Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
- The Bloody Dénouement of Scare Quotes Around ‘Health of the Mother’ : Mike the Mad Biologist – Yes, if this had been a Muslim “loner” killing a Christian in a church, the Right would have been frothing at the mouth condemning the extremist rhetoric of Islamic leaders, the brainwashing of the madrassas, and the clear and present danger of Muslims walking among us. If it’s a right-wing Christian nut, though, then he’s a deluded loner who certainly wasn’t influenced (let alone directed) by any religious or political leaders, and don’t you dare use this to brand all anti-abortion Christians!
- More clues to God’s identity! [Pharyngula] – Praising God for all “good” things not only lends itself to absurdity (“I am not hungover this morning! A miracle!”) but strives to put all events into a moral framework (the Revolution was a “blessing” for the Americans, not so much for the English), and thus only exacerbates the Problem of Evil (Why did so many have to die in the Revolution? Why did the Revolution not also end slavery?). Instead, as in these cases, it simply comes off as trying to bask in God’s glory by claiming their personal/political successes were actually God’s. Talk about hubris …
- Irrigation system can grow crops with salt water – Again, another new technology with great promise.
- BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Men ‘out-performed at university’ – Hopefully I’ll be retired before I have to seek affirmative action protection …
- CNN.com – The machine that can copy anything – Jun 2, 2005 – This sounds like one of those advances that’s either a game-changer or a “hey, whatever happened to that” sort of thing.
- A Code of Conduct for Effective Rational Discussion « Evolving Thoughts – Difficult to argue with these … or, expressed a different way, impossible to effectively and honestly argue without them.
44 view(s)
One of the problems of following a single god – no “local” deity, except through extremely strained balderdash.
I think you can have a theistic model of a deity both personal and cosmic, but it’s difficult to maintain that model consistently and coherently.
In some ways, the Catholic saints, though theologically quite different from pantheons of situational, occupational, local and household gods, serve much the same purpose for many. I don’t know if that resolves the Problem of Evil, though.
First, define “evil.”
I wasn’t talking about either personal or cosmic – but “local,” much in the way the Minnesota Vikings are “local.” Go team go!
Which made me think of household gods (in a Roman model), but geographically local would, too, be helpful in some ways. Again, the Saints model applies.