A fascinating roundup of evolutionary science posts relating to intelligent design and evolution over at EO. The compiler is an informed agnostic on the subject; I could stretch out linking to the 33 things he links to (another month of free blogging! Woot!) but I’ll just point you to the mother lode.
Liberal feel-good theology gets slammed onto the sidewalk in this powerful scene from “ER”. And we’re reminded what religion is here for in the first place.
For years, I’ve assumed that the reason that the music sucks in Catholic services was that some previous Pope had lost a bet with our Protestant brethren. I was never sure of the details – it’s a hierarchy, after all – but it was fairly obvious that we had agreed: any Catholics showing musical talent would be pointed towards the Protestants instead, so that there would never be good music in a Catholic church.
Now we see it was actually a cunning plan – turns out good church music may undermine the experience over time by raising unrealistic expectations. Those Popes, they’re clever ones.
H/T Evangelical Outpost.
James Q. Wilson writes trenchantly on the relationship between American Christians (mainly conservative Christians) and Jews – specifically, on the fact that while most evangelical and fundamentalist Christians report positive feelings about both Jews and Israel, most Jews tend to have negative feelings about Christian evangelists and fundamentalists.
Wilson opines that much of the Christian attraction is a result of dispensationalism. I am not so sure of that; as Evangelical Outpost correctly notes, non-dispensationalist Christians have the same positive feelings. I think it is more likely that American Christians view the Jews as a people in much the same light that the Romans viewed the Greeks – we came from them, they are our cultural fathers, we owe them reverence. It is not unnatural for Christians to feel that way; the historical and theological legacies are quite clear. It’s also pretty understandable that the affection is not returned; nobody likes to think of themselves as being supplanted, and while Jews might not think of themselves as supplanted, Christians have a tacit assumption that this is in fact the case. And demographically, of course, it’s pretty obvious. Judaism at the time of the founding of Christianity was a major world religion; something like 10% of the population of the Roman Empire was Jewish, and Jews thrived elsewhere as well.
…and the Mormons, the Baptists, the Jews, and everyone else. Fascinating map of religion in the US.
(H/T David Thompson.)
Catholic theologian John Haught is interviewed at Salon. The interview becomes a launchpoint for…well, for something, over at Pandagon. Starting from an outright mis-statement of the very headline of the article she links (one unchallenged in 230+ comments – no echo chamber here!), Marcotte fills four or five screens with an assortment of misreadings, evasions, and the usual childish insults. Haught’s interview is worth reading for its insights and explorations of how scientific advances such as Darwinism challenge and extend our theological understanding. Marcotte’s post…well, the beauty of the Internet in a free country is that anyone can write whatever they want to write. Let’s all appreciate that freedom and try not to think about what people are getting up to with it.
