Category: Religion
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Leftism: The World’s Most Dynamic Religion?
Dennis Prager answers in the affirmative: For at least the last hundred years, the world’s most dynamic religion has been neither Christianity nor Islam. It has been leftism. Most people do not recognize what is probably the single most important fact of modern life. One reason is that leftism is overwhelmingly secular (more than merely…
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Religious Belief and What Inclines Me to It
This from an English reader: As you may recall, I'm a persistent reader of your blog – even when the 'topic of the day' goes right over my head. On the minimalist version of Pascal's wager, you summarize: "So how can I lose? Even if they are illusions, believing in God and the soul incurs…
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The Pragmatic and the Evidential: Is It Ever Rational to Believe Beyond the Evidence?
Is it ever rational to believe something for which one has insufficient evidence? If it is never rational to believe something for which one has insufficient evidence, then presumably it is also never rational to act upon such a belief. For example, if it irrational to believe in God and post-mortem survival, then presumably it…
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Hitchens: No Understanding of Religion
Reading Christopher Hitchens' Mortality I was struck once again by how people like him have no understanding of religion at all. Lacking as they do any religious sense, they can only (mis)understand it from the outside as if it were just a set of strange doctrines. They don't seem to understand that the doctrines are "necessary makeshifts,"…
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The Schizoid Left: OK to Bash Mormons and Christians but not Muslims?
Many liberals in the West have become, and many more are becoming, radical leftists out to subvert the very principles that they as leftists supposedly support. Thus arises the phenomenon of the schizoid Left. For example, from the time of the French Revolution on, the Left has been anti-clerical and ever more anti-religious. But now…
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On ‘Spirituality’ and ‘Religion’
Nathaniel Torrey writes to request a link to his post, The Dalai Lama and the Non-Religion of the Future. I am pleased to do so. His thoughts are in line with the ones I expressed in a 25 September 2010 entry, On 'Spirituality' The trendy embrace the term 'spirituality' but shun its close cousin, ‘religion.’…
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Escapism
Escapism is a form of reality-denial. One seeks to escape from the only reality there is into a haven of illusion. One who flees a burning building we do not call an escapist. Why not? Because his escape from the fire is not an escape into unreality, but into a different reality. The prisoner in Plato's…
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Ross Douthat on the Free Exercise of Religion
An excellent column with discussion of the Chick-Fil-A 'flap.'
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Scriptural Inerrancy Again
The following is from a reader who wishes to remain anonymous but who wants me "to hear a different perspective on the matter than that of the Calvinists who comment on your blog: I don't want you thinking they are the ones rightly interpreting the Christian texts." ………………. Jesus and Paul had a rather liberal interpretation…
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Protestants, Catholics, Purgatory, Inerrancy and Related Topics
My last post drew a number of e-mail responses. Here is one, by Joshua Orsak. Subheadings added. The ComBox is open in case Professor Anderson, or anyone, cares to respond. Purgatory First I'd like to make a quick note on purgatory. Purgatory is found in the Apocrypha, the 10 or so books of…
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The Bible as the Christian Faith’s ‘Constitution’
James N. Anderson has a thought-provoking post entitled Ecclesial Activism. A key idea is that the Bible is to the Christian faith as the U. S. constitution is to the U. S. government. And just as judicial activism is a Bad Thing, so is ecclesial activism. The Roman Catholic Church comes in for a drubbing…
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Can an Irreligious Person Really be a Conservative?
John Derbyshire asks and answers his question. Q. Can an irreligious person really be a conservative? A. Of course he can. The essence of modern conservatism is the belief in limited government power, respect for traditional values, patriotism, and strong national defense. The only one of those that gets snagged on religion is the second. But…
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Conservatism, Religion, and Money-Grubbing
This from a reader in Scotland: I'm a first year undergraduate philosophy student with some very muddled political views. My father has always been a staunch supporter of the Left to the point of being prejudiced against all things on the conservative or Right side as 'religious' and 'money grubbing' . I never questioned any…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Death and Resurrection
Johnny Cash, Ain't No GraveJohnny Cash, RedemptionMississippi John Hurt, You've Got to Walk that Lonesome ValleyB. B. King, See That My Grave is Kept CleanBlind Boy Grunt (Bob Bylan), Gospel PlowBob Dylan, Fixin' to DieJohnny Cash, Personal JesusJohnny Cash, HurtJohnny Cash, Final Interview. He speaks of his faith starting at 5:15. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Culture and…
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Good Friday Meditation: Wittgenstein on Christianity
From Culture and Value, p. 32e, tr. Peter Winch: Christianity is not based on a historical truth; rather, it offers us a (historical) narrative and says: now believe! But not, believe this narrative with the belief that is appropriate to a historical narrative, rather: believe, through thick and thin, which you can do only as…