Religion
Nothing symbolizes the supposed arbitrariness of religion to those predisposed towards skepticism towards religious belief more than does the Catholic practice of eating fish on Fridays during the season of Lent. I’ll admit to having asked myself, especially on Good Friday, what connection there is between fish and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And then…
I don’t believe it’s fair to blame WPRO (630AM) talk show host John DePetro for “manufacturing” the controversy about the Rhode Island Christmas tree/holiday tree. The blame rests squarely with Governor Lincoln Chafee, who is claiming the authority to rename a religious symbol because he is the head of the state. (Bill O’Reilly is wrong…
Of one thing, we can be reasonably confident: Coverage of proof and arguments against that sliver of papyrus purporting to prove that Jesus had a wife will have a far smaller profile than the initial boom of proclamations that it had been discovered. Not surprisingly, the Vatican has stated its opinion that the artifact is…
Issuing bonds to harm the housing market; disavowing movies in Pakistan and tearing down banners in Cranston; the Constitution as ours to protect; the quick failure of QE3; and Catholic social teaching as the bridge for the conservative-libertarian divide. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…
Back when the Episcopal/Anglican Church was finding itself fraught with international internal turmoil over the appointment of an openly and actively homosexual bishop in New Hampshire, Catholic writer and blogger Mark Shea predicted, as an aphorism, that the organization would gradually turn toward the promotion of homosexuality. I always considered that a plausible, but not…
The Portsmouth Institute conference on “Modern Science, Ancient Faith” closed in spectacular fashion with Rev. Nicanor Austriaco, who teaches both biology and theology at Providence College. With the ease and humor of somebody used to speaking before college students, Austriaco explained what genomic science tells us about our ancestors and speculated about the timing and…
With a joke about philosophers and theologians (he being the former), Michael Ruse used the dinner speech of day two of the Portsmouth Institute conference on “Modern Science, Ancient Faith” to take up the ostensibly neutral (mutually skeptical) approach to arbitrating between religion and science. He referred to both approaches to knowledge as “symbolic” —…
At each of the Portsmouth Institute’s conferences (except the first, as I recall), Kevin O’Brien of Theater of the Word has had some sort of performance. Last year, being on Catholicism and Shakespeare, his troupe performed scenes from Shakespeare with accompanying commentary. O’Brien’s other two performances, however, were self-composed biographical lectures given in the character…
From an entertainment standpoint, the most interesting aspect of Bill Dembski’s talk at the Portsmouth Institute conference on “Modern Science, Ancient Faith” was the continuation of what is apparently a long-standing head-to-head with the previous speaker, Ken Miller. Dembski is a notable personage on the intelligent design side of the public debate, and at one…
Brown University biology professor Ken Miller opened the second day of conferences at this year’s Portsmouth Institute conference, “Modern Science, Ancient Faith.” Readers may find his name familiar, inasmuch as he was a central figure when the teaching of evolution was big news a few years back. He also stood out, among the academics for…
