Jesus Creed
Mornin’ to you!
One of the more important lessons a writer has to learn — and may never be able to learn: “But as I try to type now, I realize I’m doing one of the worst things a writer can do—I’m writing for that reviewer. I’m justifying my thoughts, defending my words, avoiding the offenses she called out, second-guessing each letter.”
Good post, good advice, tough world. Good post, good advice on the serendipity of life.
Justin Topp reflects on what is involved inside a person’s head when a shift is made to theistic evolution. In the interest of fairness, we have not had old earth creationists offer posts for discussions so if you’ve got something to offer send it our way. Speaking of evolution, Martin Marty pushes back against Brian McLaren for his use of “evolutionary Christianity.”
Gary David Stratton has a series on LOST and leadership. Bill Donahue posts on James 2 and calls it “We Can Work it Out.”
Luke Bretherton on the Tea Party: “Michael Kazin in his book The Populist Persuasion identifies four themes that shaped the original Populist movement and all on-going forms of populism, of which the Tea Party is the latest iteration. The first was Americanism (identified as an emphasis on understanding and obeying the will of the people); the second, producerism (the conviction that in contrast to classical and aristocratic conceptions, those who toiled were morally superior to those who lived off the toil of others and that only those who created wealth in tangible material ways could be trusted to guard the nation’s piety and liberties); the third, the need to oppose the dominance of privileged elites who are seen to subvert the principles of self rule and personal liberty through centralizing power and imposing abstract plans on the ways people lived (elites were variously identified as government bureaucrats, intellectuals, high financiers, industrialists or a combination of all four); and the fourth, the notion of a movement or crusade that engaged in a battle to save the nation and protect the welfare of the common people.”
LaVonne Neff’s 10 marks of an ethical business. Patrick on God and Government — in Ireland.
Tony Jones on communion.
Eerdmans has an author blog… check it out.
Meanderings in the News
1. Jesse Bering: “The evolutionary significance of this mind-reading system hinges on one gigantic question: Is this psychological capacity—this theory of mind, this seeing souls glimmering beneath the skin, spirits twinkling behind orbiting eyes, thoughts in the flurry of movement—is this the “one big thing” that could help us finally understand what it means to be human? Could it tell us something about how we find meaning in the universe?” Then: “As a direct consequence of the evolution of the human social brain, and owing to the importance of our theory-of-mind skills in that process, we sometimes can’t help but see intentions, desires, and beliefs in things that haven’t even a smidgeon of a neural system.” And that allows him to make this wonder: “So it would appear that having a theory of mind was so useful for our ancestors in explaining and predicting other people’s behaviors that it has completely flooded our evolved social brains. As a result, today we overshoot our mental-state attributions to things that are, in reality, completely mindless. And all of this leads us, rather inevitably, to a very important question: What if I were to tell you that God’s mental states, too, were all in your mind? That God, like a tiny speck floating at the edge of your cornea producing the image of a hazy, out-of-reach orb accompanying your every turn, was in fact a psychological illusion, a sort of evolved blemish etched onto the core cognitive substrate of your brain? It may feel as if there is something grander out there . . . watching, knowing, caring. Perhaps even judging. But, in fact, that’s just your overactive theory of mind. In reality, there is only the air you breathe.”
2. Megan Gibson: “A new, fluorescent liquid is being developed by researchers at the University of California’s San Diego School of Medicine that would, once injected, cause a patient’s nerves to “glow”, allowing surgeons to more easily avoid nicking them during surgery.”
3. Sally Jenkins is not happy about the Super Bowl: “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in Jerry World. In Jerry World, a $1.15 billion stadium looks like the Taj Mahal on the outside, but inside some of the seats violate the fire code. In Jerry World, the state of Texas spends $31 million to host the Super Bowl, even as deficits force public school cuts. In Jerry World, it can cost $900 just to park. In Jerry World, fans pay hundreds of dollars to stand outside the stadium.” And…”At its best the NFL is a deeply embedded piece of American culture, with an indissoluble bond with fans. But it’s grown far removed from the grass-roots recreation it started as, the competitive emblem of mill towns, and their enormous civic resilience. As fans, we share blame for being willing to pay anything for it. We’ve allowed league owners to cash in on American pride, and hunger for entertainment. We should insist they share American economic problems.”
4. Nicholas Bakalar: “Teaching creationism in public schools has consistently been ruled unconstitutional in federal courts, but according to a national survey of more than 900 public high school biology teachers, it continues to flourish in the nation’s classrooms. Researchers found that only 28 percent of biology teachers consistently follow the recommendations of the National Research Council to describe straightforwardly the evidence for evolution and explain the ways in which it is a unifying theme in all of biology. At the other extreme, 13 percent explicitly advocate creationism, and spend at least an hour of class time presenting it in a positive light.” And: ““Students are being cheated out of a rich science education,” said Dr. Plutzer, a professor of political science at Penn State University. “We think the ‘cautious 60 percent’ represent a group of educators who, if they were better trained in science in general and in evolution in particular, would be more confident in their ability to explain controversial topics to their students, to parents, and to school board members.”
5. Anthony Daniels thinks Cameron’s missing much more than he’s seeing: “However, when Mr. Cameron spoke of “British values,” he seemed to be speaking of a golden age of high Edwardian liberalism, rather than the Britain of today, which is far from a liberal state (in the Edwardian sense) where freedom flourishes. On the contrary, he is the head of a bloated, bullying but ineffectual government apparatus that weighs very heavily on the population and acts as a thick pall of pollution over the whole society.”
6. Very important news report by John Tierney: “Anywhere in the world that social psychologists see women or minorities underrepresented by a factor of two or three, our minds jump to discrimination as the explanation,” said Dr. Haidt, who called himself a longtime liberal turned centrist. “But when we find out that conservatives are underrepresented among us by a factor of more than 100, suddenly everyone finds it quite easy to generate alternate explanations.” And then later: ““Thus,” they conclude, “the ongoing focus on sex discrimination in reviewing, interviewing and hiring represents costly, misplaced effort. Society is engaged in the present in solving problems of the past.” Instead of presuming discrimination in science or expecting the sexes to show equal interest in every discipline, the Cornell researchers say, universities should make it easier for women in any field to combine scholarship with family responsibilities.”
7. Thomas Sowell: “Now that two different federal courts have declared Obamacare unconstitutional, the administration’s answer is to call the courts guilty of “judicial activism.” Barack Obama has a rhetorical solution for every problem. Remember the repeated claims of “shovel-ready” projects that needed only federal stimulus money to get started? Last year, the president quietly admitted that there were not many “shovel-ready” projects, after all.” He goes even further: “If the issue wends its way slowly through the circuit courts of appeal, by the time it reaches the Supreme Court, Obama may have put more of his appointees there — and, if so, they will probably rubberstamp anything he does. He would therefore have done a complete end-run around the Constitution and be well on his way to becoming the Hugo Chávez of North America.” Now that’s nothing but rhetoric, in a piece worried about misused rhetoric.
8. Tom Scocca on AOL and HuffPo: “So what does the purchase mean? It means that there is still some ridiculous money sloshing around the economy, after all. And it means that Arianna Huffington has, for the second time in her career, found a big payout at the end of an implausible-seeming relationship. Congratulations. Can’t wait to see the third act.”
9. Michelle Bryner calms some apocalyptic fears: “In 2004, NASA scientists announced that there was a chance that Apophis, an asteroid larger than two football fields, could smash into Earth in 2029. A few additional observations and some number-crunching later, astronomers noted that the chance of the planet-killer hitting Earth in 2029 was nearly zilch.”
10. George Weigel: “The big lesson of the 2011 Status of Global Mission report can be borrowed from Mark Twain’s famous crack about his alleged death: Reports of Christianity’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Christianity may be waning in Western Europe, but it’s on an impressive growth curve in other parts of the world, including that toughest of regions for Christian evangelism, Asia. Indeed, the continuing growth of Christianity as compared to the decline of atheism (in absolute numbers, and considering atheists as a percentage of total world population) suggests the possibility that the vitriolic character of the New Atheism—displayed in all its crudity prior to Pope Benedict’s September 2010 visit to Great Britain—may have something to do with the shrewder atheists’ fear that they’re losing, and the clock is running. That’s something you’re unlikely to hear reported in the mainstream media. The numbers are there, however, and the numbers are suggestive.”
Meanderings in Sports
Aren’t you glad the game for gladiators is over? And it’s time now for some real sport: Baseball!
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