David Hayward has a cartoon today that gets at the heart of an issue many of us have with the depiction of God in some Biblical stories as well as elsewhere: We would be horrified if human parents did these things, and yet few seem to reflect on the sort of impression they give of God when they depict God along these lines – the allusions of course being to the story of Noah and the concept of hell. This... Read more
If you don’t think so, you’ve clearly never looked at them carefully: No human being should have the power to obliterate anything from the beginning of time… Read more
Richard Mourdock, a Republican candidate running to represent Indiana in the Senate, has caused a great deal of controversy with a remark he made in the context of a discussion of whether abortion should be allowed for rape victims. His reply included the following: I know that there are some who disagree and I respect their point of view but I believe that life begins at conception. The only exception I have to have an abortion is in that case of the... Read more
Jim West posted this nice satirical treatment of the notion of Tim Tebow patenting “Tebowing,” his characteristic kneeling pose: Read more
Those who’ve read my blog for a long time or followed some of the projects I’ve undertaken will know that I have a longstanding interest in using technology to create genuinely interactive teaching tools. You can see a prototype of a “Choose Your Own Adventure” textbook I created a number of years ago, by going to this address: http://blue.butler.edu/~jfmcgrat/Interactive/Bible/ Well, it seems as though Moodle has seen the usefulness of this approach. They have integrated all that you need to make... Read more
Over on her blog Love, Joy, Feminism, Libby Anne has joined in a conversation between Chris Hallq and myself which never really took off. Perhaps this time it will. Click through to read her thoughts about the diversity among the ways that fundamentalist Christians, liberal Christians, and atheists approach the Bible. And thank you, Libby Anne, for joining and continuing this conversation! UPDATE: Libby Anne has two other posts which are also part of the same discussion, and she pointed... Read more
Yesterday in my class on religion and science, we discussed the notion of “acts of God” and divine action. I started us off with the phrase “acts of God” as used in the realm of insurance policies, which led nicely into a discussion of whether people take that language literally, and if so, what it applies to. It quickly dawned on me that, since some religious believers view everything as an “act of God,” if they sign an insurance policy that... Read more
Joe Weaks has created another Lord of the Rings Romney meme photo, as you can see. Last time it was Sauromney, this time it is Aragormney! Read more
It is incredibly frustrating to see American after American say that Barack Obama is not a Christian. This sign from a church in Texas has been getting a lot of attention today: 0 The only way I can make sense of such statements is to conclude that many Americans are deeply confused about what a Christian is. They have listened to the voices of politicians and self-proclaimed pundits who have raised a Christian flag and hoodwinked many Christians into losing... Read more
Steve Douglas spotted that something went awry with the version of the lecture I uploaded earlier today, and so I’ve uploaded a revised version. The image quality is slightly lower, but this one doesn’t skip the slide with the text of Wisdom of Solomon. Read more
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