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Tag Archives: Christianity
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Increasingly Repudiates Nonviolence
The Muslim Brotherhood is every bit as dangerous for Egypt as the Nazis were for Germany. And recall that Egypt, like Germany in the 1930s, has a vulnerable minority, readily susceptible to terrorist violence (in Egypt’s case, Coptic Christians make … Continue reading
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Tagged Christianity, coptic, Egypt, immigration, Islam, muslim brotherhood, nazis
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What’s Good About Monotheism, Again? What Part Of It Is Worth Treasuring And Rooting For? And Why, Exactly, Is God Always Gendered Male?
Robbed, killed, raped, enslaved–all in the name of God. Ain’t monotheism grand? Is This the End of Christianity in the Middle East? ISIS and other extremist movements across the region are enslaving, killing and uprooting Christians, with no aid in … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, Christianity, God, Islam, Judaism, middle east, monotheism, theology
5 Comments
God Shadowed By Emptiness: Thomas Aquinas vs. The Buddhist Nagarjuna
Emptiness shadows theism. With regard to Thomas Aquinas’ method for grounding existence in being as opposed to change or emptiness (as the Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna did), what I find interesting is how, despite himself, emptiness nevertheless shadows Aquinas’ theism. What … Continue reading
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Tagged alan watts, aquinas, Buddhism, Christianity, Nagarjuna, philosophy, thomism
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Holy Shit! The Atheists Really Are Coming!
From 16% to 23% of the American population. That’s how fast the religiously unaffiliated have risen in America over the past eight years. Stunning. The Republican Party and the Internet have ruined Christianity in America. Republicans have politicized religion, and … Continue reading
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Tagged America, atheism, Christianity, critical thinking, God, Jesus, religion, Republican party
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Potency, Act, and the Withdrawal of Grace: Thomas Aquinas on Original Sin
Here’s Thomas Aquinas in Summa Contra Gentiles, Book IV, ch. 52: “[We Christians] affirm that man was, from the beginning, so fashioned that as long as his reason was subject to God, not only would his lower powers serve him without … Continue reading
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Tagged Christianity, God, hell, monsters, philosophy, psychology, sin, Thomas Aquinas
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Jesus and Ayn Rand
What sort of conservatism blends Jesus with Ayn Rand? Oh, that would be contemporary Tea Party conservatism. But why isn’t it more widely noticed that “Christian libertarian” is an oxymoron? I would argue that this has to do with the … Continue reading
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Tagged atlas shrugged, Ayn Rand, Christianity, Jesus, philosophy, tea party
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Atheist Andrew? Is Andrew Sullivan on His Way to Becoming an Ex-Catholic?
The grotesque story coming to light of the sexual shaming of single mothers and their children in Tuam in mid-20th century Catholic Ireland–and the septic tank there that was used as the collective and unmarked grave for bastard children–800 of … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, bastards, Catholicism, Christianity, God, philosophy, sex, Tuam
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The Center Does Not Hold: Bastard Christianities
If his lecture outlining his argument is any indication, Catholic intellectual Joseph Bottum’s new book, An Anxious Age: The Post-Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of America (Image 2014), is going to be talked about “far and wee”: The major event … Continue reading
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Tagged America, atheism, Christianity, culture, fundamentalism, Politics, Protestantism, religion
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Alan Sokal on Faith
Physicist Alan Sokal, the famed skewer of postmodernism, in an article at Massimo Pigliucci’s Scientia Salon, gives faith a well deserved towel snap: “Faith” is not in fact a rejection of reason, but simply a lazy acceptance of bad reasons. “Faith” … Continue reading
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Tagged Christianity, critical thinking, faith, God, Islam, reason, religion
6 Comments
John Stuart Mill on the “Omnipotent Author of Hell” (God)
For John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), a good reason to reject Christianity and Islam is hell belief, and in his Autobiography he recalls his father’s strong views on the matter: [H]is aversion to religion, in the sense usually attached to the term, … Continue reading
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Tagged Allah, Christianity, God, hell, Islam, Jesus, John Lennon, john stuart mill, philosophy
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The Religion Tree: A Poem
THE RELIGION TREE I. The leaf doesn’t fall far from the tree, and we are all leaves on the same tree, and will take our leave from here. II. The yellow leaf signals fall, the green leaf, pride before the fall. … Continue reading
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Tagged Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Nietzsche, poetry, religion, taoism
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What Apologetics Really Is
In psychology, you can change your attitude or you can change your behavior, and it’s always easier to change an attitude than it is to change a behavior. That’s apologetics; what it is really. Apologetics gives the doubting believer heavily … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, Buddhism, Christianity, fundamentalism, Islam, philosophy, psychology, Republican party
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Hegel for Beginners
Outer v. inner direction. The philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) had a decisive influence on Karl Marx, and he continues to exert influence on intellectual thought today. For this reason, it’s good to know the gist of Hegel’s theorizing … Continue reading
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Tagged art, atheism, Christianity, Hegel, literature, marx, philosophy, Politics
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The Muslim Brotherhood and Religious Fascism
This is being reported by the AP today: Mustafa Hegazy, a political adviser to interim President Adly Mansour, told a press conference Saturday that […] Egyptians took to the streets on June 30 – the day that led to Morsi’s ouster … Continue reading
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Tagged alexandria, atheism, Christianity, Egypt, fascism, fundamentalism, Islam, religion, Thomas Jefferson
9 Comments
Something Good About Christian Belief
One good thing about God belief of the Christian variety (if you can swing it) is that it inoculates you from other forms of irrationality. A nonbeliever in God is more prone to, say, succumbing to the delusions of Marxism … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, Christianity, critical thinking, God, Jesus, philosophy, psychology, reason
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Hell Belief
Three problems with it: Hell belief is authoritarian. If it is true that most people go to hell, and it is eternal torture over flames to be there, then the only way to save yourself from such a ridiculous fate … Continue reading
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Tagged agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, Christianity, God, hell, Islam, Jesus, religion
28 Comments
Which Religion is Best? The Admirable Superhero Criterion
There are five major world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. They can be judged by any number of criteria. Which one has the most admirable superhero? There are certainly compelling characters in four of the five: Jesus is awesome … Continue reading
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Tagged Arjuna, atheism, Buddha, Christianity, God, Islam, Jesus, Judaism, philosophy, religion
9 Comments
Pushback against Biblical Literalism Directed at Homosexuals
John Corvino provides some pushback to biblical literalists on the subject of homosexuality: __________ And Marc Ambinder recently wrote a moving reflection on how difficult it still is for young gay teens: Since moving to Los Angeles, I’ve met a lot … Continue reading
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Tagged Christianity, civil rights, gays, God, homosexuality, Islam, Judaism, lesbians, the Bible, women's rights
4 Comments
Does Science Refute God? The Intelligence Squared Debate
Hot off the grill. This was just posted at YouTube.
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheist, Christianity, God, Islam, jerry coyne, Jesus, philosophy, science
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Prometheus Unbound 