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Tag Archives: Judaism
“Avatar” and the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE
Something that jumped out at me in the film Avatar was this: the calamity that befell the blue pagan forest people came very close to tracking the calamity that befell the Jews in 70 CE (when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and … Continue reading
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Tagged academy awards, Afghanistan, avatar, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Jerusalem, Jesus, Judaism, life, paganism, the romans
3 Comments
A great interview with Anthropologist Lionel Tiger about the origin of religion
At Macleans. A taste: Q: The ubiquity of belief in all human societies, you argue, means religion is rooted in our brains. You see it originating about 150,000 years ago when we were coming out of Africa, and were smart … Continue reading
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Tagged agnostic, anthropology, atheism, faith, God, Islam, Jesus, Judaism, lionel tiger, religion, seratonin
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Christians, Not Muslims, Drove This Person Behind a “Veil”
The hooded man in the photograph above is from Uganda. He is seeking asylum in the United States, but he dares not show his face in public. Why? Because he is homosexual, and theocratic fundamentalists in Uganda have succeeded in instituting … Continue reading
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Tagged atheist, Christianity, freedom, God, Islam, James Dobson, Jesus, Judaism, religion, the Bible, uganda, women's rights
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The Haitian Earthquake: The Pagan Wheel of Fortune or God’s Will and Grace?
In a recent New York Times essay, literary critic James Wood made the following observation on President Barack Obama’s selection of the language of Christian theodicy over that of the pagan Wheel of Fortune (in response to the Haitian earthquake): [T]heological language has … Continue reading
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Tagged atheist, Christianity, death, earthquakes, God, haiti, Jesus, Job, Judaism, life, religion, the problem of suffering
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Three Examples of 21st Century Anti-Semitism
The former Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir, at an Islamic conference in 2003: And Richard Williamson, a Catholic bishop: And the Drudge Report, using an anti-Semitic trope—the large and overshadowing Jew—in reporting on the Pope’s visit to Israel (May 12, 2009): … Continue reading
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Tagged anti-Semitism, Catholicism, Christianity, conspiracy theories, Freud, Islam, Israel, Judaism, paranoia, projection, psychology
1 Comment
Conspiracy Theory Taken to a New Level: The Haiti Earthquake is Now the U.S. Navy’s Fault
This today at Reason: Both Venezuelan state-owned radio and television properties zeroed in on a secret U.S. “weapon of earthquakes” as the cause of the earthquake that struck Haiti last week causing a death toll [that] could exceed 200,000 according … Continue reading
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Tagged anti-Semitism, conspiracy, conspiracy theories, Drudge Report, earthquakes, God, haiti, Illuminati, james bond, Judaism, technology, theodicy
5 Comments
When Did the Hebrew Bible Start Taking Shape?
Perhaps at the time of King David (tenth century BCE). In other words, earlier than most contemporary Bible scholars have previously assumed. Below is a quote from a report on a tenth century BCE pottery shard recently discovered with Hebrew words on … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, archeology, atheist, Christianity, faith, God, Hebrew, Judaism, reason, the Bible, the hebrew bible
12 Comments
Would Christian Brit Hume Have Said to Glenn Beck (a Mormon) What He Said to Tiger Woods (a Buddhist)?
To gage Brit Hume’s sincerity in extending a nationally televised public invitation to Buddhist Tiger Woods to become a Christian (for the proper sort of “forgiveness” supposedly not available to Woods otherwise), I think that we can ask one simple question: … Continue reading
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Tagged bill kristol, Christianity, Fox News, glenn beck, God, James Dobson, Jesus, Judaism, mormonism, Politics, religion, tiger woods
14 Comments
Fox News Christian Brit Hume’s Invitation to ESPN Buddhist Tiger Woods
Ah, when television news and sports personalities collide—over religion! This today at National Review: Brit Hume’s comments on Fox News Sunday — “I don’t think that [Buddhism] offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian … Continue reading
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Tagged brit hume, Buddhism, Christianity, God, golf, Jesus, Judaism, religion, sports, television, tiger woods
4 Comments
Pretty Good Reasons Not to Believe in God Watch: Time and Chance—and Space!—Happeneth to Them All
I’ve never heard it put quite this way, and I know that it is implied within numerous arguments for atheism, but I think, by just making it explicitly present to consciousness, that this is a pretty good reason to doubt God’s existence: … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheist, God, Islam, Jesus, Judaism, multiverse hypothesis, philosophy, religion, space, time
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John Bolton: Wrong in His Prediction That Israel Will Bomb Iranian Nuclear Facilities?
Neoconservative, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said this past summer that he thought Israel might well bomb Iranian nuclear facilities before the end of the year. With just two weeks to go in 2009, he … Continue reading
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Tagged armageddon, China, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Israel, john bolton, Judaism, neoconservatism, nuclear proliferation, nuclear weapons, Russia
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A Moderate Muslim Interviews a Suicide Bomber
This Pakistani television interview, with English subtitles, I think emphasizes the importance of Westerners not to make blanket and stereotyped observations about “what Muslims believe” as a group. As with the majority of Christians and Jews, the majority of Muslims are … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, Christianity, fundamentalism, Islam, Judaism, Muslims, Pakistan, Politics, psychology, suicide bombers, taliban
20 Comments
Separation, Veil, Perfect Asymmetry, and Inward Pilgrimage: David Gelernter on Judaism
This past week, the Chronicle Review had a long piece on Yale Professor David Gelernter (“technological guru, conservative polemicist, Unabomber target”) and his new book on the Jewish faith, titled Judaism: A Way of Being (Yale 2009): In Judaism, Gelernter zeroes … Continue reading
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Tagged art, books, david gelernter, God, Hebrew Bible, Jewish, Judaism, Jung, life, philosophy, religion
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Imagine a World Without Religion. Would It Be Less Violent?
At first glance, one thing that atheism clearly seems to have going for it is this: it doesn’t have any holy books with violence advocating passages in it. Indeed, it doesn’t have any holy books at all. So score one for atheism? Not so … Continue reading
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Tagged agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, atheist, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, philosophy, religion, violence, war
16 Comments
Bearing Witness to the Holocaust: The View from Anne Frank’s Window (July 22, 1941)
Amsterdam’s Anne Frank House recently put on YouTube rare footage of Anne Frank leaning out of a window to get a look at a newly married couple in her neighborhood: And here’s Anne Frank, at a younger age, in a group photo: … Continue reading
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Tagged anne frank, bergen-belsen, death, experience, fascism, Hitler, innocence, Judaism, life, the Holocaust, windows
19 Comments
Bill Moyers Talks to Robert Wright About the Evolution of God
I think it’s fair to characterize Robert Wright’s book this way: he has traced what he himself calls “the history of an illusion” to something less and less illusory. In other words, the history of religion, for Wright, is a … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, Christianity, evolution, God, Islam, Judaism, philosophy, psychology, robert wright
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Today’s Question
If patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, is faith the last refuge of a failed thesis? Or might faith be that place where you reach the end of all that you can figure and do, and, in … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, belief, Christianity, faith, God, Islam, Jesus, Judaism, reason, religion, skepticism
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Existential Confusion for a Sunday
I don’t know how the can opener works either: And the universe is expanding:
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Tagged agnosticism, atheism, atheist, Catholicism, existentialism, faith, God, Judaism, life, religion, the Holocaust, woody allen
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Prometheus Unbound 