According to the drumbeat from religious leaders and the media, religion and science are heading for a profound reconciliation and synthesis that will benefit all humanity. The purpose of this discussion is to expose the irrationality of this contention and state the proper relationship of the two. Let’s deal first with the claims that religion and [...] [...more]
The word “faith” is short and appears innocuous. But it has caused much human misery in history and continues to do so presently. A good first step in addressing this problem is to appreciate that “faith,” like most words, has multiple meanings. The type of faith discussed in this essay will be confined to religious [...] [...more]
Thursday Sept. 17, 2009, 7 pm, UCF Arena – Atheism vs. Religion: Hitchens and D’Souza Debate. Does religion hold the keys to creating a better world or would modern society be better off without it? What does religion mean for us today? These are some of the questions Christopher Hitchens, atheist author, [...] [...more]
[The second and third large, prospective, randomized, double blind studies that pass muster as valid scientific investigations of the effects of prayer on human health.] The second study that appears to meet the “gold standard” for scientific studies was one entitled “A Randomized, Controlled Trial of the Effects of Remote, Intercessory Prayer on Outcomes in Patients [...] [...more]
Many religious people want to cling to the ancient belief in the supernatural, including prayer, and yet accept the conclusions and benefits of modern science. They can’t have it both ways. To study the natural world, scientists must have an implicit understanding that science operates only by natural, predictable processes, ones that can not be [...] [...more]
If God is all powerful and knowledgeable, why aren’t we all born with the belief in the same God, instead of being indoctrinated into our parent’s religion and belief in their God? [...more]
For those that send out those sappy Regina Brett style, life-affirming, Jesus-loving, emails which are full of the “wisest things they’ve learned in life,” most of which aren’t very accurate but sound warm and gooey, like: “It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it,” here are some of the things I’ve learned [...] [...more]
I and the Father are one. (John 10:30) In a human family, the father is traditionally recognized as leader of the pack. He is physically the largest, and he frequently has the meanest temper. In my own family of ten, dad was alpha. As with many families of my generation, this alpha often went [...] [...more]
“It is humanity’s unique blessing and peculiar curse to be the only species on Earth, as far as we know, that worries so obsessively and at such great expense about where we came from and why we’re here.” (Epilogue, pg. 339) Pulitizer Prize winning journalist Edward Humes is a consummate storyteller. In Monkey Girl, he paints [...] [...more]
