SparkNotes

Last updated on: October 5, 2013 at 10:11 am By James F. McGrath

SparkNotes was a major focus in Butler’s student newspaper recently, with articles by Jill McCarter and Rhyan Henson on the subject. The articles asked whether use of SparkNotes summaries is “cheating” according to the university policy on academic dishonesty, or in the rules set by individual professors. My colleague Brent Hege put the matter thus: “It is cheating yourself out of the opportunity to engage in something important and meaningful.” Here’s my own viewpoint: If you think that reading the SparkNotes is... Read more

Just Following the Bible

Last updated on: October 5, 2013 at 8:03 am By James F. McGrath

Stuff Fundies Like posted the following gem: I just follow the Bible. I just follow the obvious meanings of a 400 year old translation of a document written originally in languages I don’t speak, influenced heavily by cultures I don’t begin to understand, and by people who I mistakenly assume looked, acted, thought and dressed just like I do. I just follow the Bible. It’s not only a road map for life and God’s love letter to everybody who isn’t... Read more

Church of Latte-a-Day Saints

Last updated on: October 4, 2013 at 4:32 pm By James F. McGrath

Today's Bizarro is a gem. The irony is that coffee drinking characterizes much of Christianity – some drink good coffee, some drink a weak decaffeinated imitation – but Mormons, whose name is punned in the cartoon, do not drink the stuff at all. There's been an ongoing discussion on the theme “Are Mormons Christians?” at Patheos. Coffee drinking is a distinguishing factor that hasn't come up yet, as far as I'm aware… Read more

We’re All Going To Hell

Last updated on: October 4, 2013 at 9:47 am By James F. McGrath

Fred Clark at Slacktivist has posted some thoughts on the Bill O’Reilly conversation with Candida Moss that I shared here recently. In his post he writes: Moss does not euphemize or equivocate about what the text says that Jesus said or that Jesus said this as a direct assertion of fact. Jesus said that if you don’t give away your wealth to help the poor, then you will go to Hell. Period. As Keith wrote, O’Reilly’s reaction was typical of... Read more

IO9 on Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy

Last updated on: October 4, 2013 at 9:23 am By James F. McGrath

IO9 posted a review of Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy. Here is an excerpt from the section on Year of the Flood, which will be the focus of my class for the next few weeks: In a sense, The Year of the Flood is an extended worldbuilding exercise. We learn about the cultures and experiences that are left out of Oryx and Crake, and we see the pandemic from the perspective of its victim-survivors rather than its perpetrators. Perhaps most importantly,... Read more

Obama’s Faith

Last updated on: October 4, 2013 at 9:19 am By James F. McGrath

Hemant Mehta asked in a recent video whether president Obama is an atheist. TL; DR “No” I appreciate Mehta’s treatment of this topic, on the whole. My biggest disagreement is with his statement that president Obama supports marriage equality in spite of his faith and not because of it. I see no reason to accept that claim. Progressive Christians have a long history of standing for inclusiveness. That story starts from Jesus trangressing boundaries and hanging out with “sinners,” continues... Read more

Ken Ham agrees with Bill Maher

Last updated on: October 4, 2013 at 8:07 am By James F. McGrath

While Ken Ham expressed surprise a while back that he agrees with atheist Bill Maher, it shouldn’t surprise anyone. There are a great many atheists and fundamentalists who are the mirror image of one another. They accept or reject Christianity understood as the same superficial set of implausible claims. There is no awareness of Biblical scholarship or the study of literature that might allow them to appreciate that there is more going on in stories than just either factual historical... Read more

Magi, Not Jedi

Last updated on: October 3, 2013 at 9:59 pm By James F. McGrath

I saw this clock on Amazon.com and thought I’d share it. It will make a good Christmas gift for religion professors who are also Star Wars fans, if not for anyone else… Read more