Posted in Uncategorized on May 19th, 2009
Poor Darrel Falk. Not only is he stuck being executive director of the ludicrous BioLogos project, but also his granddaughter has noticed the obvious parallels between the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Jesus. This is great for us, however, as we get to read his “yes, we were lying about the tooth fairy, and [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 18th, 2009
Move over, Electrical Engineering! Get out of town, Computer Science! Take a hike, Biotechnology! Scram, Finance! There’s a hot new academic field in town: Islamic Studies! Right now it’s only found at a few obscure colleges, like NYU and Yale and Georgetown and Harvard and Columbia and Texas and Indiana and Cal State Sacramento and [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 17th, 2009
I don’t know if you read the LA Times. I do, mostly because I used to live in LA, and I’m always curious to keep track of where the hipsters are hanging out these days, which celebrities are selling their multi-million dollar mansions, and how voters and politicians are driving the state into bankruptcy. This [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 17th, 2009
Over in the Huffington Post, writer Kamran Pasha has landed the coveted “I’ve got a book to sell, and so I’ve been invited to write a poorly-argued essay about current events that will allow me to repeatedly plug my book over the course of several thousand words” slot. Today’s essay is all about how Angels [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 16th, 2009
Economic times are tough. Maybe you’re working for a bloated auto company that makes expensive cars no one wants to buy. Maybe you’re a schoolteacher without enough seniority to avoid the latest round of budget cuts. Maybe you work for a Canadian company losing business from “Buy American” provisions in the stimulus bill. Or maybe [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 15th, 2009
While secular scientists and religious fundamentalists may find themselves at odds over many issues, they’ve come to the same conclusion when it comes to at least one. Both sides agree that “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling doesn’t research thoroughly or deeply enough when writing her best-selling novels. In the weeks ahead of the release of [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 15th, 2009
A new, hard-hitting book from an NPR correspondent takes an unflinching look at the question of whether science can prove the existence of god: What did you find? Is religion all a sham? The conclusion I came to looking at all of this is that it’s okay to believe and it’s okay not to believe. [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 14th, 2009
Here’s a promising-sounding new book: 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe: Many Christians, new and seasoned alike, tend to bank on promises that God never made, says one pastor. So when God doesn’t come through on those “promises,” some are likely to become angry at God. And “that to me as a pastor over all [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 13th, 2009
Has the tough economy got you down? Things could be worse — you could be wasting lots of money on religion. CNN profiles a Jewish family, a Muslim family, and a Christian family who lead faith-based lives beyond their means. Collectively they spend thousands of extra dollars on kosher food, sharia-compliant mortgages, enormous families, “divinity [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 12th, 2009
Graduation speakers are always a tricky issue. The year I graduated college, they picked some speaker no one wanted to hear, and then shortly before graduation she died (or got sick, I forget which), and they replaced her with someone else no one wanted to hear. And yet, we all showed up, sat in the [...]
