Monthly Archives: November 2008

Religion & nihilism

Posted on November 30, 2008 by David Hume

Does religion encourage nihilism? & Belief in God and Nihilism.

Posted in data | Tagged | 13 Comments

On the varieties of prediction

Posted on November 30, 2008 by David Hume

In some of the comments below I engaged in a discussion about the power of prediction, the necessity of skepticism, and so on.  In the format of a weblog the full overgrown shape of one’s thoughts can be somewhat muddled. … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | Tagged | 13 Comments

Dangerous Places

Posted on November 30, 2008 by Bradlaugh

Further to Heather’s remarks:  the London Daily Telegraph has a photo-display titled “20 of the world’s most dangerous places.” Here are the Telegraph’s 20, with their dominant religions (according to the CIA World Factbook). I think my abbreviations are obvious, except … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 26 Comments

Rules Of Engagement

Posted on November 30, 2008 by Bradlaugh

I’d just like to put down the following marker:  Any commenter who blithely misquotes a thing I’ve said, as one commenter just did, will in future not get past the moderator barrier while I’m guarding it. (Which, unfortunately, won’t be … Continue reading →

Posted in Administration | Tagged | 4 Comments

The Political Viability of Religious Conservatism

Posted on November 30, 2008 by Bradlaugh

It doesn’t have much, according to Alex Knepper in this post from another blog, date about two weeks ago.  I particularly liked the Tenth Amendment point (towards the end).

Posted in politics | Tagged | 19 Comments

Ilana Counterblogs

Posted on November 30, 2008 by Bradlaugh

Ilana Mercer counterblogs (read down a bit) to my post on “Theology Outside the Tribe.” To her points: Yes, indeed, Islamic theology is interesting to a lot of people, as the excellent sales of Robert Spencer’s books show. That is … Continue reading →

Posted in debate | Tagged | 41 Comments

Homeland security in Kentucky

Posted on November 29, 2008 by Walter Olson

Nice to know Kentucky’s state legislature has its priorities straight: The 2006 law organizing the state Office of Homeland Security lists its initial duty as “stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 8 Comments

Who is smart: Secular, religious, Right or Left?

Posted on November 29, 2008 by David Hume

A friend emailed me and suggested I look into the GSS and figure out which groups are smarter in terms of political & religious combinations.  So again, my methodology is simple. I took the WORDSUM variable, which is the # … Continue reading →

Posted in data | Tagged | 23 Comments

Religion and moral decline, contd.

Posted on November 29, 2008 by Heather Mac Donald

A reader suggests that one needs to examine the same society over time, rather than comparing different societies, to test whether the waning of religious belief and fervor leads to moral decay. So let’s look at the West over the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 24 Comments

Kmiec as Vatican Ambassador?

Posted on November 28, 2008 by Walter Olson

I suppose I should pass over in silence the blog flap over whether President-elect Obama might properly name Pepperdine lawprof Douglas Kmiec as Ambassador to the Holy See (Michael Sean Winters, America Magazine, pro; UCLA lawprof Stephen Bainbridge, con and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 6 Comments