The continuing battle between faith and reason
Richard Wolin has weighed in on the debate in this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education. He gives a balanced overview of the history of the debate and its past and current interlocutors. In this short article Wolin takes us through Hegel, Adorno, Habermas, Berger, Dennett, Dawkins, Taylor, and more.
I agree with Wolin when he says that:
A genuine and fruitful dialogue between believers and nonbelievers is impossible unless one takes the standpoint of one’s interlocutor seriously.
Trip to Stanford University
Yesterday was a busy day. First back to SFSU, then to Peets (saw former student working as a barista - Hi Hunter!), then to Stanford, then home, then physical therapy (I’m doing much better, thanks!).
A calypso band was playing. I didn’t quite catch their name. They did a smokin’ rendition of How High the Moon. I did manage to get a clip of this tune. Have no idea what it was. Anybody know?
Sermon by Fr. Winance
I took several classes from Fr. Winance while I was studying at Claremont Graduate University. He was a fascinating man. There’s a six degrees story that I’ll post later. But I want to get these You Tube videos up now.
Evil clown generator
OK. I had to click on it. Gross, but in a sweet kind of way.
Ministers losing faith
I wonder how large a phenomenon this is? Ministers giving up the ministry and perhaps their faith.
And no, the reason I’m not in church is not because seminary, or rather the academic study of religion, somehow “took my Jesus away.” Actually it was the other way around. I gave up Jesus (or rather, my traditional, Baptist-bred beliefs about him) before I went off to seminary. It was seminary that kept me from giving him up altogether.
Pulling strings
From Scientific American:
Souls, spirits, ghosts, gods, demons, angels, aliens, intelligent designers, government conspirators, and all manner of invisible agents with power and intention are believed to haunt our world and control our lives. Why?
New theme
How did I miss this Wordpress theme? It was already an option on my site. Cool. Need to tweak it a bit. But love that coffee aroma!
When leaving and staying is hard
I just finished watching this on the NY Times. The travails of leaving a religious community. I’m still kind of speechless. Bravery writ large.
At 21, the age at which she was expected to marry, Ms. Karasik left the Lubavitch community of Hasidic Jews in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
Happiness is something bigger
On Twitter: (quoting *the* Daniel Dennett)
“The secret of happiness: find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it.” Dan Dennett
Black atheists
A new category for “out of the closet”.