Syria - Alleppo.
5) Deaths.
Dec 9, 2016
Dec 9, 2016
18 min
In the beginning God made them male and female and at the end the British Parliament decided that they were not. David Robertson reflects on the recent Transgender Equality debate in the House of Commons, the potential impact of people being able to change their legal sex by self declaration and the risks of extending the protection given to “gender reassignment” under our equalities legislation to “gender identity.”
| LINKS |
TheWeeFlea.com - The Tyranny of the Progressives – Another Step Backwards
Hansard - Transgender Equality Debate - 1 Dec 2016
New Statesman - What's missing from the transgender debate? Any discussion of male violence
Pink News - Labour MP Caroline Flint claims trans-friendly toilets are dangerous for women
BBC - Transgender child: The boy putting his female puberty on hold
| MUSIC |
Iain Craig - So full and yet so foolish (2016)
Dec 2, 2016
Dec 2, 2016
28 min
| TOPICS |
| LINKS |
| MUSIC |
Nov 26, 2016
Nov 26, 2016
25 min
You see it all the time on social media. You see it all the time in the secular media. It's becoming more rare to see contrasting views put across and people being able to rationally think and work things through. It's not just that we live in a post-truth society. We live in a post-rational society. In this week's Quantum, David Robertson navigates the issue of truth.
| TOPICS |
- Post Truth - Oxford English Dictionary 'Word of 2016'
- Telling Fake News from Real News
- Banning Milo Yiannopoulos
- Mike Pence & Hamilton
- SNL - The Bubble
- France censors video advert with people with Downs Syndrome
- Jo Cox MP - family Statement
- "Speak Up" Guide launched at the Scottish Parliament
| LINKS |
Oxford Dictionaries - Post Truth
NPR: Students Have 'Dismaying' Inability To Tell Fake News From Real, Study Finds
Kent Online: Milo Yiannopoulos talk at Simon Langton in Canterbury cancelled
Fox News (on Facebook): Mike Pence - "That's what freedom sounds like."
Washington Post: SNL ‘Bubble’ skit about liberals in denial over Trump was perfect
Conseil-Etat.fr: Diffusion du film de sensibilisation à la trisomie 21
JoCoxFoundation.org: Family Impact Statement
The Lawyers Christian Fellowship
| MUSIC |
- Spandau Ballet - True
- LeCrae - Truth
- The Simon Kennedy Band - Show them it's true
- Emeli Sandé - This much is true
- Bugs Bunny Theme - This is it
- OK GO - The One Moment
- Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold
- Beautiful Eulogy - Exile Dial Tone
Nov 18, 2016
Nov 18, 2016
19 min
There's a blame game going on. David Robertson thinks about the threats to democracy that are surfacing in the wake of the Trump victory, the deep irony of the politics of fear, why BBC pluralism is wrong and how Leonard Cohen points the way to the true freedom that can be found only in Christ.
| TOPICS |
| LINKS |
| MUSIC |
Nov 13, 2016
Nov 13, 2016
17 min
David Robertson with a post election special on President Trump.
| TOPICS |
* President Trump.
* College Educated - Indoctrination, Infantilisation and Intolerance.
* Scotland's mature reaction.
* National Day of Prayer for Scotland on 30th November
| LINKS |
The Washington Post - Trump won because college-educated Americans are out of touch
BBC Scotland - Gary Tank Commander Play list
| MUSIC |
- Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre
- The Jacksons - Blame It On The Boogie
- Powderfinger - Poison In Your Mind
- Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
- Adele - Hello
- Norah Jones - Humble Me
- Beautiful Eulogy - Exile Dial Tone
Nov 4, 2016
Nov 4, 2016
17 min
David Robertson is joined by Andy Bannister to discuss last weekend's Solas conference at Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh on sexuality, society and the church.
Northern Ireland Christian Apologetics Network - The Big Questions
Nov 1, 2016
Nov 1, 2016
21 min
| TOPICS |
* Ashers Bakery - the Peter Tatchell response *
* Ashers Bakery - the liberal Christian response *
* Assisted Suicide in the Netherlands *
* Jack Chick *
* King of Thailand *
* Bob Dylan & Leonard Cohen *
* Mosul and Isis - Iraqi priest returns to village *
| LINKS |
The Independent - Ashers Bakery’s defeat is no win for the LGBT community – it sets a dangerous and authoritarian precedent
Christian Today - Steve Chalke To Preside Over Renaming Ceremony For Transgender Christian
The Independent - Dutch consider extending assisted dying laws to those who 'feel their life is complete'
The Washington Post - Europe’s morality crisis: Euthanizing the mentally ill
BBC - Thai king death: Nation mourns loss of revered royal
ComicsAlliance.com - The Comics and Brimstone of Jack T. Chick, 1924-2016
The Telegraph - Bob Dylan - I'll be at the Nobel Prize ceremony... if I can
Christian Today - Light Out Of Darkness: A Review Of Leonard Cohen's 'You Want It Darker'
Channel 4 News - Mosul battle: Priest returns to his church and home in Bartella
| MUSIC |
Sting - Soul Cake
David Gray - Cake and Eat it
Lecrae - Divine Intervention
Mick Jagger - Brand new set of rules
Eva Cassidy - People get ready
Bob Dylan - Gonna change my way of thinking
Leonard Cohen - You want it darker
Theme Tune
Beautiful Eulogy - Exile Dial Tone
Oct 22, 2016
Oct 22, 2016
17 min
The one about church planting in Glasgow. David Robertson interviews Norman MacKay of Govan Free Church of Scotland. For more info please visit www.govanfreechurchofscotland.org.uk
| MUSIC |
Oct 15, 2016
Oct 15, 2016
19 min
| TOPICS |
* Sally Phillips / BBC Down's Syndrome documentary *
* Trump / Clinton *
* BBC - American Hate Preachers *
* Dundee University compulsory sexual consent classes *
* LGBTI Squad *
* InterVarsity Christian Fellowship *
* Chick-fil-A profits *
* Andy Bannister on Christianity and Islam *
| LINKS |
BBC iPlayer: A World Without Down's Syndrome?
ABC News (Australia): Down syndrome testing results delivery to change nationally following Tasmanian complaint
Christian Today: We Could Have A World Without Down's Syndrome - But Would We Want To Live In It?
BBC3: America's Hate Preachers
The Wee Flea: Is the BBC Christophobic?
Dundee Courier: Dundee students could be given mandatory sexual consent classes
The Scotsman: Police Scotland launch new LGBTI network to tackle hate crimes
Time: Top Evangelical College Group to Dismiss Employees Who Support Gay Marriage
INC.com: How Good Manners Made This Restaurant the Best-Selling Fast-Food Chain in America
BBC Radio Ulster: Sunday Sequence - Andy Bannister on Christianity and Islam
| MUSIC |
Alter Bridge - Show me a Leader
Elvis Costello - Pump it up
Napoleon XIV - They are coming to take me away
Alanis Morisette - You oughta know
Tim Hawkins - The Chick-fil-A Song
Beautiful Eulogy - Exile Dial Tone (theme tune)