The US Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that same-sex married couples in the US are to be granted the same rights under federal law as heterosexual couples – even in states where gay marriage is not permitted or recognised. In a move hailed as a legal landmark by rights campaigners, Holder said all justice …
In an article in New American in December 2003, Steve Bonta described Epicureanism thus: Epicureans believe in an impersonal, indifferent Supreme Being, a universe devoid of spirituality, the absence of an afterlife, and belief that happiness is attained by the pursuit of pleasure. These beliefs cannot be reconciled with that piety and self- restraint so …
Penguin Books have been forced to withdraw all copies of a book called “The Hindus: an Alternative History” by an American academic, Wendy Doniger. Doniger talked about the importance of women, sexuality and the very poor of India who exist at the bottom of the caste system of India. This inflamed the good ‘ole boys …
Belgium has become the first country in the world to remove all age restrictions on euthanasia, meaning that terminally ill children under the age of 18 will now be able to request a lethal injection from doctors to end their lives. The extension of the country’s 2002 law on euthanasia, approved by parliament last week …
In a Washington Post article on February 8th, Herb Silverman says, “Many people create a deity who elects to spend eternity only with those who believe in his existence. I would rather create a deity who …..would base her decision on behavior instead of beliefs, who would want a relationship with honest, rational people who …
A new book by Bart Ehrman, “Forgery and Counter-forgery: The Use of Literary Deceit in Early Christian Polemics” demonstrates that many of the Epistles were forgeries, designed to reinforce a particular point of view in the new religion that had broken away from Judaism and which was anxious to build up credibility and a (fictitious …
“Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. Woe to you laughing now, for soon you will mourn” (Luke 6:24-25) “The first shall be last and the last shall be first” (Mathew 19:30) “How hard it will be for the wealthy …
Some while ago the New York Times carried an article by Bob Goldman that proposed Life Panels for the very elderly. These would be groups of friends and professional people with the legal authority to ensure that a person near death actually gets what they have asked for in a nursing home or hospital. End …
Continue reading ‘How would you react to the idea of “Life Panels”?’ »
Happy Christmas to our numerous readers. Here is something to humbly ponder upon over the holiday: A new book by Michael Ryan, “Decoding Al Qaida’s Strategy: the Deep Battle against America”, among other things, discusses what it is that Al Qaida and its loose affiliates (and by extension much of the Islamic world) so heartily …
The sultan of Brunei has announced that he is imposing a strict new criminal code based on sharia law. There is already a sharia Islamic court in Brunei, but it mainly handles family matters. Next year, the 280,000 Muslims in the country will be subject to a tough new penal code that is expected to …
The Pope has just criticized so-called “trickle-down” economics as having no basis either in theory or in practice. “A crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power”. Wonderful! Trickle-down economics was always an excuse for supporting the rich against the less rich. If it worked at all it would be working …
Continue reading ‘Thank you, Pope Francis. Good observation’ »
“Ut sit magna, tamen certe lenta ira deorum est”. (Juvenal, Satirae, XIII, 100). The wrath of the gods may be great, but it is certainly slow. Epicurus gave a nod to the gods on Mt. Olympus. He believed that they might well exist, but that they were too busy politicking among themselves, drinking too much …
No country likes to look poverty full in the face, but in America there is a special reluctance to do do. Since the Puritans, Americans have associated wealth with blessing and poverty with curse. According to capitalist ideology, poverty is less a social problem than a series of individual failures. A prosperous middle class showed, …
Pacific Academy in British Colombia, describes itself as “unabashedly Christian to the core” and gives enrolment priority to students whose families regularly attend a Pentecostal church or have experienced glossolalia, also known as speaking in tongues. Parents who want to enrol their children at Pacific Academy must sign a family statement agreeing with Scripture teachings …
Continue reading ‘Can Pentacostalist schools provide a modern education?’ »
Islamic teachings on whether women have to cover their faces date back to the seventh century. The niqab is not specifically mentioned in the Koran. There are, however, verses that refer to a woman’s obligation to cover herself with the khimar, a type of headscarf, and the jilbab, an outer garment, when in the presence …
Continue reading ‘Should women be allowed to cover their faces?’ »
