EP: 18 "This Podcast can Vote!”

0:00 Howdy, and welcome to episode 18 of Hello Fairview. Your local podcast made right here in Fairview for people in Fairview and the surrounding areas. This is a weekly show released every Wednesday featuring stories that aim to inform and inspire local radio stations and newspapers don't exist in small towns like ours. So we'll use Hello Fairview to fill that void with news related to Fairview. This is a value for value podcast, which means you contribute what you can based on the value received. This concept was founded by the podfather himself, Adam Curry, and his co-host John C. Dvorak of the No Agenda Show over 18 years ago. Currently, this is just a one-man operation, so if you have any ideas, events, or business opportunities or job openings, please don't hesitate to let me know.

0:45 Use the contact form on the website, and we'll work on getting the updates out to the next episode. You're a producer of this show. You are not the product because your time and attention are not being sold to advertisers for their value. some shows will be longer and others will be shorter but i always try to do my best to keep things relevant traffic time well definitely normal busy you can wait two to five minutes to make a left can anywhere anywhere in town from cumberland 100 uh the cumberland 100 intersection still getting a lot of work uh and uh they're building some culverts or some people reported some possible flat tires from the steel panels again but no other details there but you know we're definitely a year out from that being done.

1:27 We had the front of Chester Road close parts of last week, but it looks like that is all done and being wrapped up. So that's good. Red light update. We still just got three, Old Cox, Publix, and Walmart. And we'll be getting one eventually at City Setting Entrance and Cumberland and 100 Intersection there at the middle school. And based on our planning commission meeting, there could be a couple more being added soon too. We're growing. Well, City News, basically the fire department released some posts that they've got some new candidates that have graduated from the fire academy. So that was great to see. And then the fire department also received a grant for $7,524.80 from Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation to commit to support public response efforts, which is cool.

2:18 This funding will be used to purchase two Homatro mini cutters and accessories, enhancing the department's rescue capabilities and ensuring firefighters are better equipped to serve the Fairview community. I put a link on there to that. Basically, we're definitely getting a deal because those are anywhere from $4,000 to $5,000 each, and we're getting $7,000 and getting two of them, so that's great. and we you know they obviously sent out their appreciation to firehouse subs public safety foundation i did not know that that existed uh and the local house firehouse subs in franklin i thought it was named that because i was founded by that but i didn't know how much they supported and i guess we're getting some sub money to do that which is great uh other than that other city news. The stop of the manufacture of pennies at the end of last year has struck finally our first local business with Food Saver. If you're paying by cash, things will be rounding up to the nearest nickel. This is something I thought would happen in the chain of events that could be possible, and here we are. We will probably see other businesses doing this across the country and, of course, in our town, but this is probably one of the first public posts of that. Right now, we still have the same number of homes for sale at 201 from last week. And so we're still rocking.

3:45 Oh, actually, no, nevermind. We have 215 from 201 last week. And that's because of one of those subdivisions wrapping up and getting some stuff done. So that's good to see. The same highest is 3.495 million for 70 acres, three bed, four bath. Uh, and the lowest is no acres, 250 K, um, going on from there. So that's good there too. And so then we'll keep seeing that kind of movement happening, uh, throughout our town. So that's definitely always a good thing to see. Town meeting. All right. Well, there was no board of zoning appeals, but there was a planning commission meeting yesterday uh and so that basically in summation uh approved another 102 homes uh to be built uh and the last time they did this they did 70 and the time before that 163 183 uh only citizen no no citizens really came to comment uh alex from one of the uh project managers for this horn tavern project it was mentioned the the previous meeting uh came and said he apologized for missing it so that was good uh there was interesting thing the approval of the minutes uh you know it still passed uh but there was two abstention votes uh which i thought was kind of weird for the minutes being like that but then when we didn't have any old business but we did have new business new business pc resolution uh pco1 126 past nine zero this is 14 houses

5:20 That's basically an Orange Shire subdivision expansion. And this is on Northwest Highway. And basically, this is 14 more homes being stuffed into a 5.3 acre lot with a couple things shifted up. And this is also, they talked about it, this is plugging a hole, a donut hole in the city because basically things around it have been annexed and this wasn't annexed. And now it's annexed. And Mayor Anderson was happy to see that. And I can understand it too, because it makes it easier for city services to provide services down the road. So that's good. Our next item, item B, PC resolution 226, past 6-3 with three no's.

6:04 This is 73 more homes going on old cocks on 53 acres. And Todd from the engineering company, a couple of people asked about the Dice Lampley in that really bad curve that's kind of blind where they're going to have one of those in there uh they asked why they did it that way they said they were recommended by the fairview staff and to put an alley in there to help uh you know do that they asked about also putting some extra signage about blind drive and all that stuff asked about the distance to pine crest and talked about the vegetation and detention ponds there uh jeff pape mentioned that this plan doesn't work due to the slopes and lot sizes based on some of the stuff that they've been working on.

6:48 And they responded that they tried to put the roads where those were so that they could put property there because the roads don't have to do that, but the lots do. So we'll see that. They're leaving some trees because someone asked if they're going to cut down all those trees. And they said they're going to leave some on Pinecrest and the west side of the property. And then they're also going to try to save what they can. and there was asking if there was any plans for open space and they said that this wasn't required but took a look at it due to the slopes of elevation one of the other commissioners asked didn't this used to just have 10 less houses before this conceptual plan hearing and they said they were pretty sure it's always been 73 i think i remember 63 but here we are pc resolution 326 past nine zero this is nine homes with one existing so only nine new things are coming this is that property that we've talked about a couple times on harrison drive the water town water tower questions were in there basically lot 10 will become the water tower once they move it and then the other lot will become a house once it's there and they also asked how they would do that and they wouldn't have to come back to the commission and that was correct because the plats are already separated once all this is approved so they could build whatever they needed to from there they also asked about the how the existing house will have access and it will still have access to

8:18 the harrison drive road and then our next order item d pc 426 there was this was six more homes no questions this is on hall road which is just a little tiny road they had a thing on the boarding board of commissioners a couple of weeks ago on this, and this is their final plat. So this is all done. And then there was a department, the code discussion, which went on for a while, which was good. And I tried to keep this short and sweet, but well, here we go. The first Mr. Greer talked about the changes made. They moved the traffic requirement from 40 homes to all residential projects, which I think is great. But the caveat is that this development has a direct traffic or non-traffic to a standard road and anything doesn't meet that requirements or topography requirements. So a standard road basically means it's this wide and it's related to those codes. A residential development is more than three and Mayor Anderson disagreed, but a couple others replied back in the same kind of way that this is beginning to becoming more normal across the state. Mayor also brought it up for more feedback and maybe we need to make a minimum and a couple other people agreed and what the verbiage would make sense so that it would be back and forth among the members of the board and that it could be a case by case basis because it's obviously a cost burden to anyone that would want to build more than three things

9:49 And if it's a really small thing and it only is adding three houses to someplace that had one house or no houses, uh, it might be a barrier entry, which I think could help, but you know, we'll have to see what they do. Um, but they're saying that it would be good for us to have all these traffic studies. And this was based on a recommendation that Mr. Greer had got from multiple people asking about traffic studies because we don't have enough of that data. They changed the definition of development site to 20 acres. and they changed it to 150 lots and 50 acres. Not sure how many 50 acre lots are left in our area or are in the 2040 plan, but there's a percentage of changes to spaces.

10:32 Newly annexed properties will have to change from CD2W to CD2, one home per three acres, which in most parts of Williamson County is one home per five acres. This will only hurt our density problems, this change. uh garage designs definitely a lot of things about that basically the minimum sizes of 12 by 22 and 24 by 24 for a double uh there were also limits in the lengths of the driveway of minimum and maximums um or minimums only on that one uh building site widths uh went down from 125 to be 125 feet from 150 from previous zoning and the rear setback was set from 30 feet to 20 feet uh for 230 feet from 20 feet so basically uh you know we're getting smaller lots uh even with bigger back sets so it just changes how they have to put the lots and the houses in their garage locations are allowed from the second layer of the house um adjusted it from you know the site within on the cd3l was adjusted site width from 125 feet to 100 feet so getting smaller again this is to match previous zoning that's already there the city of columbia suggested the changing the primary building materials to building materials and removing stucco to not possible based on exposed concrete and aluminum siding and vinyl siding, which are not allowed in new homes now when this code goes through there. CD3 has lots of reducing some of the edits,

12:07 reducing the lots from 90 feet to 70 feet, only making it smaller and that they have to have 50 feet the high of the alley and that only hurts our density problems again adjusted the setbacks for the front side rear and alley and others this is four homes per acre is what cd3 is they were also discussed about the drainage problems that come with more alleys as they were basically starting to put those in the requirements and that non-permeable surface is probably going to cause also more problems there was a real interesting one that was clear glass was required for all elevations but they changed a uh i guess switched it to frosted glass and the bathrooms are allowed porch frontages were changed from six feet in depth from eight feet so they don't have to make their front porches as big garages can only have that faces the street only a 33 percent width from there instead of 30 percent cd4 was changed the men to the max from 24 to 22 feet and changed the side and set back and the rear set back also cd4c changed from 16 dwellings per acre this is designed to be a multifamily home and house and work with the city and properties around 840 were mentioned that would be this we already had r20 which is 20 houses per acre so this is a little less dense than that but it's just a new way steep slopes the definition of that and the minimum percent of site to be

13:44 undisturbed from 40 to 30 and then for some will be from 90 to 100 on really steep stuff and added a sentence in there to talk about the deviations the development plans in there They also talked about how ridge drops and hilltops have limitations that 80% of the hilltop can be disturbed. And this is they're trying to leave that up to the team to kind of figure out what they want that number to be. They basically threw a dart on the board there. Cumberland Estates is an example of something that's above 850 feet.

14:27 And this would have been restricted if this land would have been there. So we'll talk about that. Someone asked about if the 2040 plan called out hilltops and it didn't. The definition of rural retreat was changed in this and recreational amenities were deemed walking trails, mountain bike trails, picnic facilities, spa, greenhouse, and retail. All other amenities shall be approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals. This is in reference to the Fernvale hearing for the racetrack and shooting range that would have been the conditional use of the word retreat, real retreat. And so basically they have added more clear language to prevent that for easier interpretation. There are discussions of what it could be, of what a commercial retreat could be if it's deemed as residential and then charge them in concerts and stuff like that. And there's temporary use forms that they could use to have a concert there and do that scenic street buffers uh were discussed and uh that is the minimum buffer from the edge of the street and a percentage of it that can be disturbed and that's basically so if you're driving along and you see some fields and then a house way back there uh then that's kind of what they want for this rural field uh rural feel of it and so this used to just so they added Chester, Cumberland, Crocut, Old Franklin, Cox Pike, Northwest Highway, Old Nashville Road to have a 100-foot buffer with 50% of that 100-foot undisturbed and 20% undisturbed to be

16:04 screened. So basically how you would plant stuff and all that. This used to just have Highway 100 in two segments and two parts of the city and then Highway 96. So they've added that. The rest of the updates were basically misspellings and minor formatting changes and going from that. The Planning Commission is going to supposedly set up their voting will be February 10th, and they're going to have a January 20th working session with TPUDC. So if you want to be a part of that and have a citizen comment, that's probably, that is your chance to make any changes of anything you just heard. Everybody else didn't have any updates for discussion. Then the Planning Commission roundtable was no updates.

16:45 and Ms. Shoeless asked how we can share with the community kind of this thing. And basically, Mr. Greer says it's referenced on the website. It's in this board, in this meeting agenda, and referenced a couple other places on the website. Mayor Anderson talked about the Around Town Coffee and Boys and Girls Club was going to be there tomorrow. And this is good for the Planning Commission because she was able to work with Lee Reeves, one of our representatives and Jay Norris from TDOT to discuss what we can do with some transportation money that could be found. And we are beyond 10 years out for widening so far.

17:26 We talked about some of the red lights that could be coming, but hopefully they're going to try to make a continuous turn lane throughout the whole city from the post office to 840. They think they could do that without requiring new uh new land to be purchased uh so that's that's really what the hold up is with a lot of this even if you had the money is the budget to buy the those chunks of land down there i still think this would have a sidewalk problem and a lot of probably destruction here and there and change some of the plans but the sooner they get that done especially from call it Tractor Supply Co. or Bowie Park, down towards Publix and Walmart and then from there to the rec center, the less stuff will have to be destroyed later. Vice Mayor McDonald said, Happy New Year and go Bears. Mr. Cowley said, Thanks for the staff's hard work and Happy New Year's and go Bears. Mr. Pape thanks everyone for their help on their staff. Mr. Greer talked about how he wanted to get printed versions of that and basically got a roll call. Then they adjourned the meeting and it was done. Next meeting. Uh, yep. So planning commissions coming up in a little bit, uh, in a couple of weeks and board of commissioner is this, uh, tomorrow on January 15th at town hall.

18:44 And on the agenda for that is talking about the city events, updating some of that, the water department planning department is going to have some stuff, parks, police, fire department city manager and basically old business is to talk about the aig nep expansion which is basically how we are partnered with other cities and then resolution 6225 which is the board of commissioners in the city of fairview formally accept the subdivision improvements of adams preserve. So basically saying there, new business 01026 is the city of Fairview accepting the city audit of the fiscal year ending in June 30th of 2025. I would love to see that. I wish I hope maybe it will get posted. It's not on the agenda yet. Resolution in new business of 226 is the city of Fairview Fire Department to accept a grant from the firehouse subs, which we just talked about unless you already put news on it uh ordinance 2026-01 is 62 acres on horn tavern road getting sliced and diced uh from rs40 to rs15 and uh so we'll see how that goes which i think it's just an ordinance to amend the zoning for it so then parks and landscape is going to have a talk and then more discussion on the fairview ballpark by the city manager from our last meeting they said that they were going to research some stuff and so i guess they have researched it and we're good to go uh january 29th is our board of commissioners town hall that's always a good

20:20 one to go to because that's going to where your city updates are going to kind of kind of come there all the time and then parks and landscape board met last week january 5th and around town coffee is was today uh at there and i haven't seen any post yet but i'm sure it's good state to Tennessee. Well, protest at the Capitol over Bill HB 884, which passed yesterday, which we'll discuss in the bill section along with some of the bill sections. Basically, it imposes some of the same restrictions on adult-oriented businesses that has certain shows and certain movies shown at a business. So basically, categorize the stuff. As we prepare for 2026 elections, a memo was sent out to a couple states, I guess, including Tennessee, to make sure that we are auditing our voter rolls to make sure that ineligible voters are removed. So we'll probably hear some of that from the Department of State soon. So we'll hear that. Memphis, Tennessee is working to block ICE from the city. More formally, tensions are very high right now after the incident that happened last week in Minnesota, where a fleeing mother was killed after driving towards an ICE officer. This has led to protests and violence all over the U.S. and even the world to protest this, but I'm not sure how these escalations will help anyway, especially when it comes to the violence and arson and the overall chaos caused by these protesters instead of just doing some, I guess, nicer protests that aren't violent and focusing on the laws and changing them

21:50 if that's what you want to do. CWD was also detected now in Humphreys County, so it's spreading and it could become a bigger problem into our deer population because now that means it's kind of surrounded us with Humphreys County being at that. There are grants and fund projects to help beneficial use of waste tires, such as projects including tire recycling and processing using materials from tire-derived aggregate, initiating research and development of tire management, and using alternative fuels or promoting the innovation there. Tennessee produces nearly 6 million waste tires a year. The TEAP has helped divert 9 million tires since the program's inception, and the Tennessee's General Assembly established the Tire Environmental Fund in 2015.

22:36 Since then, grantees have been awarded almost $12 million to address the waste tire disposal in the state. So if you have an idea of what you want to do with waste tires, there is millions of dollars and grants for you to go to go get the bills well uh basically only one thing yesterday which is that hb 884 uh and the ways and means meets tomorrow on the 15th and nothing else is on the calendar for next week uh so january 14th 2026 the ways and means and the ways and means is basically talking about i guess spending uh with the rural health transformation program grant Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, $206,888,882.

23:21 So I put a link in the show notes of the HB884, which was protested. It passed with 73 A's and 24 nays, and no votes were zero. And basically, you can dive into there on the show notes to see that and basically clarifies how far these types of adult-oriented businesses need to be from child care facilities, public, private, and charter schools, and public parks and recreation centers and residences, and basically categorizes a couple different things related to that in that performance industry. How's the hill? Well, back at it. Well, it's passable. We're back to coldish again. The Tennessee temperature swap is still in effect, so you can have a 30 to 40 degree swing in nine days or less, or you get your money back.

24:11 The weather gasters are predicting highs varying from 50 to 32 degrees, and then a low from 30 to 17, with it just being cloudy over the next week or so. New businesses, nothing new spotted. Ace Hardware is definitely getting closer to the parking lot. The front is getting its final elevation, it looks like. They've made a lot of progress. the property across from car orthotics was finally found. Uh, it's $1.4 million for 2.4 acres is now under contract. So someone is getting ready to buy that and we will see what they turn that 2.8 acres into. Um, and hopefully that'll be good. Other than that, I haven't spotted anything new and there's nothing new for sale in their, um, commercial realty right now. Farmer's market.

24:59 Make sure you head to the farmer's market every Saturday morning, 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Messick Chiropractic and Fairview Fresh Deli Donuts for their life-changing apple fritters located down the road from Publix. There are many good places to get breads and treats, local beef and pork, fruits and vegetables, a lot less of that right now. You got some hot sauce and barbecue sauce, fishing lures, and some other gifts that you could have this time of year. business highlight thompson's kitchen is who we picked this week thompson's kitchen has evolved from our love of people food and meaningful experience we embrace southern hospitality regional cuisine and a global influence as our dining experience merges the familiar and unfamiliar the personal and professional all set as a casual bistro atmosphere in simple my description is it is they are our local fancy restaurant and it's delicious and you should check them out they do a lot of support around town so definitely go get something to eat there job openings uh we still basically have the same 29 jobs as last week which is pretty much every fast food restaurant almost every retail has something uh and then other places that you might not see like SPEG, AMS Seals, Fairview Animal Clinic, Big Heart Moving Company the Boys and Girls Club Obviously there still a police position in the city And so there lots of things If you have a job posting please just reach out in the contact form on the website and we get it juiced up well uh history nugget uh this this week uh we kind of dive into one

26:36 of the last couple things here uh is icarus court icarus court if you didn't know is an ancient Greek mythology, Icarus was the son of, I'm always going to mess this up, of Daedalus, the master inventor and craftsman. Daedalus created two pairs of wings from feathers and wax and allowed his son to escape from the island of Crete because they had been imprisoned there by the king Minos. Warning his son not to fly too high because of the sun would melt the wax, Icarus ignored his father, and when the wax melted, he fell to the sea and drowned. Icarus is a symbol of over ambition. Uh, so, uh, I think that's, uh, not very like, I guess, historically relevant to fair view, but relevant nonetheless to our history and, you know, always trying to have a little nugget here of something. So, and then here we go. Upcoming events. Well, nothing really to recap from last week. Uh, you know, one of the big things is the Sweetheart Dance is coming up at the Williamson County Enrichment Center.

27:47 And that is going to be the father-daughter dance. These are always good. There's two time slots, $3.30 and $5.00 and $6.00 to $7.30 with children ages 5 to 14. And basically, it's $30 per couple or add a sibling for $15. And this should be a good time there. And this is on Saturday, February 7th. so that's on the calendar buoy park uh basically today you know it's project feeder watch so that helps you track birds um january 13th yesterday was the scrappers i didn't see any posts from that from buoy park uh so i would have been like hopefully they had a turnout january 17th is our song writers the songwriters night the high school band and fsd performing arts center at 10 30 excellence way out in Franklin, Tennessee from six to eight 30.

28:41 So January 17th, put that on your calendar as a cool thing. A lot of amazing people out there doing that have done some amazing songs. So the links in there for that January 22nd at two to 3 PM is her heroes at Bowie park eight and over. We'll learn about all forms of lizards and snakes January 30th, 10 AM to 4 PM is the seed swap. and so bring your seeds and cuttings at the nature center and you'll be good to go april 28th a new one from this one is the fairview titans junior pro their first annual four man scramble golf tournament is there so more details are there on our website with all the signups and all the rules and just like we talked about last week we have it in here but this is going to be a longer show but the easter egg hunt is march 28th may 2nd for the crafts fair movie night is May 16th and the rest of that you can see in there. Just like we talked about in the news for the state of Tennessee, it's an election year. So May 5th is our county primary, August 6th is our state and county general election, and November 3rd is our federal and state general plus municipal election. So make sure you do that. We have all those links out there of when early voting is and everything like that. So definitely check that out for the kids. Well, there's still always tons of activities to keep your kids engaged here. There are some cheer programs, recreation teams from baseball, basketball, football, and many others. There's a thriving

30:13 Girl Scout and Scouts BSA program here from elementary to high school kids. If you have a homeschooler, always check out Bowie Park schedule for the clubs that meet there. And if you have any kids that are interested in dance and gymnastics or cheer, please reach out to Lala's dance studio and elevate gymnastics and cheer for that. Vigilance Martial Arts is our local Taekwondo and Jiu-Jitsu school that teaches way more than just moves. And then you have the Fairview Jacket Youth Wrestling Program, which is a great program with summer options. A lot of state champions have come from that. And now there is a Fairview Volleyball Rec League that's coming up. So we've got the info in there.

30:54 Basically, the practice begins the week of March 16th, And the specific practice will be there. But they've got a match on April 28th, April 11th, April 18th, April 25th, and May 2nd and May 9th. So you can go there. You can sign up at the Fairview Recreation Complex. And this is all broken into the kind of normal leagues that you would expect, where it's like ages 7 to 9 is 9U, and that's co-ed. and then at age 10 and 11 and 12 and 14 11 you and 14 you uh it is girls only at that and you have an intermediate team for the age 10 to 11 so if you want to get into volleyball uh before middle school uh you can go ahead and get into it school news well january 19th coming up there is no school for martin luther king day hawk and tiger news no news no new news since last week I'm always going to mess that up.

31:47 Falcon News. The newsletter is back. It was National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, and the resource officer got some goodies in appreciation of all he does for the school. More discussions of the school of how they're going to become a reward school and how it comes to achievement, which is students scoring level three and level four on their exams and showing mastery of things. Attendance, basically get to school, and growth, where students make their growth measure. Uh, as in they're doing better is what I'm hoping, guessing him for H met, uh, earlier this week, uh, and January 12th at three to 4 PM. This was only sent the day before. So you may have missed that, uh, because the timing of coming back from the holidays and that late there, January 15th at 6 PM, there'll be a meeting with the mechatronics program.

32:35 So that's tomorrow to learn about that program. January 16th is the Falcon pride schedule. uh january 20th fms wrestling at the wma traditional uh at mill creek is going the lady falcons flag football tryouts are sunday january 25th from 1 to 2 30 at the high school football field and then january 21st is fms bowling versus freedom january 26th at 6 p.m There'll be a meeting in the cafeteria for anyone interested in softball. And February 2nd, 3.30 to 5.30 is the tryout for that.

33:15 February 12th is the spring pictures, New Day, and March 5th is the makeup spring pictures coming up. The rising freshman night at FHS is February 18th. All rising ninth grade families at 6 p.m. the eighth grade new the course selector is starting on february 19th through march 5th in the library and that's where the counselors are going to meet with your students and try to figure out what their plan is for those next couple years and get there and if you have an iep then that will be done through that process and go through there thursday january 15th at 6 p.m fpac at the high school we'll learn about that mechatronics which we already get that The 2025-2026 Monica Burr Safety Foundation to meet Tennessee legislation requirements was still mentioned again about the detection, intervention, prevention, and treatment of child abuse and human trafficking.

34:13 And the MBF Teen Safety Matters is the name of the course. And that will be delivered to your seventh graders tomorrow on the 15th or this week. tomorrow on the 15th there will also be a basketball game at Brentwood so it is back to busy time at the school jacket news well they sent a newsletter but it was not clickable so epic fail there so what we have is today the 14th there's a bowling match at Brentwood against Brentwood tomorrow the wrestling team is going versus Cheatham and Eagleville on the 16th the basketball team will go against Montgomery Central on the 20th the high school wrestling will be their District 14 duels, and the basketball team will be at Harpeth High.

35:00 Applications to the Innovation Center are still open until February 13, 2026. Senior jackets and rings can still be ordered, and that's kind of there. So here we go, faith moment. This is one I found a Oxford lecture from Professor John Lennox named God Does Exist and his relationship and how God relates to the whole human society. It's pretty fascinating how morality doesn't have a scientific origin, but it has biblical origins, how he goes into science and the relationship to our creation. So just really, really cool stuff.

35:42 Kind of, it's good to hear it from a scholar, a scientific scholar's point of view. So, here we go. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. I believe in God. I believe in the supernatural God who created the heavens and the earth. I believe in a God who holds the heavens and the earth in existence. I believe that on the basis of rational evidence, similar to the beliefs held by the founders of this house, who gave this university the motto, Dominus Illuminatio Mea. They saw no contradiction between faith in God and the utmost excellence in rational inquiry. And if I dare mention my alma mater of Cambridge in this holy place, I would remind you that on the door of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge are written the words, great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. And as we look at the rise of science in the 16th and 17th centuries, Alfred North Whitehead and many others commented that men became scientific because they expected law in nature, and they expected law in nature because they believed in a lawgiver. So, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not ashamed of being both a scientist and a Christian, because arguably,

37:18 Christianity gave them my subject. What I am amazed at is that serious thinkers today continue to ask us to choose between God and science. That's like asking people to choose between Henry Ford in engineering as an explanation of the motor car. When Newton discovered his law of gravity, he didn't say, I've got a law, I don't need God. No, he wrote the Principia Mathematica, arguably the greatest work in the whole history of science, because he saw that God is not the same kind of explanation as a scientific explanation. God doesn't compete. Agency does not compete with mechanism and law. Why is there something rather than nothing?

38:04 Alan Sandage, the brilliant cosmologist who became a Christian in his 50s, said God is the answer to that question. But people are now so desperate to show that the universe created itself from nothing, which seems to me to be an immediate oxymoron. If I say X created Y, I'm assuming the existence of X to explain the existence of Y. If I say X created X, I'm assuming the existence of X to explain the existence of X, which simply shows that nonsense remains nonsense even if high-powered scientists utter it. It reminds me a little bit of G.K. Chesterton, who said, it is absurd to complain that it is unthinkable for an unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing and then to pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything. The heavens declare the glory of God, says the ancient psalm. And we've unraveled a bit of that, seeing the fine-tuning of the fundamental forces of nature. It's something that's so striking to scientists that it demands explanation. And it seems to me that Arno Penzias hit it right. He is the Nobel Prize winner who discovered the microwave background on which a lot of the evidence for the Big Bang is based.

39:22 He said, astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing, one with the very delicate balance needed to provide exactly the right conditions required to permit life and one which has an underlying one might say supernatural plan But I want to come to what I think is one of the fundamental arguments for theism. I take it this house believes in reason. That's why we're all here. And as a scientist, I believe that the universe is rationally intelligible. That is something that has struck some of the geniuses of science as demanding an explanation.

40:05 Einstein said the only incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it's comprehensible. And Wigner talked about the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics. How is it that a mathematician thinking in her head in here can come up with equations that seem to fit the universe out there. Well, how is it indeed? Because the irony of the atheist position here is evident. My atheist friends, and I have many of them, tell me that the driving force of evolution which eventually produced our human cognitive faculties, reason included, was not primarily concerned with truth at all, but with survival. And we all know, ladies and gentlemen, what has often happened and still happens to truth when individuals or commercial enterprises or nations feel themselves threatened and struggle for survival. A leading philosopher, Alvin Plantinga of Notre Dame, says, if atheists are right that we are the product of mindless, unguided natural processes, then they have given us strong reason to doubt the reliability of human cognitive faculties, and therefore inevitably to doubt the validity of any belief that they produce, including their atheism. Their biology and their belief in naturalism would therefore appear to be at war with each other in a conflict that has nothing at all to do with God. Yet my atheist friends still insist that it is rational for them to believe that the evolution of human reason was not directed for the purpose of discovering truth. And yet it is irrational for me to believe that

41:40 human reason was designed and created by God to enable us to understand and believe the truth. curious logic. By contrast with that, biblical theism asserts that ultimate reality is personal and intelligent, and the reason science works, and this was the motivating force that drove the great pioneers of science, is that the universe out there and the human mind in here that does the science are ultimately the product of the same intelligent divine mind. Human beings are made, we are told, in God's image. And that means that science can be done. That makes infinitely more sense to me as a scientist than atheism does. Now, let me come briefly to ethics. Ethical behavior, like rational behavior, of course, does not itself require religious belief. This is consistent with the fact that humans are created in God's image as rational, moral persons. But just as I suggest that rationality cannot be explained without the existence of God. So I dare to suggest that the existence of morality cannot be explained either. As modern science sprang from Judeo-Christian sources, so did the concept of human equality. Listen to atheist Jürgen Habermas, arguably one of Germany's leading intellectuals. He said that universalistic egalitarianism, from which sprang

43:10 the ideals of freedom and a collective life and solidarity, the individual morality of conscience, human rights, and democracy as the direct legacy of the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love. This legacy, substantially unchanged, has been the object of continual critical appropriation and reinterpretation. To this day, there's no alternative to it. Everything else is just idle postmodern talk. And it seems to me he's hitting the core of something important, because the value of a human being on which such egalitarianism is abreast is based not on what the human being can do, but what she's made of, or how she's made in God's image. I never forget speaking on one of my many visits to Russia to a colleague in the Academy of Sciences, and he said, you know, John, we thought we could abolish God and retain a value for human beings.

44:11 We found we couldn't, and we murdered millions of them. And Alexander Solzhenitsyn has said, if I'm asked, why is it that 60 million of my fellow countrymen were sacrificed? He said, the answer is, we have forgotten God. Science, of course, marvelous as it is, is limited. Even a Nobel Prize winner by analyzing a cake cannot tell why it was made. But Aunt Matilda, who made it, can tell you. She can reveal it to you. But if she doesn't reveal it to you, you'll never know. And that brings me to be my next evidence. It's the same with the universe.

44:52 We can analyze it magnificently. But ultimately, if it has a maker, and I believe it has, only he can tell us what it's all about. And he's done so in the powerful narrative of the Bible, in particular in its analysis of the problem with humanity, not simply in terms of behavioral breakdown between people, but a vertical breakdown of trust between us and the Creator. The unique solution to that problem is not simply in terms of human ethical development, although that's very important. But in terms of something far deeper altogether, the restoration of the fractured relationship of God through the salvation he has brought through Jesus Christ, a radical relationship that empowers us to live ethically from God. And here we reach what for me is the chief evidence, not only for the existence, but the nature of God. It is Jesus Christ. He it was who not only taught the golden rule, but embodied it, fed the hungry, healed the sick and suffering, and welcomed society's outcasts, brought honor and respect to the marginalized and ashamed. And he's brought forgiveness and peace to multi-millions around the world.

46:10 He's able to do this, of course, because though he was a man, he uniquely never was only a man, but God become human. The central evidence for this startling claim is, of course, his historical resurrection from the dead that launched Christianity in the world. This is, of course, ladies and gentlemen, a crunch issue. If Jesus rose from the dead, death is not the end, and atheism is false. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, Christianity is false. And I remember at Cambridge as a student listening to the brilliant Sir Norman Anderson, a legal expert, going through forensically the evidence from his legal perspective as a brilliant lawyer. And he said at the end of it, the empty tomb then of Jesus forms a veritable rock on which all rationalistic theories of the resurrection dash themselves in vain.

47:11 Just finally now, as I read the Bible, I do not only find intellectual satisfaction, but I find a great deal of that. I sense the voice of God speaking to me. You see, that's intensely personal. But ladies and gentlemen, we've been asked tonight about belief in God. And I want to strongly emphasize that God is not a theory, He's a person. And if the origination of me qua person is a personal God, then the most exciting thing really is, is there a possibility of getting to know God? And so, I don't simply believe there is a God. I've come to know him and trust him, and I have strong reasons for doing so, because of Christ dying and rising again for me. And that has generated in me a sense of utterly unmerited forgiveness, acceptance, and peace that has enabled me to face the ugly side of my own nature, and with God's help to do something about it. But it's enabled me to face something else.

48:15 The hardest problem I face as a Christian is the problem of evil and pain. My niece getting a tumor at 22 that kills her. What do I say to my sister? And this is the hardest problem we face. But it seems to me that atheism here has no answer, because by definition, atheism believes that human death is the end, so there is no ultimate hope. But you see, ladies and gentlemen, we could stay here till midnight and beyond arguing, as has been done in this university for centuries. What a good God should, might, would, could, if not possibly might, just could he not have done and we'll get nowhere. So it seems to me there's another question we can ask, and it's this. Granted that life presents us with a double picture, we see some beautiful things, we see some ragged edges, we see hurt and pain, and we see joy. How can we come to terms with that?

49:25 And it seems to me here is no simplistic answer, but a window into an answer, and it's this. If it is actually true that Jesus is, as I believe him to be, the Son of God, then we can ask the question, what is God doing on a cross? And the answer comes back at the very least. God has not remained distant from our human suffering, but has become part of it. And the other side of that is this. Because Jesus rose from the dead, he is going to be the ultimate judge. Now, here's an irony, because atheism has no ultimate hope of justice by definition.

50:05 The vast majority of people in the history of the world have died without justice and will die without justice. And if death is the end, then, of course, they have no hope of ultimate justice. But the promise in the New Testament guaranteed by the resurrection of Jesus is that he is to be the judge in the coming day. So, ladies and gentlemen, those are some of the reasons why I believe that God is real and worthy to be trusted. Thank you. Welcome back. Well, I hope you learned a couple things. I know I did the first time I heard it. I actually had to listen to it again. I would recommend it. If you enjoyed it, you can find a lot of other great debates by searching up Professor John Lennox.

50:50 I think one thing that like kind of stood out to me was that in the atheist view, nothing created something instead of something creating something. And just that simple word phraseology and how that relates to God. I also like the relationship of to Jesus and how that kind of launched the modern world in those, you know, I guess the waning of the Roman Empire and all the things that are associated with that. So it's really, really cool. A lot of morality stuff, a lot of science stuff. So check it out. I hope you liked it. Donations on the donation front.

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