This is not poking fun at beliefs about creation – we all get to a point where we either posit something that simply is, or say something not all that different from “It’s turtles all the way down.” But those who advocate “teaching the controversy” or “teaching both sides” rarely actually want that to happen. How many people who say that kids should hear “both sides” when it comes to mainstream science (in which, in fact, however many sides there... Read more
HT Stephen Savage on Facebook Read more
Happy International Jazz Day! To mark the occasion, here are two pieces that were performed at the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra Jazz and Jam Concert at the Hilbert Circle Theater last night. The first is “Merry Go Round” by the special guests who performed with the MYO, The Icarus Ensemble: The second is Malaguena by Ernesto Lecuona: Read more
A post by Jim Burklo seems to me to pose a key question about what Christianity is, what it can be, and what it should be. Here is the question in a nutshell: Should Christianity be about believing that which is unbelievable – accepting claims about miracles and the supernatural, for instance – or about living in an “unbelievable” manner – by radically loving enemies, and the like? I know that there are some who will immediately object that this... Read more
Jim West posted the following definition in a post in which he defined himself as an anti-ultracrepidarian: ul·tra·crep·i·dar·i·an [uhl-truh-krep-i-dair-ee-uhn] adjective 1. noting or pertaining to a person who criticizes, judges, or gives advice outside the area of his or her expertise: The play provides a classic, simplistic portrayal of an ultracrepidarian mother-in-law. Origin: 1800–20; ultra- + Latin crepidam ‘sole of a shoe, sandal’ (< Greek krepis ‘shoe’); in allusion to the words of Pliny the Elder ne supra crepidam sutor... Read more
Thom Stark blogged about Neil Godfrey’s reading comprehension (or lack thereof). In other news, Neil Godfrey complains that Bart Ehrman had trouble keeping track of which mythicists wrote which nonsense where. Richard Carrier criticized Bart Ehrman of using rhetoric instead of argument (among other things), seemingly unaware of the irony. Tom Verenna unsurprisingly but disappointingly sides with Carrier on this. Jerry Coyne continues to pit dubious sources against dubious sources while failing to give mainstream scholarship the attention it is... Read more
Marc Cortez shared this picture yesterday: At first I just enjoyed it as funny. But for some reason I found myself thinking about it more, and realized that it also provides a nice parable or what is wrong with salvation-oriented, other-worldly Christianity the sole or almost exclusive focus of which is on whether people are “saved” or “lost.” There are forms of Christianity which would only view Waldo – or anyone else – in terms of whether they are still... Read more
Or, as the Oracle famously put it, “Everything that has a beginning has an end, Neo.” Here’s a Swedish composer from my favorite period in that nation’s musical output – Carl Natanael Rexroth-Berg being slightly older than Kurt Atterberg and slightly younger than Wilhelm Petersen-Berger, both of whom are composers that I highly recommend. Read more
The very title of the Doctor Who episode “Underworld” hints at its intersection with religion. But while the “underworld” in question turns out to be a world of tunnels with no access to the sky, the episode nevertheless more than lives up to the expectation that it will provide interesting terrain for exploring religion. Although numerous details regarding the nature of that planetoid (not to mention many other things in the episode) are at best implausible, the exploration of religion... Read more
From Savage Chickens via Brad Matthies Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In