Religion

A conceptual model of the multiverse

I decided I had to start from the very beginning.

By Justin Katz | January 17, 2022 |

With the firm disclaimer that such material is not for everybody, I’ve been intending to write philosophical or religious essays regularly on Dust in the Light.  Time has a way of slipping past, however. At an accelerating pace in the months since the last-published post on the site, concepts have started to click into place…

Christmas lights reflected in a puddle

Overcoming Christmas Blandness

By Justin Katz | December 25, 2021 |

At different times in my life, I’ve found my ability to focus on brainwork hindered by various things.  Sometimes, it’s been videogames.  Sometimes, binge-watching television shows.  Sometimes, social media.  Even simplistic games like solitaire, mahjong, 2048, or sudoku. Recently, my chief distraction has been contemplating the construction of reality, especially around the point at which…

An explosion of light

Tonight’s strange reminder at Christmas Eve Mass that we need a beacon.

By Justin Katz | December 24, 2021 |

The strangest thing that’s ever happened to me as a Eucharistic minister, distributing communion at Catholic Mass, was the time shortly after I’d started doing it that an elderly man threw coins in the ciborium* with his right hand as I placed the Eucharist in his left.  I didn’t know how to react or what…

A young woman shushes

Critical race theory enters with tilted treatment of “funds of knowledge.”

By Justin Katz | December 14, 2021 |

The method is to train teachers with theories and techniques that are reasonable on their face, but that are joined with ideological preferences that are communicated in hidden assumptions. 

Statue of Jesus kneeling

They don’t even know that they are Christians.

By Justin Katz | December 5, 2021 |

In the middle of the Sixteenth Century, St. Francis Xavier wrote to his friend, St. Ignatius of Loyola, of his experience ministering to Christians in India: We have visited the villages of the new converts who accepted the Christian religion a few years ago. No Portuguese live here, the country is so utterly barren and…

A water drop and ripples

How about an “unceded” holy territory?

By Justin Katz | December 3, 2021 |

Well, this is another indication of why the United States should exit the United Nations: The United Nations approved a resolution targeting Israel and denying Judaism’s link to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Wednesday in a 129-11 vote. The resolution referred to the Temple Mount exclusively by its Muslim name, al-Haram al-Sharif. The text…

A water drop and ripples

How can any organization not be free to take beliefs into account when hiring senior management?

By Justin Katz | November 6, 2021 |

Some news stories, even ones where “my side” wins, so to speak, gives me a how-did-we-get-to-this-place headache.  The somewhat autonomous British island of Guernsey nearly passed an anti-discrimination law that would have forced all organizations, including Catholic schools, to ignore their belief systems when hiring employees, even in leadership positions.  Even local Protestants spoke up…

A woman surrounded by photos

Friday morning philosophy: memory, victimhood, and recovery.

By Justin Katz | November 5, 2021 |

Whether one generally agrees with his ideas or not, Jordan Peterson’s podcast is unique and wonderful in its approach.  He’s a brilliant guy, and he’s genuinely striving to figure stuff out.  To this end, he invites other brilliant people who he thinks can help him answer some question on for a conversation.  Peterson comes to…

Bishop Tobin's tweet to Pope Francis

Bishop Tobin’s tweet to the pope is certainly a sign of changing times.

By Justin Katz | October 28, 2021 |

Naturally, I’m in agreement with Bishop Tobin and this tweet to Pope Francis, both in substance and in the meta-factor of thinking it needs to be sent: Dear Pope Francis, You have boldly stated that abortion is “murder.” Please challenge President Biden on this critical issue. His persistent support of abortion is an embarrassment for…

A hooded man in shadows

Hate Crime Statistics and Dysfunction on the Campus

By Justin Katz | October 27, 2021 |

Founding broad, university-wide policies in ideological imperatives that make little pretense to a factual basis, academic institutions are convincing young Americans that they live in a society that does not actually exist.