I happened across information about the Nation of Islam’s mythology recently. It never struck me before that one part of its teachings at one point involved an island on which a renegade scientist named Yakub who creates an inferior race that comes to dominate the planet. Whenever I hear “island” and a version of the name “Jacob” in close proximity, I inevitably think of the TV series LOST. The Wikipedia article on Yakub also mentions that an author names Chi-Town... Read more

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Via New Scientist I found this great video clip of the earth as seen from 31 million miles away: Read more

I have refrained from jumping into the discussions about the removal of a Eucharistic wafer (or “cracker“, if you prefer) from a church by another individual and then, in protest to the heated reactions from Catholics, once again by P. Z. Myers, outspoken atheist. Myers has received threats and various other sorts of hate mail. But I think this case provides a wonderful opportunity for Christians to revisit the story in Judges 6:25-32 about Gideon (also called Jerub-Baal). I will... Read more

The title of this post says it all: Fundamentalism is fundamentally unbiblical. Now, before you ask, I obviously don’t mean that Christian fundamentalists do not quote the Bible in support of their views, beliefs and practices. They do. Of course, they consistently condemn others for “picking and choosing” and yet that is what they themselves are doing, but that’s not the subject of today’s post. Just about anyone who wishes to can be “biblical” in the sense of finding verses... Read more

Peter Rollins’ book How (Not) To Speak of God (Brewster: Paraclete, 2006) gives voice to the phenomenon of the emergent church in remarkable ways. Rather than engaging in deductive and increasingly abstract reasoning in the tradition of classical theology, Rollins tells a multitude of parables, speaking at the intersection between the profoundly Biblical and the postmodern. Here are just a couple of samples of the interesting things Rollins has to say: “Not only is Christianity atheistic insomuch as it rejects... Read more

Here’s the latest scam to make it past the spam filter and into my inbox. Note that this alleged executor who doesn’t know your name and doesn’t tell you who he represents wishes you to write to him at a “secure” e-mail address…which turns out to be a Hotmail address! You’d have to be pretty gullible to fall for this, but presumably if you are reading this, you’re gullible but just smart enough to do a bit of research. Here’s... Read more

Stephen C. Carlson has recently posted a link to a blog post by Benjamin Zimmer of Language Log, discussing the evidence for the date and transmission of the famous “serenity prayer“, best known today (via widespread print dissemination) in this form: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to tell the difference.” This is a great case study of oral transmission, as Stephen points out.... Read more

I just finished watching an entertaining comedy, License to Wed, starring Robin Williams as a priest who requires couples planning to get married in his church to take his marriage preparation course. In essence, he puts stress on them beforehand, so that they learn how to deal with conflict and, more than that, to recognize their differences and be honest with one another. The movie certainly isn’t destined to be a classic, but it is truly funny and makes a... Read more

There is an interesting post (and the makings of a good follow-up discussion) about “Rabbis’ and Christians’ Views of the Exodus” over at the blog Debunking Christianity. Don’t let the name put you off – they are atheists, but they are really about debunking fundamentalism. I suspect that the diverse range of readers here might make an interesting impression if you give them a visit! In particular, a lot of discussions about the Exodus are not well informed by actual... Read more