2
POPSInnumeracy's John Allen Paulos on credulity and loveby
enbar Yesterday 11:05 AM 
1
A great post from 3quarksdaily (Feb. 2008) about the human desire to believe in something, even a fraud. Context: Paulos has put together a book debunking probabilistic arguments for God's existence. The clip doesn't do it justice -- RTWT ("read the whole thing").
4
POPSRembrandt's two renderings of the Binding of Isaac The first one is the one Rembrandt did late in his life, and it's arguably a much superior piece of art. In the early one, the image is violent and dynamic, in the later one, it's much quieter -- characterized by a sense of mourning and consolation.
3
POPSZiauddin Sardar on the Quilliam Foundation for ex-jihadis Sardar, whose writing I am only a little bit familiar with, is highly critical of any "lionizing" of former members of Islamic extremist groups, since it implicitly devalues the commitment to peace and pluralism exhibited by most "ordinary" Muslims.
5
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.
2
POPSNew blog on religion in american history A pretty diverse bunch of academics blogging on religious themes in American history from a variety of perspectives. Worth checking out. The clip is just a taste of the type of material covered.
9
POPSPhotos of American churches These are kind of funny -- particularly the odd and whimsical titles -- but also beautiful. There are several pages of these photos.
20
POPSAbraham Lincoln on religion Two lesser-known pieces of writing from Lincoln that give some hints about his religious beliefs. Lincoln was notoriously cagey about his religious commitments -- he never attended church regluarly, nor did he ever make a public proclamation of faith.
10
POPSAtheists, have a little respect, please Okay, this isn't exactly subtle, but I couldn't help finding it funny anyhow. Especially after Bill Maher, after once again laughing at the strangeness of Christian doctrine, is accused by Bill Donohue of not "respect the right of most Americans to believe in God" (http://snipr.com/1z044).
1
POPSJesus's Christmas letter Found this on an evangelical website. At first, I have to admit, I thought it was a parody, but I don't think it is. Incidentally, the "X" in "X-mas" is a chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christos. Early Christians used the Chi-Rho (which looks like an X and a P superimposed on one another, also known as "the monogram of Christ") as a symbol for Christ, and the so-called "Jesus fish" is based on the acronym iota-chi-theta-upsion-sigma (for "Iesous Christos Theou Huios Soter," or "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior").