(Below is blog post. It contains naive ramblings and no great conclusions—and lots of mizpellings and grammatical errors.) Why is it hard to mix cultures?…What is a culture? A culture is a collection of people who share certain beliefs and values and, to some degree at least, share ideas on how those values should be expressed. For …
While I applaud Pope Francis’ statement that the Big Bang Theory and evolution are compatible with the Catholic Church’s teachings about God and creation, the Pope doesn’t appear to understand the modern theory of evolution and the origins of life. In his statement, he says:
Though this quote appears to be misattributed to Marcus Aurelius, it offers a lot to think about. Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, …
I so identify with atheist Stephen Fry’s reply to the question: If you were to die and discover there is a God, how would you respond?
This cartoon commentary by Heathwood and Lee illustrates so brilliantly my reaction to Pope Francis’ recent…advice…that one should expect a physical or violent reaction if criticizing another’s faith, so just don’t criticize. Would Pope Francis have said the same to Jesus Christ, whose life was devoted to exposing the hypocrisy of the Jewish leadership of …
After reading the history-based critique below, it’s hard to believe the King James version of the bible could possibly be the word of God. It’s this kind of historical tracing (which I first learned about in a Hellenistic Religions class in college) that began the erosion of my Catholic faith.
JT Eberhard is a persuasive young man. An atheist and advocate for freedom of thought, he speaks regularly about atheism and how to discuss religion and atheism with religious believers. During this talk, JT Eberhard asks a number of questions that hit home and trace my path from reasonably devout Catholic to an irreligious agnostic, …
The moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible. ~ Salman Rushdie So well put by Rushdie. That goes for everything, from science to religion, from art to politics…It’s core to what freedom of speech is about. It’s not pretty. You’ll have …
Truly, this quote gives me chills….
This is a superb quote from President Barack Obama. As a former Catholic, this speaks to how I feel religious values should inform the laws and government policy of our democracy. It seems the only way if we hope to stay a true melting pot of cultures.
