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POPSConscience versus Belief and Dogma Although those with deep beliefs and expressed values do any amazing job of advertising their compassion and calls for justice in the names of far away people, only conscience cam motivate love for the person next door. Who is my neighbour?
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POPSHypothosis gains validity from objections.
Do extremism and an unconditional adherence to religious dogma result from a failure of a portion of the frontal lobe to fully develop or, if fully developed, to activate? Studies suggest that faithful adherence to a single reasoning strategy on tests such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test means that parts of the frontal lobes are inactive, have failed to fully develop, or have even been damaged. Thus, unqualified disdain for divergent beliefs,for personal interpretation, and for creative theories like Darwin’s theory of evolution, may indeed have, at least a partial, biological explanation: a reduced utilization of that section of the brain which has played such a vital role in humanity’s creative advances—the frontal lobes. By unconditionally obeying religious tenets—or any dogma—some people may be relying on the phylo-genetically older, more posterior portions of the brain that store knowledge and enable consistent or stable behaviors and, unknowingly, circumventing the portion whi
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POPSscience/theology coming together I have only clipped a very short piece but this article goes deeply into the subject. I find my religion needs scientific confirmation or at least is basically rational
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POPSThe Courage to Be Useful overview of Tillich's The Courage to Be, supported by general account of existential approaches to anxiety of non-being, including Kierkegaard and Heidegger.
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POPSThe Language of God Among Collins’s most controversial beliefs is that of “theistic evolution”, which claims natural selection is the tool that God chose to create man. In his version of the theory, he argues that man will not evolve further. “Scientifically, the forces of evolution by natural selection have been profoundly affected for humankind by the changes in culture and environment and the expansion of the human species to 6 billion members. So what you see is pretty much what you get.” “If one is willing to accept the existence of God or some supernatural force outside nature then it is not a logical problem to admit that, occasionally, a supernatural force might stage an invasion,” he says.
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POPSWhirl Like a Dervish! [pictures] Colorful and bright - photography that always catches my eye when I'm browsing Flickr......"The most famous Sufi master is Celaleddin Rumi. He was born in east Persia - in what is now Afghanistan - in 1207, and was brought to Konya, Turkey, by his family when he was a child. Rumi was a philosopher who is remembered today for his exquisitely beautiful devotional poetry. But he also "discovered" whirling as a means of communing with God."
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POPSDavid Hume's epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, 1734 In his early 20s, the great Scottish philosopher, David Hume, wrote this "letter to a physician" (unidentified, but probably Arbuthnot) giving an account of his melancholic symptoms and his efforts at self-treatment.
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POPSReligion and Drugs prec-e-dent 1: an earlier occurrence of something similar 2 a: something done or said that may serve as an example or rule to authorize or justify a subsequent act of the same or an analogous kind 2b: the convention established by such a precedent or by long practice 3: a person or thing that serves as a model Inspired by {{papananook}}'s Moses clip. :) http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/939CDF96-7679-45A3-A787-B38960561C20/
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POPSHow to abandon your God
and have taken up another one, or none at all, or maybe more than one because polytheism certainly sounds tasty and, you know, what the hell, right? It's not really all that shocking. People change religions. People swap denominations. People evolve, go to college, learn to think (and seek meaning) for themselves, change their minds or marry someone of a different belief or go through a personal revelation, or actually experience the spiritual/intellectual epiphany that reveals how all religions are one and God is not "out there" and you are not here to be its meek sinful guilty mindless servant. And maybe you go even further, as you realize that it's actually quite dangerous and small-minded to hew too closely to one narrow way of seeing/feeling/tasting the divine as you perhaps come to the slippery conclusion that it's all about co-creating God in your own way and, therefore, any religion that contains more than one person (that is to say, you) is deviously suspicious and apoc
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POPSTurkey: the essence of the secularist debate I am with the first view. Secularism should include the freedom of view and the removal of primitive impediments to democratic participation. the lifting of the Kurdish linguistic ban is a step forward too. Even if the move results in accelerating value clashes and violence, the principle holds true.
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POPS"The Gospel of Judas" An extremely interesting interview with two religion scholars on this and other gospels not included in the bible with some discussion on the politics of early Christianity.
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POPSArt is my Religion Oscar Wilde and others put the aesthetic over the ethical, the latter a clumsy and unimaginative survival mechanism, the former the purpose of life.
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POPSNazi God Doubtless the present pope as an ex-member of the Hitler Youth would be able to correct any misunderstandings here.
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POPSRav Joseph Soloveitchik: a few links Soloveitchik was one of the towering figures of the Modern Orthodoxy movement in Judaism, the author of Halakhic Man and The Lonely Man of Faith. I've always wanted to learn more about him.
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POPSGiving to Others Makes You Happier There are different types of giving, of charity. The ones that involve a cheque book, conspicuous public good works etc are different from the ones that are private, unwitnessed and may involve personal sacrifice, hardship, a mature love etc.
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