Found here
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Handling the Clash Between Faith and Science
One biology teacher's story about how he explains evolution without alienating religious students.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Short Essay Assignment #1
John Hick notes that “It is also necessary, in the “one world” of today, to face the problem of apparently conflicting truth claims of the various religions.”
Two of the main branches of philosophy, metaphysics and epistemology, deal with this “problem” noted above. Discuss why this problem is an epistemological and metaphysical one.
Two of the main branches of philosophy, metaphysics and epistemology, deal with this “problem” noted above. Discuss why this problem is an epistemological and metaphysical one.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
The Politics of God
Mark Lilla, professor of humanities at Columbia University writes, "The twilight of the idols has been postponed. For more than two centuries, from the American and French Revolutions to the collapse of Soviet Communism, world politics revolved around eminently political problems. War and revolution, class and social justice, race and national identity — these were the questions that divided us. Today, we have progressed to the point where our problems again resemble those of the 16th century, as we find ourselves entangled in conflicts over competing revelations, dogmatic purity and divine duty. We in the West are disturbed and confused. Though we have our own fundamentalists, we find it incomprehensible that theological ideas still stir up messianic passions, leaving societies in ruin. We had assumed this was no longer possible, that human beings had learned to separate religious questions from political ones, that fanaticism was dead. We were wrong...."
Read the entire article here
Read the entire article here
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Is God Green?
"Is God Green?" explores how serious environmental issues have caused a split among conservative evangelicals. Issues such as global warming, mountain top coal mining, and toxic pollution has caused some people of faith to wonder if we've failed to keep our covenent in being "good stewards" of the earth (Genesis 2:15, Revelation 11:18). But not all see it the same way, and some evangelicals and politicians worry about what it would mean if Christians started voting more "green."
Watch the video here.
Environmentalists and their politically progressive allies have long dismissed conservative evangelical Christians as repressive moralists and industry apologists. The suspicion and hostility are mutual: evangelicals see environmentalists as godless, anti-human pagans and socialists.
But relations are slowly thawing -- in part thanks to, well, thawing. As glaciers and ice shelves melt, the existential danger posed by global warming has become impossible to ignore. In February, 86 evangelical leaders signed a statement calling on believers to join the fight against climate change. Read a Grist Magazine series special on, "God & the Environment."
The Brick Testament
Heralded as, "The world's largest, most comprehensive illustrated Bible." Put another way, it's Bible stories illustrated using Lego bricks and actual passaged from the Bible.
In this scene we see Jephthah killing his virgin daughter as told i the book, Judges (Judges 11:39).
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible, Qur'an, and Book of Mormon
An annotated guide to these holy books highlights notable passages for their internal contradictions, scientific and historical errors, absurdity, injustice, intolerance, cruelty and violence, and, yes, even the "good stuff" in these holy books as well (e.g. Don't mistreat strangers, Exodus 23:9).
Can the Secular World and the Religious World Understand Each Other?
"Looked at in one way: It's a story about how the secular and religious worlds cannot understand one another...ever. Looked at in another it's a story about how well they can."
- Ira Glass, host of the radio program, This American Life
Church and State in This American Life
This American Life spends an hour examining the separation of church and state.
Stories of why some people value the separation of church and state and why others do not can be listened to here in this episode of the radio program, This American Life.
Which Voice Should You Listen To?
In the radio program, This American Life, the episode, "The Devil in Me" examines three stories of people trying to exorcize their inner demons - sort of.
Listen to them here from the radio program, This American Life.
Listen to them here from the radio program, This American Life.
This American Life: Faith
Four uniquely American stories of religious faith.
Listen to them here from the program, This American Life.
A Modern Day Heretic
Several years ago, a scandal engulfed the Reverend Carlton Pearson, a renowned evangelical pastor in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
He didn't have an affair that involved prostitutes or drugs. He didn't embezzle lots of money. His sin was something that to a lot of people is far worse: He stopped believing in Hell.
The story of Reverend Carlton Pearson, can be heard here on the radio program, This American Life.
He didn't have an affair that involved prostitutes or drugs. He didn't embezzle lots of money. His sin was something that to a lot of people is far worse: He stopped believing in Hell.
The story of Reverend Carlton Pearson, can be heard here on the radio program, This American Life.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Divine Command: Honor Killings in Syria
People tend to equate religion with morality in the sense that one cannot be moral without being religious. But what happens when religious duty stands in sharp contrast with typical moral sentiments of right and wrong? Take, for example, the issue of Honor Killings.
"Fayyez must have had to kneel next to Zahra as he raised the dagger and stabbed her five times in the head and back: brutal, tearing thrusts that shattered the base of her skull and nearly severed her spinal column. Leaving the door open, Fayyez walked downstairs and out to the local police station. There, he reportedly turned himself in, telling the officers on duty that he had killed his sister in order to remove the dishonor she had brought on the family by losing her virginity out of wedlock nearly 10 months earlier."
...
"In speaking with the police, Zahra’s brother used a colloquial expression, ghasalat al arr (washing away the shame), which means the killing of a woman or girl whose very life has come to be seen as an unbearable stain on the honor of her male relatives. Once this kind of familial sexual shame has been “washed,” the killing is traditionally forgotten as quickly as possible. Under Syrian law, an honor killing is not murder, and the man who commits it is not a murderer. As in many other Arab countries, even if the killer is convicted on the lesser charge of a “crime of honor,” he is usually set free within months."
...
“Fayyez told the police, ‘It is my right to correct this error.’
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