Justin Martyr has posted a reply to my critique of his interpretation of my position on reproductive morals. Whew. These headings are getting ridiculous. I’ll get around to a reply at some point soon, but, since Justin seems to mainly want me to write up an academic critique of the papers he’s citing, and I already have about six papers I need to critique for classes at school, it’ll be a couple days before I get to his. The real... Read more
Earlier this week, Bryan Caplan took elites to task for their hatred of the stupid and the ignorant. He wrote: Out of all the reactions I’ve heard to Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, the most disturbing are all variations on “Except stupid people. They shouldn’t have kids.” I could snark, “You mean people like you?,” but that would be dishonest. The latter-day proponents of negative eugenics have reasonably high IQs. But their misanthropy is still morally and economically mistaken.... Read more
It’s finally time to return to my argument with Justin Martyr over procreation policy. [Quick recap of the story so far: Justin was debating gay marriage, I butted in, Justin responded (twice), I answered his challenge, he responded. Though you can certainly follow along by clicking only those last two links.] My procreation rubric The last time we spoke, I was outlining why I though four hypothetical possible procreation plans were moral or immoral. Using my responses, Justin generalized my... Read more
Over the summer, while I was working in DC, I decided to visit every church within walking distance of the place I was living, so I saw a wider variety of services that the Catholic Mass I attend every week with my boyfriend. This led to a whole new range of stresses for me. Whenever I enter a new religious ceremony, especially if unescorted by an initiate, I immediately become convinced that there is a giant blinking sign above... Read more
I’m in the middle of replacing my (sadly broken) laptop, so rather than start a new series this week, I’m going to try to clear out some backlogged one-shots that have been saved in my drafts folder, as well as writing one more post for the Young Wizards series, plus a wrap-up to respond to your comments. In the meantime, I’d love computer suggestions in this comment thread if anyone’s got them. I’ve liked Lenovo in the past, and I’m... Read more
I finally heard back from the priests in my parish, and I will not be allowed to attend RCIA classes, even for the inquiry period. Instead, because there has been increased interest in RCIA from people like me, who want to know more but do not feel a call to convert, the church is setting up three lectures as part of a possibly ongoing series. The lectures are supposed to provide information about Catholicism both to Catholics and non-Catholics. I’m... Read more
–1– I’ve been enjoying working on this week’s series on using Diane Duane’s novels as a lens for explaining why I feel uncomfortable with Christianity. I’ll be doing at least one more post on this topic, and then a wrap-up. Additionally, I have news on the RCIA front that I’ll be able to post this weekend. –2– Meanwhile, at The Faith Heuristic, Justin is dissatisfied with my answers about to his questions about the ethics of surrogate motherhood. I’ll be... Read more
This post is one in a series about Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series. I am using the books as a frame for talking about what kind of religion I might feel comfortable in. Check out all posts on this topic at the series index. Yesterday, I wrote about one of the major reasons my pride makes me feel uncomfortable with the Christian idea of submission to God. Several commenters pointed out that Lewis’s allegory is not the only way to... Read more
This post is one in a series about Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series. I am using the books as a frame for talking about what kind of religion I might feel comfortable in. Check out all posts on this topic at the series index. The adventures of Nita and Kit in Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series have a fierce urgency. No matter whether they are called on to save a planet or to save a single person, they always have... Read more
Thanks for all the responses to my post this weekend asking for advice on RCIA and the tone of the blog . Tomorrow, I’ll be returning to the ongoing series about Diane Duane’s Young Wizards books and what they’ve taught me about religion, but I wanted to take a break today to deal with some questions Saturday’s post brought up. Kevin brought up a problem that goes to the heart of the blog and one that I’ve heard before. This... Read more
Unequally Yoked
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