You have a choice. You can choose between an array of superstitions, or you can believe in a set of teachings that are rational and common sense. Modern humanism is one alternative, but it is a little dry as a belief system, skirts round what happens after death, and is less forceful about friendship and …
Continue reading ‘Epicureanism matters (something philosophical for Thanksgiving)’ »
In Turkey, Erdogan , who does not believe in the equality of the sexes, is overturning the secularization of the country that followed the First World War. A bill is before Parliament which would allow men accused of raping underage girls to be cleared if they marry the girl has been preliminarily backed by Turkish …
Continue reading ‘Erdogon seems to be conducting a wholesale religious coup.’ »
Recent news indicates that there are upward of 400 billion stars, a management problem, even for God. Where on earth do you start? When God Lost the Planet Each day unfurled Another world! God sits up there and gently nurses Spanking, brand new universes. Purblinding flash! Oh, boom and crash! A zillion atoms spun in …
“Pre-Christian religions did concern themselves with morality. Egyptians believed over 4000 years ago that the soul would be judged. But prehistoric hunter-gatherer religions did not concern themselves with sexual morality, since for them the paternity of a child did not matter. “When people settled and men amassed goods and assets- – which they wanted to …
83% of people who have lost a loved one in the past year were given parting words of wisdom by the deceased. 62% were given advice by the dying about relationships, 56% about careers, and 32% about money. 21% were told by their loved one to correct past mistakes, but 17% were urged to go …
“Death – we make too much of it. All religions do. Of course, I may alter my opinion”. (Winston Churchill)
“Israel has a serious racism problem that is quickly building to a crisis. Just consider these three facts: — Since 2009, more than 43 churches, mosques, and monasteries have been torched or desecrated in Israel and the West Bank – without a single perpetrator indicted. — According to a survey, 70.2% of Israelis believe the …
Followers of important trends may have missed the debate within the Church of England on the question “Does God, the Almighty Creator of the Universe, have to be male?” A group of leading female clerics campaigned to change the language with which God is described in the Christian liturgy. Their idea was to refer to …
A while ago a ten-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped by her stepfather, was denied an abortion in Asunción, Paraguay. The child’s pregnancy was discovered at 21 weeks, when she was taken to hospital suffering from a stomach ache. Her mother demanded an abortion for her child, but the authorities refused because the procedure is …
“Marriage ……..is a union possessing all the traits of a good friendship: concern for the good of the other, reciprocity, intimacy, warmth, stability and the resemblance born of a shared life”. (Pope Francis) Beautifully said. But the Pope is still not powerful or influential enough to overturn artificial birth control (supported de facto by most …
“Unfortunately, it’s much easier to organize people around fear and hatred than around love. Most people who want to hold onto power view God as vindictive and punitive. Powerful people actually prefer this worldview, because it validates their use of intimidation. Both Catholicism and Protestantism have used the threat of eternal hellfire, which “works” because …
An estimated 4000 babies have now been born with microcephaly, probably as a result of the mothers being infected by the Zika virus. Notwithstanding this the Pope, who is supposed to be so liberal, has said that women exposed to Zika are permitted to use contraception to avoid pregnancy, but only as the least …
One effect of Trump’s candidacy in the American elections is the split among self-identifying evangelicals. It seems, according to the Washington Post, that white evangelical Protestants who are working class are more than twice as likely to support Trump than their brother evangelicals with college degrees (15% to 37%). Those who attend religious services infrequently …
Isis reveres the earliest, “purest” days of the religion, as practised under the Prophet Mohammed and his followers in the seventh century. Some 1,400 years later, it has built a repressive apparatus to recreate that ideal. Anyone deemed “heretical” has to carry a “repentance card” to show allegiance to Isis. Dozens of “un-Islamic” activities are …
Continue reading ‘The death throes of outdated religion? Or not?’ »
There is a Christian liberal arts college in Illinois called Wheaton College. One of the teachers there, professor of science Larycia Hawkins, an African American, mentioned on her Facebook page that Christians and Moslems worship the same god, and undertook to wear the hijab during Advent in solidarity with American moslems. The last time I …
