That article I wrote on the Albert Mohler’s bizarre endorsement of gene therapy for gay fetuses got quoted in an AP article on the subject. Unfortunately, they don’t provide enough info for readers to find their way back here, but it does give a good range of perspectives anyway.
Scalzi makes an impractical, mocking suggestion (hey, isn’t that all he does?) for how to teach comparative religion:
Incidentally, there’s a simple solution to the problem of teaching the history and literature of religions in public schools without “accidentally” tipping over into, you know, proselytizing: Have atheists teach the classes. Yes, that will go over swell, I know. I’m just saying.
He’s right, it would never fly, but I have a suggestion that might make it work. Two rules:
The person teaching the course may not at any time or in any way, even indirectly, discuss his or her own religion.
All discussion of any religion must be value-neutral, that is, you can’t talk about what’s “good” or “bad”, just state the historical and doctrinal facts.
Since most teachers are going to be Christian, that means Christianity would get short shrift, which isn’t appropriate…but the obvious solution there is to have guest lecturers. Invite the local Muslim or Buddhist in to summarize Christianity from his or her perspective. That alone, of course, would guarantee that the instructor couldn’t be some raving fundie—imagine a David Paszkiewicz having to sit quietly at the back of the room while a Dawkins-like atheist or a Muslim like Keith Ellison explained Christianity to the class.
Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, now thinks that high-tech, fetal research is OK — if it leads to a cure for homosexuality.
If a biological basis is found, and if a prenatal test is then developed, and if a successful treatment to reverse the sexual orientation to heterosexual is ever developed, we would support its use as we should unapologetically support the use of any appropriate means to avoid sexual temptation and the inevitable effects of sin.
I know I’m late getting to this article on “Darwin’s God” that was published last weekend…but I’ve been busy, OK? And to be honest, when I took a look at at, the first couple of paragraphs turned me off. These are silly rationalizations for god-belief.
Since David Honig pointed out this one perfect picture, I had to put it up top.
That says it all, doesn’t it?
Comments on this one are a little superfluous, don’t you think? Alice says it all.
It’s time to stomp out atheists in America. The majority of Americans would love to see atheists kicked out of America. If you don’t believe in God, then get out of this country.
The United States is based on having freedom of religion, speech, etc., which means you can believe in God any way you want (Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, etc.), but you must believe.
I don’t recall freedom of religion meaning no religion. Our currency even says, “In God We Trust.” So, to all the atheists in America: Get off of our country.
Atheists have caused the ruin of this great nation by taking prayer out of our schools and being able to practice what can only be called evil. I don’t care if they have never committed a crime, atheists are the reason crime is rampant.
Alice Shannon
Soldotna
Wilson wrote a nice book, The Creation(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), in which he argued that Christians should be leaders in good stewardship of the earth. Now some religious leaders have spoken out against such activities.
The Catholic church is babbling about an antichrist.
An arch-conservative cardinal chosen by the Pope to deliver this year’s Lenten meditations to the Vatican hierarchy has caused consternation by giving warning of an Antichrist who is “a pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist”.
After all, as we all know, when Christ returns he will be an isolationist industrialist who will rip through our natural resources to build up an awesome war machine. It says so in the Bible.
It’s not just the Catholics—Jerry Falwell is all worked up about Al Gore and global warming.
Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell, who has worked for decades to involve conservative Christians in politics, said Sunday the debate over global warming is a tool of Satan being used to distract churches from their primary focus of preaching the gospel.
Good ol’ Jerry, at least you can trust him to back up his assertions with evidence. Irrefutable evidence:
Falwell cited two Bible verses that he said apply to the global-warming debate: Psalm 24:1-2, which declares “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof,” and Genesis 8:22, which says there will be seasons of spring, summer, fall and winter for “as long as the earth remains.”
Uh, what?
That’s pretty much meaningless. Minnesota has seasons; Israel has seasons; I think, though, that most people would agree that there are substantial differences between the two. Even during the ice ages there were seasons. Global warming will not end seasonal differences in temperature and precipitation.
This is a problem. Trying to argue idiots who believe in magic, all-powerful words in one book into following a path of enlightened self-interest is difficult — it would probably be easier to first destroy the source of the foolishness, that book and the church organization.
Some of you may recall that I got rather cranky with some sensitive Catholics who wanted to cancel a play — “The Pope and the Witch”, currently playing on the Twin Cities campus. Unfortunately, although we’d hope to go, we had this succession of snowstorms that made traveling impractical this past week (I may still go at the end of this coming week, since the last day of the play coincides with the last day of classes before spring break and my birthday). Anyway, the Twin Cities Pioneer Press picked up on it. I put the article below the fold to preserve the fact that they quoted me, and to let you read the tale of some very whiny Catholics.
Sometimes I think that what public education in this country really needs is a good general requirement for a course in comparative religion. I’ve thought that one obstacle, though, would be finding teachers who wouldn’t warp it to proselytize for their favorite cult. It turns out that there’s another major problem: parents will sue teachers who make their kids think about that which must be believed dogmatically.
