The Monstrous, the Impure, & the Imaginal

This interview about the ‘monstrous’ made me think of a related idea. The monstrous is a more extreme version of the ‘impure’, whether impure in terms of the physical, psychological, social, religious, etc. The monstrous and the impure are both in some way ‘wrong’ at a gut level. They just feel wrong causing an instinctual [...]

Trust & Compromise, Science & Religion

I noticed several different sets of data about trust in terms of public opinion. (My thoughts here are somewhat a continuation of my thoughts in one of my other recent posts: Public Opinion On Government & Tea Party.) The first piece of data was something I’ve come across before. Basically, Democrats tend to trust government whether [...]

NDE: Spirituality vs Religiosity

Last night, I was listening to Coast to Coast AM. The host mentioned a study in passing which caught my interest. The study was about the impact of NDEs on spirituality and religion. He said the results of NDE experiencers was the opposite of those church attenders who never had an NDE. After their NDE, experiencers were increasingly interested [...]

The Elephant That Wasn’t There

I was talking to someone the other day who was telling me about a recent family visit (by the way, her telling of it reminded me of the type of story David Sedaris writes). It was her older sister who was visiting and they were discussing the past. The older sister claimed that she used to [...]

National Day of Prayer Unconstitutional

ProfMTH — April 30, 2010 — A look at the recent decision that declared the federal law establish the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional. Links: 1. Freedom from Religion Foundation, et al. v. Obama and Gibbs http://www.wiwd.uscourts.gov/assets/p… 2. The National Day of Prayer Task Forces website http://nationaldayofprayer.org/ 3. Federalist #78 http://www.constitution.org/fed/feder…   ProfMTH — April 30, [...]

Fundamenalism & Moral Absolutism

The following video points out how moral absolutism can only exist in an advanced civilization. That makes sense to me. It reminds me of Karen Armstrong’s view that fundamentalism is a direct response to modernism.

Why I am no longer a Christian by Evid3nc3

This video is an atheist explaining how he lost his faith. It’s long, but I found it worth watching. The guy is very respectful of Christianity and he is far from being dismissive of his past faith. His example reminds me of Robert M. Price who also began studying with the hope of strengthening his [...]

Why Atheists Care About YOUR Religion

Source of Bible Covenant with God discovered?

Source of Bible Covenant with God discovered? By D.M. Murdock Archaeologists working in Turkey have unearthed an Assyrian tablet dating to around 670 BCE that “could have served as a model for the biblical description of God’s covenant with the Israelites.” [...]  Ancient treaty resembles part of the Bible Canadian archeologists in Turkey have unearthed an [...]

Interesting Stuff on the Web: 4/1/10

You’d be mad to support climate change science In a recent forum debate, a poster suggested I wouldn’t look at science that didn’t agree with my position – that I displayed confirmation bias. I have a standard response to this, which is that I’ll look at anything that isn’t junk science. If it’s credible science, why would [...]