Monthly Archives: March 2009

Afghanistan Today

Via the Independent… Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, the student journalist sentenced to death for blasphemy in Afghanistan, has been told he will spend the next 20 years in jail after the country’s highest court ruled against him – without even hearing … Continue reading

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Clone Wars

The notion that a bright line can be drawn between ‘Science’ and ‘Politics’ is as often used to mislead as to enlighten. The stem cell controversy was always about more than the science and it was typically disingenuous of President … Continue reading

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No Atheists on the Shuffleboard Court?

Mr. Hume’s post on “Religion & Age”  left hanging the question whether there might be a general trend for individuals to get more religious as they get older. The Inductivist has taken up the issue.  He says no.

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Origins of that Connecticut Catholic bill

Many other bloggers besides ourselves noticed the absurd and unconstitutional proposal floated in Connecticut’s Judiciary Committee to order the Roman Catholic Church to turn its governance over to boards of laypeople. Prawfsblawg carries the text of a stern letter written … Continue reading

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End of Evangelicalism?

This report in Christian Science Monitor is getting some air time. It seems speculative & data-free to me, but I really don’t know much about evangelicals.

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Religion & age

A follow up to Bradlaugh’s post. In the GSS you can look at religious identification as a function of age. Below the fold is a chart where each bar is a year from age 18 up to 88. 89 and … Continue reading

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To the Breath of the Night-Wind

From the news wire this morning: A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more … Continue reading

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Reinventing Tibetan Buddhism

Sadly this fascinating piece by Lydia Aran on how Tibetan Buddhism has been rebranded for western consumption is trapped behind Commentary’s subscription wall, but this extract gives a good flavor: Catering to the tastes of Western academics and New Age … Continue reading

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Metaphysics Butters No Parsnips

Interesting thread on abortion. Just a few at random. •  In Mr. Hume’s post and the comments threads we’ve so far turned up Ronald Reagan and Sarah Palin as having carried out legislative actions suggesting that, at the least, they didn’t/don’t … Continue reading

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In Connecticut, a “preposterously unconstitutional attack on Catholicism”

Catholic sites are up in arms, and rightly so, about a measure called S.B. 1098, introduced March 5 in the Connecticut legislature, which would by law remove control of Roman Catholic parishes from bishops and place them instead in the … Continue reading

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