An interview I did with Luke Muehlhauser at Common Sense Atheism has been posted. Have a listen and let me know what you think! Read more

In a recent exchange of e-mails I recommended listening to Sergei Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.2 and his Piano Concerto No.2. Both pieces can be found on the Romanian site Trilulilu which I’ve mentioned (and embedded music from) before. Below are one movement from each of the aforementioned pieces of music. Go to Trilulilu to hear more! Rachmaninov, Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27, 3rd movement: Adagio http://embed.trilulilu.ro/audio/edifice/1038a3630010a5.swf Rachmaninov, Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor Op.18, 1st movement: Moderato http://embed.trilulilu.ro/audio/morsa2003/96eb1c8282d977.swf (On YouTube you... Read more

Unreasonable Faith has a post today about “Gay Exorcism” – the attempt to treat homosexuality as a demon and command it to come out of a homosexual in Jesus’ name. When such attempts fail to have any effect on the person, and clearly do not render the person heterosexual, should this not lead Christians to conclude that homosexuality is not caused by demon possession? If not, what could possibly render the above as anything other than a logical conclusion? Or... Read more

It dismays me whenever I see a pseudoscientific young-earth creationist or intelligent design advertisement that has been added to a science blog because of shared keywords that suggest it might be of interest to the blog’s readership. For instance, this came up on a post on the primate family tree in the Google Reader feed: The post cites peer-reviewed scientific research, offers charts and diagrams, and yet it is accompanied by an ad that suggests that some guy with a... Read more

A Facebook friend suggested that I might like Prophecy News Watch. I took a look, and found a discussion of why the United States seems not to have been mentioned in the Bible. Since it is (from their perspective) inconceivable that such an important world power would be overlooked or omitted, it must be an indication that by the end times, the United States will have been destroyed, or incorporated into a larger political entity. Here is the whole section... Read more

Diglotting has posted asking how much Christian theology might be affected by the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligent life. It’s something that I’ve blogged about here before, and since it is a topic that interests me, I thought it deserved a link! Read more

First, let me share this hilarious remake of a Gospel classic, giving it a philosophical agnostic twist (HT Luke Muehlhauser): And now, on a more serious note, a challenging video on how to make a difference in the world – including response to possible skeptical objections (HT Daniel Florian; the charity that produced it is connected with Peter Singer and shares its name with one of his books, The Life You Can Save): Read more

This short movie about plagiarism, made by the University of Bergen in Norway, was shared on the Love of History blog. It is fantastic and I will show it to my freshman core students in the Fall. I wonder whether it would be worth dubbing the parts that are in Norwegian into English, or perhaps finding some skilled individuals to make an English-language version? Obviously I’m referring to people who would give credit to the original source of the idea…... Read more

Find and Ye Shall Seek shared this powerful slam poem which begins with the words that are the title of this post: Read more

There’s a piece of music which sounds fascinating (or should that be “sounds like it will sound fascinating”?). James Macmillan has set to music the story of a woman in the 1940s who may possibly have conceived without a male’s involvement. The piece is called “Parthenogenesis.” Read more about it at Duke Divinity School’s Theology Through The Arts web site. I hope to find a way to hear the piece – there doesn’t seem to be a commercially-available recording of it.... Read more