According to numerous news outlets, scientists are about to unveil the Higgs boson — aka, the God Particle. Here’s NPR: King Arthur had his quest for the Holy Grail. Physicists hope they are hot on the trail of the Higgs particle. You might call it the final puzzle piece, needed to complete our picture of how all the fundamental particles make up the universe. Joe Lykken at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois has been part of this quest... Read more
Dear Readers Who Use Facebook (AKA, Dear All Readers), Facebook highly encouraged all of us who have some kind of public following to switch from a Profile (aka, Timeline), to a Page. In fact, capping the friend limit at 5,000 made it virtually required. So I migrated my Profile to a Page, and I’ve encouraged numerous other authors to do the same (Jay Bakker, Phyllis Tickle, Andrew Marin, Nadia Bolz-Weber). We lost all of our Facebook history — every update,... Read more
At HuffPo, Staks Rosch claims, “Let’s face it, religion is dying.” His reason, because religious people lack humility, imagination, and curiosity. I will say that those three traits — particularly the latter two — are characteristics that I strive for in my writing and blogging. Rosch, of course, caricatures religious believers. And I’ve rarely seen those three characteristics displayed in the work of the New Atheists. Nevertheless, his points are worth considering. As for imagination, atheists tend to be the ones imagining... Read more
The always outspoken and controversial ethicist, Peter Singer, calls on religions that require ritual slaughter of animals to become vegetarians: When people are prohibited from practicing their religion – for example, by laws that bar worshiping in certain ways – there can be no doubt that their freedom of religion has been violated. Religious persecution was common in previous centuries, and still occurs in some countries today. But prohibiting the ritual slaughter of animals does not stop Jews or Muslims... Read more
In the past couple years, John Piper has been outspoken about any number of tragedies, from earthquakes and tsunamis and hurricanes to the collapse of a freeway bridge. However, he’s been conspicuously quiet this summer, even as Colorado burns. Aerial photograph of the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado Springs, Colorado between June 24, 2012 and June 27, 2012 show the destructive path of the fire. Photo by John Wark, www.johnwark.com Meanwhile, just a few hundred miles away, we in Minnesota got enough... Read more
Phyllis Tickle’s new book, Emergence Christianity: What It Is, Where It Is Going, and Why It Matters, releases on September 1. But you read the opening of the book at the link below: Emergence Christianity Sampler Plus, don’t forget to RSVP for the National Gathering in Memphis where Phyllis and friends will be presenting on her new work and its implications. Read more
Tony Jones and Brian McLaren Teach in the BWCAW from tony jones on Vimeo. Tony Jones and Brian McLaren teach the doctrine of creation to a Doctor of Ministry cohort from Fuller Theological Seminary in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota. Carl Anderson is a Presbyterian pastor in Nebraska, and he’s also in the D.Min. cohort that I lead. He wrote the post below — unsolicited by me — and asked me to post it here. So... Read more
If you haven’t checked out the iPhone app that I dreamed up, I urge you to! It’s a fun way to get yourself “ordained” in over two dozen religions. You can learn more about it and click thru to the App Store from our new website, OrdainThyself.com. And Droid users, prepare thyselves, for your app is in development now! Read more
Everyone wants to claim Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Liberals like his political action on behalf of an oppressed people. Evangelicals love his “religionless Christianity” and his critique of his students at Union Seminary in New York. That he is a complex historic figure is currently on display, brought to a head by Eric Metaxas. Metaxas, an accomplished author and unapologetically conservative firebrand, wrote a popular biography of Bonhoeffer that was met with plaudits by fellow conservatives, winning Book of the Year in... Read more
David Hayward — the “Naked Pastor” — has some advice, and it’s good. A struggling church planter recently told me, “I have no marketable skills.” She felt that nothing she learned in seminary was transferable to any other vocation. David begs to differ. Among his pieces of advice is self-employment: Self-employment: Many of the pastors I know have some kind of skill. The few times I have been without a church I have applied my own skills. One time I... Read more
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