Yearly Archives: 2006

God’s magic telephone

Posted on September 26, 2006 by acb

Sam Harris asks1 why we should respect George Bush for saying that he talks with God in the privacy of his bedroom. If he said that he talked to God using a magic telephone, then people would think him mad. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Notes from a scrapbook

Posted on September 26, 2006 by acb

Is religiously inspired morality a crane or a skyhook? That is to ask: when a religious person attempts to build their character in a particular direction, are they building on pre-existent morality, or hoiking down something from God or the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Some people only feel like this on Mondays

Posted on September 23, 2006 by acb

People keep telling me I’m gloomy these days. Very well; I’m gloomy. Let me share. Here are some fragments from the latest NYRB. Tim Garton Ash In the relationship with Islam as a religion, it makes sense to encourage those … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blather | 8 Comments

Getcha Quechua flashcards here

Posted on September 22, 2006 by acb

The FWB is currently doing a Latin A level with an imaginative teacher, who has her pupil1 doing Latin Scrabble. Googling for a tile set led me to the University of Toronto, and from there to Liberation Philology, a small … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Net stories | Comments Off on Getcha Quechua flashcards here

Papal developments

Posted on September 21, 2006 by acb

One small thing that puzzles me about the speech in Regensburg last week: why was the English translation notably more offensive than what the Pope actually said? If you compare the English and German versions on the Vatican website, the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 8 Comments

A prison statistic

Posted on September 20, 2006 by acb

I just noticed a horrible little story in the local paper. A 40 year old woman has just spent 134 days in Holloway Prison, an exceedingly nasty place, because she had been found incapably drunk in Braintree. She was at … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in British politics | 2 Comments

The Gödel sentence for dogmatic atheists

Posted on September 20, 2006 by acb

Is found, I think, towards the end of a long article by Sam Harris in the L.A. Times about the evils of Islam, fanatical faith, suicide bombers, architects putting down their set squares to hack off the necks of journalists, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 3 Comments

The Clash of Civilisations

Posted on September 20, 2006 by acb

George Carey teaches me Christian humility. No matter how sure I am of my own righteousness, I begin to doubt it when I see him galumphing up to join me at the barricade. So, should I reconsider the defence of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 4 Comments

Pitepalt

Posted on September 19, 2006 by acb

I don’t know what happened to the divine Mrs Tilton. But this is in her spirit, for she used to post subtle recipes for incredibly calorific German food and, while looking for things to say about the Swedish elections, I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Travel notes | 1 Comment

A German Joke

Posted on September 15, 2006 by acb

It’s pretty obvious who said this, but one thinks better of him for it anyway: The university was also very proud of its two theological faculties. It was clear that, by inquiring about the reasonableness of faith, they too carried … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 4 Comments