Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Richard Holloway used to be bishop of Edinburgh. But then he turned his back on the church and became what he calls a Christian agnostic. “700 men in pink frocks sharing student accommodation is not my idea of a great vacation”
Many presume that Christianity and science have always been at war. Little could be further from the truth. "The myth of a perennial conflict between science and religion is one to which no historian of science would subscribe"
"As world population peaks and begins to decline later in this century, the strongly religious will stand against the tide. In so doing, they will remake societies and wash away many of our certainties about secularization"
"'Militant secularism' makes as much logical sense as 'aggressive pacifism' or 'hardline tolerance'; it is an oxymoron, a cynical attempt to paint equality and fairness as infringing upon the religious"
"Like other key words of American political and cultural discourse, the term liberalism suffers from a frustrating, even maddening, degree of ambiguity and imprecision in the way it is used." Here's how it's meaning has shifted
Is religion an "innate, instinctive, inevitable aspect of human life"? Or a "historically contingent, nonessential aspect of basic human being?" This essay suggests we are indeed religious by nature. A challenge for secularism
Ex-Mormon discusses religion and Romney. Mormonism lends itself strongly to US exceptionalism but fears a president Romney would move towards Mormon theocracy are overblown. He's more likely to influence church than it him
Conversation with writer Martin Walser. "Behind us are two thousand years that have been marked by questions about God. Today’s atheistic calm, even from intellectuals, is equal to the eradication of our intellectual history"
"God has always been discriminatory." Five words that kicked up a storm, spoken by Mormon professor of religion. "Divine revelation" in 1978 ended ban on blacks from priesthood. But offensive past beliefs have never been repudiated
A man becomes so convinced he is Samson, he tries to pull down the Western Wall. A woman persuades herself she is the Virgin Mary, even heads to Bethlehem to find her child, Jesus. Why can Jerusalem cause such strange behaviour?
On evolution of laws against blasphemy in Britain. Never really there to protect God. Until the mid-20C they protected the dignity of a still-Christian state. Now they protect diverse sensibilities of individual believers
"After God's recent execution at the hands of the New Atheists, a number of thinkers are asking again whether, even in his absence, we need religion regardless." Enjoyable review of three new books from Flood, Rosenberg, de Botton
