Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 21st, 2009
All over the world, people love President Obama (and, by extension, us). This is perhaps most evident in his recent Nobel Peace Prize, but also is reflected in America’s inclusion in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Swiss cooperation in the arrest of Roman Polanski, and the massive worldwide popularity of G.I. Joe: The Rise of [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 11th, 2009
You probably think you’ve heard them all. Lifeguard at the sewage plant. Public school teacher. Dick Cheney’s hunting buddy. Bill collector for Dr. Kevorkian. Oakland Raiders assistant coach. Well, now there’s a new one to add to the list: Vatican astronomer. Sure, the hours are OK, and Rome is full of easily-charmed young women, and [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 5th, 2009
Writing in Time, author Bruce Feiler argues that President Obama should be taking political lessons from Old Testament hero Moses. He calls attention to the following three teachings: (1) “Sell the milk and honey” In other words, no matter how bleak things look, remind everyone that you were promised by a disembodied voice speaking to [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 3rd, 2009
Experts are worried that young people don’t know enough about religion: Half of U.S. high-school seniors surveyed recently thought Sodom and Gomorrah were a married couple. This is a pretty predictable consequence of the widespread failure to make my book required reading for all schoolchildren everywhere. Nonetheless, it’s quite worrisome. The kids who think Sodom [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 30th, 2009
Happy Blasphemy Day! Of course, around these parts every day is Blasphemy Day, so today we’re actually focused on celebrating the anniversary of when a thetan was reborn as Jenna Elfman. Nonetheless, we like to think that we have some expertise in things blasphemous. In that spirit [ha!], here are some celebratory tips: participate in [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 27th, 2009
There’s a fierce curricular battle going on in Texas, where a blue-ribbon committee of “experts” is trying to revise the statewide “social studies” curriculum. You may fondly remember previous such battles, like “should we teach kids about the ‘second shooter on the grassy knoll’ theory?” and “should we take a fieldtrip to the studio where [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 24th, 2009
I want to wish all my Hawaiian friends a Happy Islam Day! Hawaii is celebrating its inaugural “Islam Day,” which was created by state lawmakers over the objections of those who said the religion shouldn’t be honored. The festivities Thursday included a canned food collection for the Hawaii Food Bank, hand painting, a comedy skit [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 23rd, 2009
I apologize (to all 3 of my readers) that I haven’t been writing here, but I got monstrously sidetracked. You see, one year from tomorrow I intend to subvert “Thicke Day” (the 25th anniversary of “Growing Pains“) by producing a special “Kirk Cameron Version” of the Bible. I’ll start with the public-domain World English Bible, [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 12th, 2009
Over in the Wall Street Journal, they’re running a Celebrity Death Match between Richard Dawkins and Karen Armstrong. The topic: “Evolution, Science, and Where God Fits In.” Dawkins will be arguing the pro-common-sense side, which leaves Armstrong having to defend, well, read for yourself: Darwin made it clear once again that—as Maimonides, Avicenna, Aquinas and [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 9th, 2009
It’s tough being a religion teacher these days, what with the kids and their “hard-headed empiricism” and schooling in “scientific methods.” And when you try and teach them about “the intangible,” why, they think it’s all “fortune-telling and ghosts,” just like they see on the television and the internets! That’s why you can’t just assume [...]
