Category Archives: God

God and Life

Posted on September 30, 2007 by acb

Now that I have finished Peter bloody Conrad I can return to Oliver Morton’s Eating the Sun, and I was struck yesterday by the difficulty, at the margins, of defining life. This is not just a matter of molecules being … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 8 Comments

Bastards and condoms

Posted on September 28, 2007 by acb

It’s not often that you find Damian Thompson and PZ Myers singing in the same choir but they are both shocked by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Maputo who has claimed not only that condoms don’t prevent AIDS but that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 6 Comments

Hot from the dept of the Bleeding Obvious

Posted on September 6, 2007 by acb

I have grown interested in something called Terror Management Theory, which suggests that people find cultural escapes from the burden of their own mortality; in general they become more attached to their own traditions and more hostile to others. In … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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It’s a miracle, not a pension

Posted on August 28, 2007 by acb

The Times of India had the excellent idea of finding out what happened to the woman who was meant to have been miraculously cured by a miracle blessed by Mother Teresa. There are, or course, disputes about the cure. Medical … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 5 Comments

Conservatives and homophobes

Posted on July 28, 2007 by acb

Damian Thompson has been examining the problem of homosexuality and the Anglican Communion on his Telegraph blog, and this has led to at least one delightful misunderstanding: commentator “Terwilliger” writes You are quite correct Damian but sometimes it is necessary … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blather, God | 2 Comments

A defence of the Bishop of Hereford

Posted on July 27, 2007 by acb

I have been reading the Church Times’s coverage of the case of the Bishop of Hereford, Dr Anthony Priddis, who has just been reprimanded by an Employment tribunal for refusing a job as a youth leader to a gay man … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 4 Comments

Losing his religion

Posted on July 22, 2007 by acb

I have been meaning to write about this for ages wrt Steve Bates, but there is a (too) long piece in the LA Times (via Pharyngula) by their former religion correspondent explaining why he gave up the business after losing … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God, Journalism | Comments Off on Losing his religion

Lost history

Posted on July 20, 2007 by acb

I keep by my bed, as an antidote to hopes of progress, a volume of the Cambridge Modern History dealing with the Thirty Years’ War. It wouldn’t be an antidote if I were certain that we had left these times … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God, Sweden | 1 Comment

Hitchens being silly

Posted on July 15, 2007 by acb

Michael Gersen, the man who coined the phrase “Axis of Evil”, had an op-ed defending religion in the Washington Post. There is the nice irony that if his beliefs are correct, the consequences of his wicked act will be worse … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 3 Comments

Philip Kitcher on Darwin

Posted on July 14, 2007 by acb

I think I put up a post saying, briefly, that Philip Kitcher’s Living with Darwin was a very good short book. Here is an extract answering a question that has often puzzled me – and, incidentally, suggesting why Dennett’s book … Continue reading →

Posted in God, Science without worms, USA | 2 Comments