Welcome to my new Beliefs and Ethics Seminars blog. When I teach, I often keep my own views of controversial issues to myself and share them only when I believe it will be educationally useful to do so. I’m known for presenting both sides of everything in a fair and respectful manner. This blog, however, is my voice. This is where I tell the world what I believe and why. Even here I will try to present arguments against myself when appropriate, but the focus is on my own conclusions and the reasoning behind them.

Some people have left responses here that were unrelated to my articles, thinking they were sending me an email. My email is desmith7@yahoo.com, so please send me messages there and use the blog for responses to the articles that I post.

Thanks so much for visiting–I hope that you enjoy the articles even when you disagree with them. Feel free to respond and to tell others about the website and blog, as well. I plan to write about all sorts of things related to religion and philosophy as time goes on. Please know that truth matters more to me than anything else. Love is a close second. (Maybe it’s a tie!) The genuine pursuit of truth can be very painful, but it’s indescribably rewarding. Things we once held dear sometimes fall apart before our very eyes when we use reason and are honest with the evidence, but the result is worth the pain. Do you value truth more than comfort, or comfort more than truth? Once the pain subsides, a new joy arises within. Ignorance may be bliss, but knowledge is power, and wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge in the real world in constructive ways. To philosophy–the love of wisdom!

David E. Smith, Ph.D.