Opinion: Why accepting ideas like evolution may be about more than an education
My newest piece is up at The Huffington Post (“Research Shows Acceptance of Evolution Requires a Gut Feeling“). This is the first post that I’ve written just for the new science section. What interests me about the research is that it gets at the difficulties people have between assessing facts and their gut feeling. According to the research, the latter is often what keeps us from moving on to ideas that make better sense of the world.
Why are Protestant pastors so stubborn when it comes to accepting evolution?
A recent survey by Lifeway on Protestant pastors and evolution shows a strong reaction against the idea of human evolution. There are several potential responses the theologically-oriented can have
What If Einstein Is Wrong?
What could be more earth-shattering in the physics world than discovering that the foundation of physics is wrong? How should scientists react to a study that turns Einstein’s theories upside down? The discovery of neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light became that moment of 2011. Before there was even a chance for the results to be tested and verified by peers, news reports had already plastered articles with definitive statements that Einstein was wrong.
The Discarded Image brings changes in 2012
The New Year represents change for most people. When we first began The Discarded Image, it was with the hope of producing lengthy and substantive book reviews (fiction and non-fiction) and engaging the serious reader.
The difficulty we ran into was one of time management; The Discarded Image is not a full-time job—and definitely not a paying gig—and our actual full-time jobs demand some significant time. If we found the time to read, it was not as easy to find the time needed for writing. If content is king—and it is—this makes running a successful blog difficult.
Book Review: The Believing Brain
The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies—How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths
by Michael Shermer
Times Books, 2011
400 Pages (paperback)
(Kindle Edition Review)
Available
Amazon.com
Powell’s
Where is the true me found? Is it in the brain or is it in a soul? The majority would say that while I have a body, I also have a soul and that soul is the real me—my mind and essence. Any feeling of being connected to a deity, a spiritual world, to ghosts, or to even the universe confirms that I am a soul, someone might say.
Someone might say that, but not Michael Shermer.
Book Review: Salvage the Bones
Salvage the Bones
by Jesmyn Ward
Bloomsbury, 2011
272 pages (hardcover)
Available at:
Amazon
Powell’s
IndieBound
It’s 2005, the summer before her junior year of high school, and Esch is spending it in the only place she’s ever known—Bois Sauvage, Mississippi. There she shares a ramshackle house in the woods with her brothers Randall, Skeetah, and Junior, and their father. Esch has been the woman of the house ever since her mother died of complications giving birth to Junior. The family makes do with the jumble of outbuildings, chicken pen, piles of rusting appliances and pond they affectionately refer to as “the Pit,” which got its name back when Esch’s grandfather excavated tons of red clay on the property to keep food on the table.
Movie Review: Another Earth (2011)
Another Earth
Fox Searchlight 2011
Rhoda (Brit Marling)
John (William Mapother)
Directed by Mike Cahill
Written by Mike Cahill and Brit Marling
92 Minutes
PG-13
Available: Amazon.com
What if? What if Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling), a student who had been accepted into MIT’s astrophysics program, had never driven while intoxicated? What if the highly praised composer, John Burroughs (William Mapother), had not been on the road with his wife, son, and unborn child that night? What if Rhoda had not been looking out her car window at a parallel earth that appeared in the night sky when they fatally met in the intersection?
Opinion: Will 2012 be the year of the atheist?
Last weekend my latest post at Huffington Post went up (“Will 2012 Be the Year of the Athiest?”). It generated a lot of discussion right out of the gate, particularly after it was tweeted by the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Science and Reason. I’m glad it connected with people and I hope it provides for helpful and civil discussion on the subject of atheism, rather than the usual demonization that I find often.
If religious folks need a selfish reason to accept their atheist neighbors, consider this: it may not be too long before the shoe is on the other foot and the religious minority will be the ones hoping for a place at the social table. What I can say for sure is that inviting atheists to be open and engaging them as valuable neighbors is not only best for all involved, but also, simply, a better practice of The Golden Rule. Don’t suppress the voice of others if you do not want them to suppress yours. Read the full article at The Huffington Post.
