Religion
Priests Without Penises
A friendly reader has asked my opinion on yesterday’s Salon piece about the womenpriests movement in the Catholic Church: The hierarchy insists that the church has a constant tradition of ordaining only men. But what about Junia the apostle and Phoebe the deacon, in the Epistle of St. Paul to Romans? What about those tomb [...]
Proof that God does not exist
Well, I guess that settles that: A man shouting that God would keep him safe was mauled to death by a lion in a Kiev, Ukraine, zoo after he crept into the animal’s enclosure, a zoo official said Monday. “The man shouted, ‘God will save me, if he exists,’ lowered himself by a rope into [...]
Religions Evolve, Part 3: Judaism
At long last! Part 1 on Christianity and Part 2 on Islam were ages ago — the Planck era, I think — and I apologize for the unaccountable delay in delivering Part 3. Let’s just blame it on alien abduction and leave it at that. Part 3 is much longer than Parts 1 and 2, [...]
There is only the one religion
Someone said that on a blog recently — I don’t recall where — and it’s true. Beyond all the differences in rites and deities and theological niceties, popular religion the world over boils down to belief in a parental Magic Fairy who will help you if you ask nicely. This article reviews a new book [...]
Fine, I’ll just pull my hair right out
Where do they get these reporters? The traditional Easter article from yesterday’s Washington Post revisits the historicity of Jesus’s resurrection in view of contemporary scholarship — except that the reporter gets everything wrong. In the past two decades, there has been a heightened scrutiny of Scripture, with basic Christian tenets such as the Resurrection challenged [...]
Slogging Through Stupidity
Sometimes I think a sub-par education is an actual requirement for a job as a reporter. They must give these guys tests to make sure they have almost no knowledge of the world, of history, religion, literature, science, anything. These are the actual headlines today on the Gospel of Judas story: “New Gospel Tells Judas’s [...]
Mormons Don’t Want To Be Misunderstood
That’s the headline on a piece in the Boston Globe about how the Mormons are all upset over the new HBO show, “Big Love.” (Plot: Renegade Mormon husband has three wives. “I Dream of Jeannie” times three!) Anyway, the poor old crazy Mormons are worried people will get the wrong idea about their religion. They [...]
Someone hasn’t seen ‘Life of Brian’
A Catholic professor explains how the Virgin Birth story made it into the gospels: A tactful question to the Mother of Jesus by one of the women disciples was all that was needed. A modest nod and a few words from Mary would have been enough to establish the actuality of the virgin birth. This [...]
Religions Evolve, Part 2: Islam
In “Religions Evolve, Part 1,” I offered up 10 random truths about Christianity. In that post, I listed 10 well-accepted conclusions about Christianity that have emerged from the past two centuries of scholarship. Now I’ll try to do the same for Islam — except I’ve got 17 random truths, and the scholarship is more controversial. [...]
The Language of Belief
There’s an interesting discussion in progress over at Pharyngula about the language barrier between believers and non-believers in America. Whereas non-believers speak in terms of evidence and logic, believers speak in terms of faith and supernatural power. As one commenter said, “It’s not just a ‘language’ problem. Languages can be translated. It’s a fundamental epistemological [...]
