The End of the Happy Middle Ground?

Last updated on: November 5, 2012 at 10:56 am By James F. McGrath

Jerry Coyne shared this Non Sequitur cartoon from today’s paper, saying that it dispels the fallacy that religious believers all worship the same god: The view that religious believers in different religious traditions worship the same deity is itself a particular religious viewpoint. It does not deny that many, perhaps the majority, in a large number of religious traditions, disagree with the identification. And so, since I don’t think that most people who claim that various religions worship the same God... Read more

Give Thanks to Coffee, for it is Good!

Last updated on: November 5, 2012 at 10:19 am By James F. McGrath

David Hayward re-shared this classic cartoon of his this morning: Last time I shared it, I titled the post “Love Song to the Dark Lord.” Click through if you don’t get the allusion. Read more

It’s a Small Galaxy After All

Last updated on: November 4, 2012 at 7:05 pm By James F. McGrath

Some of the Star Wars-Disney mash-up images that have appeared since the new broke about Disney acquiring LucasFilm have been quite entertaining. Here are some of my favorites. If there is one that you really like but which isn't included below, please share it! Read more

PSA for Compulsively Late American Churchgoers

Last updated on: November 3, 2012 at 11:04 pm By James F. McGrath

Thank God for Mitt Romney’s Candidacy

Last updated on: November 3, 2012 at 8:05 pm By James F. McGrath

I think that all those who are concerned for the spiritual health and integrity of Christianity in the United States should give thanks for Mitt Romney's candidacy. Many of us have been saying for many years that conservative and fundamentalist Christianity in America had sold its soul for a mess of political pottage, and had traded the gospel of Christ for right-wing economic policies and traditional American (rather than Biblical) social values. But in the past, it was possible to... Read more

2012 Annual Bibliobloggers’ Gathering

Last updated on: November 3, 2012 at 2:36 pm By James F. McGrath

The supreme council of biblioblog overlords has decided…OK, so of course there is no such thing, but some of us have chatted and have suggested a venue and two possible times for the bibliobloggers' gathering this year in Chicago at SBL. We will gather at Kitty O'Shea's, an Irish pub at the Chicago Hilton. You can see their menu online. The question is whether to gather at around 7:00pm on Sunday night, or 8:30 or 9pm on Monday night. And... Read more

Religious Freedom and Healthcare

Last updated on: November 2, 2012 at 11:30 pm By James F. McGrath

In recent weeks I've regularly heard Catholic bloggers and commentators complain that the new healthcare legislation infringes on their religious liberty, since it will require them to pay for coverage which will allow their employees to get contraception and other things that are against Catholic teaching. Something didn't sit quite right with me. Today I realized what is wrong with this sort of claim – and as so often happens, the secret to spotting the problem was simply to insert... Read more

Review of Existence by David Brin

Last updated on: November 2, 2012 at 9:56 am By James F. McGrath

If you are among those who have complained that there is insufficient hard science fiction, imagining a future that is a realistic extrapolation based on what we now think are genuine possibilities and genuine constraints, David Brin’s novel Existence may be what you have been longing for. The future of the internet and our interaction with one another by technological means is incorporated throughout, while the impossibility of warp drive is simply taken for granted. I will try in what... Read more

Class on the Easter and Resurrection Accounts in the New Testament

Last updated on: November 2, 2012 at 7:29 am By James F. McGrath

A first attempt at using a digital whiteboard while recording a class – one that is freely available online at Scriblink.com, since the classroom I am in does not have a smartboard. Read more

Mandaeans and Other Marsh Arabs

Last updated on: November 1, 2012 at 3:53 pm By James F. McGrath

Via Access to Mideast and Islamic Resources, I learned of the Marsh Arabs Heritage Project, which looks at the cultural, religious, and social life of the marshlands of Southern Iraq, including the Mandaeans, but also Muslims, Jews, Christians, Yezidis and others. The pdf downloads appear not to have been added yet, but there is in essence an entire book online. Those interested in the people of that region and their heritage will find it interesting! Read more