Jerry Coyne falls into the gap
Eugene Berman, The Good Samaritan (1930). The Samaritan, a clear out-group representative from the perspective of Jesus’ audience, was plenty good. What Jesus didn’t know is that it was “evolution and secular reasoning,” and not God, that made him good. Turns out that’s what made Jesus good too. Image source: Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum [...]
Meet good interatheist Chris Stedman
An inverted Chris Stedman and his “awful giraffe,” which I find rather endearing. Stedman is a humanist interfaith activist. Yes, you read that correctly. Image taken from NonProphet Status, Stedman’s blog Read Stedman’s shirt (in a mirror). It says “Good (Without God).” This particular atheist cliché always makes my head hurt. On one hand, as [...]
In search of Eden
Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, detail, c. 1490-1510. This is the first panel of Bosch’s most famous triptych. The second and largest panel is a scene of earthly pleasures; the third panel is a scene of hell. To get a large (10 MB) version of the entire work, click on the image. But [...]
A bright new decalogue for a bright new world. We smile
Marc Chagall, Moses Receiving the Tablets of the Law, 1957. Image source: Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University I used to live in Rome, a small conservative town in Georgia. One of the great delights of living in a place like Rome is the local religious color. I remember there was one guy that drove [...]
The futility of trying to base morality in science, or, Why Christian saints have always been total pains in the ass
A professor of mine once said, All true saints are pains in the ass. She was right. Mother Teresa at her Home for the Sick & Dying in Calcutta. Image source: The New Agency There’s nothing like starting off the day by reading about what a awful person Mother Teresa was. Just this morning we [...]
