The Times Online (UK) has a short item featuring Archbishop Rowan Williams on bullying people into belief: In a speech at Guildford cathedral, Dr Williams criticised those who believed they had all the answers and treated non-Christians as if their traditions of reflection and imagination were of no interest to anyone. “God save us from [...]
Browsing the archives for the Religious Pluarlism category
Minarets of Marseille
30 Dec, 2009 in Church and State, Islam, PHIL 525, Politics, Religion Blog, Religious PluarlismThis in contrast to the recent Swiss ban on building any new minarets: The minaret of the new Grand Mosque of Marseille, whose cornerstone will be laid here in April, will be silent — no muezzin, live or recorded, will disturb the neighborhood with the call to prayer. Instead, the minaret will flash a beam [...]
Well, some may think that Economics is hell. But here’s a twist. Evidence suggests that a society’s belief in Hell affects their economy. Yeah, that’s what I thought! A pair of Harvard researchers recently examined 40 years of data from dozens of countries, trying to sort out the economic impact of religious beliefs or practices. [...]
Deism is back
26 Sep, 2009 in Faith versus Reason, James, PHIL 500, PHIL 525, Religious Pluarlism, TheoristsDeism is back. This is a very interesting development. There are political ramifications, I suppose. We know that some have pushed the idea that the America’s “founding fathers” were Christians. And by “Christians” they usually mean people who hold the same beliefs as contemporary American evangelicals. The topic of evangelicalism in America is way beyond [...]
Religion and culture
15 Sep, 2009 in PHIL 525, Religion Blog, Religious Belief, Religious Celebrations, Religious PluarlismThis post from Andrew Sullivan’s blog reminded me of a discussion in class today about the similarities between religions. Sullivan quotes from a blog by Thoreau (no not that one): In a report on Indonesia, the Economist makes the interesting point that urban Muslims in Indonesia are actually more likely to be drawn to more [...]