The above image indicates the double standard that most Americans have when it comes to people who engage in acts of violence in connection with their purported religious identity. The data comes from a 2011 PRRI study. Read more
The above image indicates the double standard that most Americans have when it comes to people who engage in acts of violence in connection with their purported religious identity. The data comes from a 2011 PRRI study. Read more
The finale to season 2 picks up where the previous episode left off, with excitement as a boat is seen off shore. Jack, Sayid, and Sawyer swim out to it. It turns out to be Desmond. He has been drinking heavily. He says he sailed due west the whole time and should have been in Fiji. He says it is a snowglobe – the island and the ocean around it. He asks if they are still pushing it, and Jack... Read more
Dan McClellan drew the cartoon above and shared it on Twitter. It illustrates the reason why it is important to not respond to intolerance with intolerance. It is self-defeating. If we hate all those who fit into a category with terrorists, then the claim of the terrorists that we are against their people becomes true, even if it wasn’t before, and serves to foster their aim of recruiting more people to their cause. Martin Luther King Day is next Monday. And so... Read more
Via The Christian Left on Facebook. This really gets at the heart of the matter. It is the point that is made well in the Biblical story of Gideon, even though it is forgotten in much of the Bible as well. If a deity is offended, that deity can fight his or her own battles. In claiming to “stick up for” a god, you are implicitly indicating the deity’s weakness. That’s why violence in the name of a deity, far from... Read more
I became aware today of two talks by John Walton. The first is primarily about Genesis 1-3, the second is primarily about the ancient context of Israel’s thought about creation. Read more
This episode takes us back to Michael’s story, from when he knocked Locke out and headed off. Michael got instructions from Walt or whoever was pretending to be him via the computer. And so he heads north. Thirteen days before the present, we see Michael heading due north. He sees one of the Others and tells him to put his hands up. They capture him, and after one of them shoots, Friendly says not to, we need him. Then we... Read more
When I saw the above, it reminded me of a point I try to emphasize in the second semester of my course “Faith, Doubt, and Reason,” which focuses on utopias and dystopias. It is not enough to have a vision for changing the world. Having an impact depends on how you say what you have to say, and not just on the importance of the content of your message. This is also connected with the movie Mockingjay Part 1 which I... Read more
Newsweek, mythicism, Jesus, the Bible, and web traffic, all in one Coffee With Jesus cartoon, courtesy of Radio Free Babylon. Read more
Anyone who has seen the cartoons published in the French magazine Charlie Hebdo will know that they were deeply shocking and offensive. But no one deserves to die for being offensive. It isn’t satirical cartoonists who dishonor Muhammad. It is people who kill satirical cartoonists in his name. According to Islamic tradition, when Muhammad and his followers returned to Mecca, from which they had earlier been driven out, rather than slaughter those who had persecuted and dishonored them, Muhammad granted... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In