“Sometimes you will come across something on the internet falsely attributed to a famous person. Attribute it to them anyway.” – Mother Teresa Actually, the above is just my own sarcastic reworking of the phraseology that is characteristic of this purported quote from Mother Teresa: Someone who came across it, and who has learned to be skeptical of attributions of quotes on Facebook, asked me to help check whether Mother Theresa actually said it. A quick Google search on the... Read more
Click the above to listen to the song by the progressive rock band Asia. Here are the lyrics: “End Of The World” Buildings burning, blazing in the night Searchlight sweeping, lazer beams of light Desolation, smoke has filled the sky Siren wailing, who can hear my cry? So the darkness leaves me never And the grinding wheels are turning ever I believe that God is love, and that’s enough To keep the evil demon away Don’t say I don’t matter... Read more
This cartoon, which I saw on the Daily Kos, gets at the serious issues which the notion of an infinite multiverse raises for ethics and for religion. In an infinite number of universes, there will always be an infinite number of you and of me, some having done more good and some certainly having turned to evil, and any and all differences you can imagine. Eternal life becomes guaranteed, but not the victory of good over evil. Infinity seems to... Read more
The Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts at Brigham Young University announced that a large number of additional Syriac manuscripts in the Vatican Library are now available in digital form online. Click through for a list of the manuscripts with details about what each one is. Read more
I'm thinking that I should put this comic from PHD Comics on – or basically, as – my academic web page… Read more
There is a sample chapter from P. Z. Myers’ book The Happy Atheist on the Random House website. The chapter’s title is “Prometheus’ Sin,” and it opens with these words: Why are science and religion in conflict? Because changing ideas and new knowledge are sacrilegious. The the dichotomy that is Myers’ premise, as it is explored in the chapter, is dubious. Martin Luther is allowed to be a spokesperson for religion, supposedly opposed to new ideas and knowledge. But why is... Read more
The quote comes from the post “Doubt as Hope” on the blog Chesha in Motion. Read more
The Huffington Post recently highlighted some statistics from a Gallup poll about what Americans believe about the Bible (HT Hemant Mehta). Many progressive Christians would feel like the choices between two of the options may be a false dichotomy. Unless one ignores the names of authors sometimes actually given in the text (whether or not they are authentic is another matter), the Bible presents itself as the words of human beings. And so unless one is going to pretend the... Read more
I love the fact that Josh Turner, a Butler University student who offers his musical abilities to the campus ministry Grace Unlimited, has now had his cover of Paul Simon’s “Graceland” go viral, landing him on Good Morning America. Here’s the video: Since the song is not just literal but metaphorical, and my church settled on ‘grace’ as the one world that encapsulates what we all agree is important, perhaps we should include this song in a service at some... Read more
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