Religion
It occurs to me, while reading through the comments to last week’s post on religion and evolution, that a bit of common, subconscious legerdemain infects those making the secularist argument. By way of context, here is my lone statement of intentions with respect to my own voting intentions: I’ll vote every time for children to…
Apropos of our discussion of religion and evolution, a story from the Second Book of Kings comes to mind. Naaman is a foreign military commander, valiant and respected, who has become inflicted with leprosy. A military campaign brings a captured Israelite girl into his house as a servant, and she suggests that he seek out…
Andrew’s disagreement with John West, it seems to me, comes down to a single word: “directs.” In essence, West presents two opposing possibilities: “God… intentionally directs the development of life toward a specific end.” “God himself cannot know how evolution will turn out.” Andrew’s hypothetical of God’s experimenting with “multi-creation,” picking “the one He likes…
I can get out of my depth on philosophical topics rather quickly [Insert your own “And this is different from the other topics that you write about, how?” joke here], but I found John G. West‘s defense of the idea of “intelligent design” in his National Review Online article on the recently-passed Louisiana Science Education…
This is not from The Onion. According to a survey conducted by the very reputable Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life…15% of atheists are fairly or absolutely certain that God exists.29% of agnostics do not believe in God.
Father Roger J. Landry of the Diocese of Fall River has some thoughts on the meaning of Pope Benedict’s recent visit to the U.S. (h/t). In particular, he focuses on how the Pope called on our own founding traditions to reinvigorate us. He came to speak to all Americans: to remind us who we are,…
Yes, unless Ben Stein didn’t simply neglect to enunciate a qualifier (such as the one that I’ve inserted in the following quotation) in which he actually believes, then he may, as Glenn Reynolds puts it, have “completely lost it”: When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers, talking about how great…
Channel 12’s (and Fox Providence) Newsmakers program opened with a discussion of Pope Benedict’s visit to America. Host Steve Aveson opened by asking Father Najim about the impact of Pope Benedict’s visit. Father Najim explained that a Papal visit will help with explaining and encouraging Catholics, especially males, to enter the Catholic vocations and that,…
This passage from the latest Rhode Island Catholic column from the consistently insightful Fr. John A. Kiley is worth sharing: Somewhere towards the end of the last century, Fear of God yielded to fear of alienation. Not a few prelates, priests and parents have been profoundly afraid to speak up lest they lose their audiences.…
Selections from last night’s Easter Vigil mass: The Easter Vigil is the turning point of the Triduum, the Passover of the new covenant which marks Christ’s passage from death to life. Easter is about redemption. God has secured the victory: Exodus 14:13-15 – And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see…