Monthly Archives: May 2011

The solipsism of faith

Human engineering prowess has long sought to protect people from the sorts of natural disasters that have struck the nation’s midsection over the last several weeks.  Some survivors of these recent storms, however, see God’s hand–rather than successful building design … Continue reading

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Relic veneration in the modern world

The Vatican is warning against “miracle-performing sensationalism” and too enthusiastic a veneration of relics: Even the veneration of relics, [writes Wall Street Journal columnist Francis Rocca, the Vatican correspondent for Religion News Service,] mocked by the Protestant reformers and long … Continue reading

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Yale’s feminists: Behaving hysterically

Sixteen Yale students and recent alumni are siccing the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights on Yale College, claiming that the college denies girls the “same equal opportunity to the Yale education as their male counterparts,” in the words of … Continue reading

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Nerds and the supernatural

So the rapture didn’t happen. Not a big deal. Here’s one thing that I think warrants attention: Harold Camping is a nerd. He has a degree in civil engineering from Berkeley. As the British would say, “he can do the … Continue reading

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The Arab spring revisited

I was always one skeptical of the “Arab spring.” My skepticism is modulated and qualified. I think Tunisia has the prospects of becoming a normal nation-state to a far greater extent than Libya, for example. But I was of the … Continue reading

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Apocalypse Postponed

The Daily Telegraph’s Damian Thompson (a religious man, incidentally) weighs in here: …I suppose if I had to boil it down to one observation, it would be that just because people say they “believe” that such-and-such a thing will happen … Continue reading

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Oh Well…

On to 2012, I suppose… Via the Daily Telegraph: Inhabitants of New Zealand, scheduled to be among the first to meet the apocalypse according to a US fundamentalist preacher, this morning confirmed they were still in existence as the appointed … Continue reading

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Karl Popper and the Rapture

It’s odd to observe conventional believers—such as Rush Limbaugh on his radio show today—mock the Rapture proponents.  The evidentiary basis for more mainstream propositions about the afterlife and the nature of God is identical to those predicting a Doomsday within … Continue reading

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The media joke of objectivity

This story is not written with serious intent, though its tone is serious. Make My Bed? But You Say the World’s Ending: The Haddad children of Middletown, Md., have a lot on their minds: school projects, SATs, weekend parties. And … Continue reading

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The media joke

Donald Trump says he won’t run in 2012: The publicity-loving New York developer and reality-TV star pulled the plug on his would-be 2012 presidential run Monday afternoon, saying he still believes he’d be best for the job but that he’s … Continue reading

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