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Recent Posts
Monthly Archives: March 2010
In Texas, Thomas Jefferson and the Enlightenment lose to Thomas Aquinas!
Last week the Texas Freedom Network live blogged the Texas State Board of Education and bore witness to Thomas Jefferson and the Enlightenment going right down Orwell’s memory hole: 9:27 – The board is taking up remaining amendments on the high … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged America, atheism, atheist, God, history, Jesus, philosophy, religion, texas, the Enlightenment, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Jefferson
6 Comments
Would the Ante-Nicene Fathers call contemporary American Protestants Christians (followers of Jesus)?
Early Orthodox (or proto-Orthodox) Christians writing after the apostolic period but before western Christendom’s adoption of the Nicene Creed (325 CE) are sometimes called the Ante-Nicene Fathers, and there is a fascinating (and rather thick) book I’m reading that catalogues quotes from … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged ante-Nicene fathers, authoritarianism, Christianity, consumerism, fundamentalism, God, islamic fundamentalism, Jesus, materialism, psychology, religion, the Bible
1 Comment
Christopher Hitchens deconstructs the Ten Commandments—and offers an alternative decalogue of his own
I much prefer Hitchens to Moses—except perhaps when Moses arrives in this form:
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged atheist, Christopher Hitchens, decalogue, fundamentalism, God, Jesus, medicine, Moses, religion, tablets, the Bible, the ten commandments
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Contingency vs. Conspiracy
A recent set of studies reminds us that we use telos and conspiracy theories to control our anxiety over what really seems to rule the world: contingency. This at Miller-McCune: A research team led by social psychologist Daniel Sullivan of the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged bilderbergers, chance, conspiracy, contingency, free will, God, hell mouth, history, nihilism, responsibility, social psychology, telos
2 Comments
A clever ad worth seeing
This ad demonstrates the ways in which people at once reveal and conceal their physical traits and personas to others online: Who are you, really?
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged ads, advertising, Buddhism, Camille Paglia, emptiness, masks, monsters, persona, the Internet
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Karl Rove violates the sanctity of marriage—by getting a divorce!
For quite a while Karl Rove has been saying that gays violate the sanctity of marriage by seeking to get married. But Karl Rove himself has recently taken advantage of lenient no-fault divorce laws in Texas to leave his own … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged authoritarianism, divorce, gay marriage, gay rights, Jesus, Karl Rove, marriage, no fault divorce, sexual regulation, women's rights
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We know that gays are out of compliance with Leviticus, but is Miss Beverly Hills out of compliance as well?
In a thread here at Prometheus Unbound, Bob Johnson directs us to a site called “What up, God?”. The blogger at this site points us to the above photo of Miss Beverly Hills 2010 (who wants gays to get in … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Christianity, gay equality, gay marriage, gays, God, homosexuality, Jesus, lesbians, leviticus, miss beverly hills
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Technological Extensions ‘R’ Us: Martin Heidegger and Marshall McLuhan Were Right!
A new study actually testing a direct speculation of Martin Heidegger’s (that we see through our technologies, and so are our technologies) seems to have confirmed it at the neurological level. I think that Marshall McLuhan, who long touted a similar … Continue reading
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Tagged computers, cyborgs, marshall mcluhan, martin heidegger, medieval christianity, mice, pencils, robots, technology, the extensions of man, tools
5 Comments
Today’s question: in the Bible, why didn’t God make critical thinking important?
If God exists, and really wrote the Bible, why didn’t He set critical thinking front and center in, say, the teachings of Moses or Jesus? Why, in other words, is God’s emphasis in the Bible upon the pragmatics of faith and obedience—but … Continue reading
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Tagged agnostic, apologetics, atheism, atheist, doubt, doubting thomas, God, Jesus, John Macarthur, st. thomas, the Bible, the resurrection
21 Comments
Why Sherry Marquez, as a Christian, should treat Muslims in Lancaster, Ca. as her friends
Below is an excerpt from an 1842 speech made by Abraham Lincoln to the Washington Temperance Society. It’s why I think that Lancaster city councilwoman, Sherry Marquez, should make a real effort to befriend the Muslim members of her community, and … Continue reading
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Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Antelope Valley Press, Christians, friendship, God, Islam, Jesus, life, muhammad, Muslims, Politics, sherry marquez
7 Comments
A great quote on fundamentalism from Lionel Tiger and Michael McGuire’s new book, “God’s Brain” (2010)
On page 8: People are killed for what is in their heads and for the amulets worn around their necks. A mighty university press, Yale, refuses to publish images of a religious figure—the book is precisely about them [images of … Continue reading
And a little child shall lead them
Except ye become as little children, and learn to expand your humanity and loving acceptance of others’ life choices . . .
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Tagged acceptance, America, feminism, gay, gay equality, gay marriage, gay rights, God, Jesus, lesbian, life, love
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Ross Douthat on “Avatar” and Pantheism
I think that Ross Douthat, in reflecting on the film Avatar, writes rather eloquently of the human existential dilemma: Traditional theism has to wrestle with the problem of evil: if God is good, why does he allow suffering and death? But Nature is suffering … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, avatar, Catholicism, Christianity, existentialism, God, Jesus, pantheism, philosophy, religion, ross douthat, Shakespeare
3 Comments
Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun (16 April 1755 – 30 March 1842): Three Self Portraits
Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun was the most famous female painter of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In her portraitures she shows herself to be no retiring violet, but returns the Western male gaze in a wonderfully assertive fashion. Here she … Continue reading
Silencing atheism: I find this news report sad
A billboard put up by an atheist group is vandalized by a theist who apparently could not bear a dissenting opinion on religion within his community: Oops. It doesn’t embed. See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SO7K4UL7kk When you can’t even stand exposure to opinions … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, atheist, doubt, faith, free inquiry, God, James Dobson, Jesus, Michael Shermer, philosophy, the Bible
1 Comment