Hemant Mehta shared the above correction that appeared recently in the New York Times. Any theories about how such an error came about? Read more
The above video contains a recording of the Butler multifaith baccalaureate service this year. It is worth watching for the great jazz alone, but my colleague Brent Hege also gave an excellent talk, as did graduating senior Jeremy Marshall. Also of interest is Jim Danko’s piece about commencement addresses in USA Today. And finally, here is Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s commencement talk: Read more
Rudy Busto wrote a piece for the Religious Studies Project, comparing what Western authors have often had to say about the Aztecs, with the treatment of them on Doctor Who in the classic episode “The Aztecs.” See my previous blog post about the episode, and also my recent article in Implicit Religion comparing Doctor Who and Star Trek. Read more
Having organized a service that incorporated music by U2, I was excited to see soon afterwards that Bono was collaborating with Eugene Peterson on a project focused on the Psalms. See recent pieces in the Huffington Post and John Pavlovitz’s blog for more details, as well as the video below. Of related interest, Jeff Carter was involved in a Bob Dylan church service. See his post on the song “Do Right By Me” as well as the videos from the... Read more
Jerry Coyne recently shared this image: To the image itself, one could simply respond with this: But Coyne added enough of a disclaimer to indicate that he recognized there was a problem- albeit an inadequate and problematic disclaimer that itself conveys the impression that he didn’t fully grasp the issues. He wrote: Of course “pics” here means “reliable evidence,” as of course there was no photography when most religions arose. But just think how many words theologians have written to circumvent this criticism! Coyne... Read more
Here’s the audio recording from the recent ArtsFest event that I participated in together with physicist Brian Murphy. Read more
This primary has been fascinating, as someone who studies (among other things) the intersection of religion and the public sphere. Several candidates confidently asserted that God told them to run for president. None of them are continuing their campaigns at this stage. And so we’ve seen clear evidence yet again that political conservatives will happily try to use God to garner votes. Is the fact that people didn’t vote for them evidence that voters are wising up to such pandering? Or will all... Read more
Ipreviously pointed out that, if atheism means denying the existence of any being that is believed by some humans to be divine, then the existence of cats disproves atheism. Hemant Mehta seems to have seen the light, since he posted the image below under a title acknowledging that “some cats are gods”: Read more
One more for Star Wars Day: Indianapolis local Jason Eberl, professor of philosophy at Marian University and well-known to many as an editor of a series of books on philosophy and popular culture, recently appeared on WGN Radio talking about the influence of Star Wars on culture. Have a listen via the link below! http://wgnradio.com/2016/04/30/star-wars-influence-on-culture/ Read more
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