Since Les Mis seems to prompt endless reprises on this blog, you won’t be surprised to find I’m over at First Things today talking about Valjean, Javert, and what we owe to the prisoners in our criminal justice system. When Jean Valjean appears for the first time in the stage musical Les Misérables, he is in the process of being paroled, and he is in an argument with his former jailer. When Inspector Javert barks out “You are a thief,”... Read more
After I wrote a review of The God Who Weeps, a book about Mormonism, I told Mormon readers to feel welcome to guest post to answer some of my questions or to add some clarifications. (Oh, and meanwhile, Joanne McPortland has also written a review talking about the similarities between Mormonism and Gnosticism). Over here chez moi, Carl Cranney has stepped up to the challenge. Here’s how he introduces himself: Carl Cranney is a Mormon, yet is a PhD... Read more
Back in September, Bob Seidensticker of the Atheist channel took on a challenge to try 40 days of prayer, and he asked some of the Christian Patheosi what we thought he needed to do to give it a fair shot. While other people talked about thankfulness and humility, I kinda ended up talking about Live Action Roleplaying (LARPing). But seriously, I find this approach helpful for considering ideas and worldviews I disagree with, and short circuiting antagonistic feelings that may keep... Read more
One theme I didn’t get to touch on in my discussion of Gary Thomas’s The Sacred Search yesterday is his attack on the idea of a soulmate, one specific person that you are destined to be with. (I have to note that xkcd, and Tim Minchin have very funny riffs on this idea). Thomas says a lot of our rhetoric on this topic draws heavily on a speech near the end of Plato’s Symposium, which is adeptly glossed in Hedwig and the Angry... Read more
I received a free review copy of The Sacred Search by Gary Thomas as part of the Patheos Book Club. At a recent lecture, the speaker explained the difference between apologetics and theology. In apologetics, you are writing for the unconverted, so you have to make sure to explain your reasoning and make an aggressive case. In theology, you’re writing for people who share the basic tenets of your faith, so you can skip over the background and just plunge deeply into your tradition.... Read more
I’ve been terribly tardy in getting my flu shot this year, but I finally did it today. (Turns out there’s a bit of a run on for vaccinations in DC; my original appointment was cancelled because the pharmacy ran out, and I had to phone six CVSes before I found anyone with supplies). Vaccination is awesome for you, since the flu sucks, but it’s also a public service. The vaccine is 62% effective (which means people who get the vaccination... Read more
— 1 — Remember when I told you about that awesome New Yorker article on the professional pickpocket? Well, now they’ve got a video up of how he pulls his heists. One thing that was particularly fun about watching this is that, although I couldn’t spot how he was doing his steals on the first go-round, I could recognize some of his ways of distracting his mark from aikido class. — 2 — The pickpocket revealed his tricks for The New Yorker,... Read more
James Croft and Vlad Chituc have both continued to contribute to the discussion of what exactly unites humanists. Vlad’s put up a new post, and James has posted a clarifying comment that I’ve quoted from below. You seem to think “Humanism” denotes a single, coherent moral system (particularly a metaethical system). He seems to think that it is some sort of equivalent to “virtue ethics” or “utilitarianism” or something. But this is a category error. Humanism, in my understanding, can... Read more
Tonight I’m seeing Les Miserables for the third time (there have been various outings as people have straggled back into DC after the holidays) and, a day or so after my second viewing, I ran across David Denby’s pan of the movie for The New Yorker. Some of the criticisms are fair (the camerawork draws attention to itself in a bad way, Jackman’s voice isn’t as well suited to Valjean as it was to Curly, etc), but there was one plot-related criticism... Read more
Vlad Chituc, an atheist who blogs at NonProphet Status, thinks I was right on in my critique of humanist groups yesterday. He says, as an atheist activist, he’s run into similar problems. I’ve tried to pin down specific moral principles of Humanism from various people, and all I ever seem to get is some vague gesturing towards Reason or Compassion, or some philosophical terms like Naturalism and Consequentialism. But that gives me nothing specific. If I have a conversation... Read more
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