Clipmarks | Antara's 'faith' clips

Theodicy and the "Holiday in Hellmouth"

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:37:29 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: good read

http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/holiday-in-hellmouth/

For the lucky few, there is reason to hope that life will be a business of evenly rationed suffering: stern parents perhaps, a few humiliations at school, then a love affair or two gone wrong, maybe a marriage broken. Our parents will die, and farther off, ideally deferred, will come our own steady demise. Plenty of suffering for a life, certainly, but most of us subsist on the plausible expectation that fortune will draw a circle around that personal portion, and that the truly unbearable—murder, rape, dead children, torture, war—will remain outside the cordon. Norman Rush, in his novel “Mortals,” calls this “hellmouth”: “the opening up of the mouth of hell right in front of you, without warning, through no fault of your own.” Without warning, and yet always feared. Job, whom God places into hellmouth to test him, knew that paradox: “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.”

Tags: sam harris, the new yorker, atheism, belief, faith, religion, theodicy

Fideism

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:37:09 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: I only learned about this "school of thought" recently Just passin on a link

Clip Source: plato.stanford.edu

Fideism

“Fideism” is the name given to that school of thought—to which Tertullian himself is frequently said to have subscribed—which answers that faith is in some sense independent of—if not outright adversarial toward—reason. In contrast to the more rationalistic tradition of natural theology, with its arguments for the existence of God, fideism holds that reason is unnecessary and inappropriate for the exercise and justification of religious belief. The term itself derives from fides, the Latin word for faith, and can be rendered literally as faith-ism. “Fideism” is thus to be understood not as a synonym for “religious belief,” but as denoting a particular philosophical account of faith's appropriate jurisdiction vis-a-vis that of reason.

2.2 The Usual Suspects

2.2.1 Pascal
2.2.2 Kierkegaard
2.2.3 James
2.2.4 Wittgenstein

Tags: faith, reason, religion, philosophy

Does this explain Religion?

Tue, 27 May 2008 14:28:06 GMT

clipped by: Antara

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Religion is a product of evolution, software suggests

God may work in mysterious ways, but a simple computer program may explain how religion evolved

By distilling religious belief into a genetic predisposition to pass along unverifiable information, the program predicts that religion will flourish. However, religion only takes hold if non-believers help believers out – perhaps because they are impressed by their devotion.

"If a person is willing to sacrifice for an abstract god then people feel like they are willing to sacrifice for the community," says James Dow, an evolutionary anthropologist at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, US, who wrote the program – called Evogod (download the code here).

Dow is by no means the first scientist to take a stab at explaining how religion emerged. Theories on the evolution of religion tend toward two camps. One argues that religion is a mental artefact, co-opted from brain functions that evolved for other tasks.

Tags: religion, faith, science, evolution, questions, computers

Heathen Tv

Fri, 23 May 2008 00:47:05 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: heathen.tv

Tags: heathens, infidels, rabblerousers, interesting

Outrage: RIP RAND ABDEL-QADER

Thu, 15 May 2008 22:29:58 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: She (the author) says it's not about Islam but i disagree. As the murderer says himself

"I had the support of ALL my friends"....oh ya...the support of the police as well.

http://timesonline.typepad.com/faith/2008/05/honour-killing.html

Clip Source: timesonline.typepad.com

"Honour" killing - a self-important murdering pig speaks

A long, chilling interview in the Observer today with the father of a 17 year old Iraqi girl, Rand Abdel-Qader, who he choked, stamped and beat to death in Basra. Abdel-Qader Ali explains why he is unrepentant and says the police backed his actions.
'I don't regret it. I had the support of all my friends who are fathers, like me, and know what she did was unacceptable to any Muslim that honours his religion..'I don't have a daughter now, and I prefer to say that I never had one. That girl humiliated me in front of my family and friends"
Just note that last sentence. It's not about Islam (sane Muslims agree that the Qu'ran forbids such murders). It's not about Islam but it's all about him. It is uncivilized, irreligious, psychopathic nonsense. A fathers who murders his daughter because her even smiling at another man "humiliates" him personally is no better than Josef Fritzl. But read the interview. It's a window into hell.

Tags: islam, honour killings, psychos, another dead girl

Neuro-Mysticism

Wed, 14 May 2008 13:21:52 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: I love this kinda material, just fascinating...

Clip Source: www.theness.com

Writing in today’s New York Times, columnist David Brooks discusses the relationship between neuroscience and mysticism - saying that in the future the debate will center around a concept that he calls “neural Buddhism”. He says he is not taking sides, just pointing out that this is where the real debate is going to happen. Well - let the debate begin.

First I want to point out that I read David Brooks regularly because I find his style to be very rational, educated, and thoughtful. He is one of those writers who is worth reading regardless of your political ideology. I particularly enjoy those articles in which he takes a step back and looks at the current political topics of discussion in the context of broader cultural trends. That is indeed what he is attempting to do in this article. Although he is clearly well-read on this topic, I think he has misinterpreted the implications of current neuroscience.

Tags: skeptics, neurscience, mysticism, religion, faith and the future

Pagan Prisoners get magic wands !

Tue, 13 May 2008 18:15:16 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: moonbattery.com

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Pagan prisoners: Allowed to keep twigs in cells

Prison bosses have been instructed to let pagan inmates keep twigs in their cells...to use as wands.

Officers have been told to allow prisoners to collect and decorate the twigs which they need for their rituals.

It is the latest in a series of rulings to protect convicts' rights and ensure equality among different faiths.

Followers of other faiths are allowed items such as a prayer mat to allow them to worship.

The policy regarding pagans was announced by Justice Reform Minister Maria Eagle in a parliamentary answer.

She said: "Prison service policy is to enable prisoners of different faith traditions, including paganism, to practise their religion.

"Religious artefacts are allowed for relevant faiths within the constraints of good order and discipline. The religious artefacts for pagan prisoners include a flexible twig for a wand."

Tory prisons spokesman Edward Garnier

Tags: magic wands, pagans, prisons, madness

The Dawn of the Apatheist

Thu, 08 May 2008 18:01:28 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: Article by Jonathan Rauch......food for thought

Clip Source: www.theatlantic.com

The greatest development in modern religion is not a religion at all—it's an attitude best described as "apatheism"

It came to me recently in a blinding vision that I am an apatheist. Well, "blinding vision" may be an overstatement. "Wine-induced haze" might be more strictly accurate. This was after a couple of glasses of Merlot, when someone asked me about my religion. "Atheist," I was about to say, but I stopped myself. "I used to call myself an atheist," I said, "and I still don't believe in God, but the larger truth is that it has been years since I really cared one way or another. I'm"—that was when it hit me—"an ... apatheist!"

That got a chuckle, but the point was serious. Apatheism—a disinclination to care all that much about one's own religion, and an even stronger disinclination to care about other people's—may or may not be something new in the world, but its modern flowering, particularly in ostensibly pious America, is worth getting excited about.

Tags: religion, atheists, faith, who really cares, lol

Calling all Christians, Sam Harris needs you :)

Mon, 05 May 2008 08:52:50 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: Interesting study and a chance to participate...

Thanks

The surveys are here :http://www.samharris.org/

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

Research Volunteers Needed!

We are preparing to run another fMRI study of belief and disbelief, and we need volunteers to help us refine our experimental stimuli. This promises to be the first study of religious faith at the level of the brain. By responding to the four surveys I have posted online, you can make an enormous contribution to this work.

Please answer as many of the surveys as you can. If you only have time to answer one, please choose at random (otherwise, we will have many more responses to the first than to the others).

Feel free to post this message to your blog or to forward the relevant links to your friends. We especially need Christians to respond, as one of the goals of these surveys is to design stimuli that a majority of Christians will find doctrinally sound.

Tags: www.samharris.org

If God is Dead, Who get His house?

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:57:31 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: By Sean McManus via Sam Harris.org

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

It seems unlikely that many of the 850 or so people at the Society for Ethical Culture on a recent Saturday night believed that God was still extant. But evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion and possibly the most famous atheist in the world, was not taking any chances. He gave a PowerPoint presentation driving home that religion does not meet any of the standards of basic scientific inquiry, before casually flicking away a few of His last crutches. Doesn’t God provide people some solace? asked an audience member. “Isn’t that a little childish?” Dawkins replied. “Just because something is comforting doesn’t mean it’s true.” Then someone asked about death, and Dawkins quoted Mark Twain: “I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born.”

The room erupted in loud applause. God had definitely left the building—if he were ever here at all.

Tags: atheism, richard dawkins, faith, religion, samharris.org

Mother Teresa: Hell's Angel. By Chris Hitchens

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:59:33 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: From 1994 - a 3 part doc.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: mother teresa, faith, christopher hitchens

For those touched most by 9/11, a turning point in faith

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:14:39 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: rest of article:

Brian Jordan, a Franciscan priest who ministered to rescue and recovery workers, says there were no atheists at Ground Zero — suddenly everyone had a spiritual life, no matter how tortured or confused.

Jay Rosenbaum, a Long Island rabbi, says he was almost overwhelmed when he arrived at Ground Zero on Sept. 12. But later, he conducted a simple prayer service in vestments that included a hard hat, combat boots and a prayer shawl. “Our mission is to look not only at the devastation there,” he said in his impromptu sermon, pointing to the shell of one tower, “but the devotion here” — the dusty, exhausted, rescue workers around him.

“It was one of the most affirming moments of my life,” he says now. “I felt this was something I was worthy of doing.”

To others, 9/11 seems to belie the notion of an all-loving, all-powerful God. Sam Harris began writing The End of Faith, his best-selling attack on religion, the day after the attacks.

Jonathan Miller, who wrote

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — The pope’s pilgrimage to the site of the World Trade Center revives a question asked by many of those traumatized by the terrorist attacks, including the faithful, the faithless and those in between: Where was God on Sept. 11, 2001?

On Sunday, two dozen 9/11 survivors, victims’ relatives and rescue workers will accompany Benedict XVI to Ground Zero, “the scene of incredible violence and pain” — in the words of the prayer the pope will recite in the pit where the twin towers stood.

PHOTOS: How 9/11 tested their faith

Many whose lives were changed that day are still coming to terms spiritually with 9/11. Some have taken comfort from their faith; others have found it lacking. Some have a stronger faith, a different faith or no faith at all.

Tags: 9/11, faith, sam harris.org

Your Nose, Your Brain, Your Faith

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:02:56 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: Sam Harris article....very interesting!

Rest of article:

http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/my-nose-my-brain-my-faith/

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

By DAVID VAN BIEMA
Jan. 10, 2008

Your nose is one of the less complicated parts of your body, and yet we credit it with considerable intelligence in the area of truth vs. falsehood. We “sniff out a lie.” We say “something smells fishy.” Now studies suggest that something more than metaphor may be at work here--specifically, brain science. The same research may also shed unexpected light on religious faith.

Believing or disbelieving something is always as much about feeling as fact. Sam Harris, a doctoral candidate at UCLA, wanted to see what that means in physiological terms. To many readers, Harris is best known for his antireligious book The End of Faith. But he is also a neuroscientist. In a study reported in the Annals of Neurology, Harris presented 14 people with 360 statements designed to elicit belief, disbelief or uncertainty. He tracked their brain response with a functional magnetic resonance imager (fMRI) and got some very revealing results.

Tags: sam harris, neuroscience, faith, religion

Fair Game with Faith Salie

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 02:59:37 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: Sam Harris interview

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/fairgame/.jukebox?action=viewMedia&mediaId=663157&podcastId=2743

Clip Source: www.publicbroadcasting.net

Christmas is over so we can finally talk to atheists again. We have Sam Harris, who helped kick off the atheist publishing craze with his book The End of Faith. He's also a neuroscientist, and is out with a new study about how brains process belief. Or don't. And we'll talk with Andre Royo, who plays the drug-addicted informant, Bubbles on HBO's The Wire. We'll ask him about winning the world's first ever "Street Oscar." Then, on the heels of Huckabee's negative ad against Romney, we present another Great Moment in Presidential Smears. Plus, music from Blitzen Trapper.

The 10 Biggest Religion Stories

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 01:48:23 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: #4 | The Pope and Latin Mass

Benedict XVI relieves priests of having to get their bishop’s permission to celebrate mass in old-school Latin. To many, it is an unwelcome return of church élitism. Others sink happily back into it.

#5 | The Slow-Motion Episcopal/Anglican Train Wreck

The Episcopal Bishops’ meeting in New Orleans fails to stem the ongoing defection of conservatives over the church’s positions on gays, or the likelihood of a worldwide Anglican split over the same issue.

#6 | Green Evangelicals

Global warming, along with poverty and torture, have become hot issues to a maturing conservative Christian movement.

#7 | The Roar of Atheist Books

There may or may not be more atheists, but there are more atheist authors--and readers want to give them a hearing.

#8 | Another Blow to a Megachurch

A year after Ted Haggard resigned as pastor of Colorado’s New Life Church--having admitted to “immorality” involving a gay escort--a gunman kills two congregants in

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

The 10 Biggest Religion Stories

By DAVID VAN BIEMA
Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007

Mother Teresa’s Crisis of Faith

Letters Mother Teresa wrote to her confessors describe the agony of not being able to sense her beloved God for half a century. “The silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see,” she wrote. These revelations raise the question of whether her spiritual “dryness” made her a greater saint or some kind of self-deceiver.

#2 | Faith Stalks the Campaign Trail!

Hillary tells Rick Warren about her White House prayer group! Mitt explains how he’s a Mormon! Huckabee is an actual preacher!

#3 | The Rev. Jerry Falwell Dies

His death, along with that of the ultra-right-wing Rev. James Kennedy, marks the start of the literal passing of an order. Warren’s conciliatory and less political style characterizes the next one.

Tags: sam harris.com