One world
Kathy Chapman, Stephen Jay Gould. Image source: Wikimedia Commons Stephen Jay Gould was one of the foremost scientists of the last 100 years. He was an evolutionist and paleontologist and a prolific writer. A self-described “agnostic Jew,” he was fascinated with religion. In 1997 he wrote an influential article for Natural History. The title of [...]
Job redux: Loss and the glory of the world meet in Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life
Sean Penn as Jack in Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life. Penn works his world-weary visage to great effect in the film Don’t worry, there are no spoilers here. In fact, I’m having a hard time even imagining a spoiler for this film. I could tell you the whole thing and it wouldn’t change its [...]
On making stuff up, featuring Michael Shermer on Colbert
When I first read this I laughed out loud. Courtesy of Jesus and Mo Once again, Jesus is right: Science is limited by its refusal to make stuff up. That is: He’s right if by “make stuff up” he means taking seriously ideas that do not have their grounding in the natural sciences. But, as [...]
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 [...]
Notes on my delusion
Not deluded, apparently: Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale, 1800. Jefferson is quoted by Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion thus: “Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.” I wonder if Jefferson knew that orthodox Christian [...]
Two days and counting: What about Fluffy?
An image from this video from After the Rapture Pet Care. Image source: timesunion.com Lo, the day draws nigh! The folks over at Family Radio must be all in a tizz. Why? Well, because Jesus is coming back on Saturday and he’s taking all the good people — them — back to heaven with him. [...]
Percy’s conundrum
Walker Percy (1916-1990). Image source: Wikipedia. Here’s a wonderful excerpt on Percy from HiLoBrow (“middlebrow’s not the solution”): “So, if you want to be Walker Percy, here’s what you do: have a father (whose own father committed suicide) who shoots himself with a shotgun when you’re twelve. Have a mother who might or might not [...]
