Self-Awareness Archive

While it’s been on my to-see list, I just recently found time to watch Kumaré: The True Story of a False Prophet (released in June 2012 in the U.S.). Its 84 minutes are a fascinating study of human nature, especially in terms of our desire to find a higher power or force that guides

My newest piece, “That’s not academics, Texas; it’s religious indoctrination,” is up at Toledo Faith and Values (the local hub of The Religion News Service). A recent report on Texas religion courses in public schools showed a significant bias in teaching for several districts. In some of these instances, the bias was deemed intentional.

My latest contribution to Toledo Faith and Values, “Why Everyone Should Write an Autobiography,” went up almost two weeks ago. The timing of its publication, while entirely coincidental (I wrote it in December), connects with a recent kerfuffle over the relationship between journalism and narcissism. At Gawker, Hamilton Nolan’s piece “Journalism Is Not Narcissism,” challenged

As if the Sandy Hook shooting wasn’t tragic enough, many of the responses from religious leaders represented the worst in humanity. As a result, I wrote (somewhat therapeutically) “Why Do Some Theologians Blame The Victim?” for The Huffington Post religion section. There is not much I need to say to lead into this except that I hope

Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious by Chris Stedman Beacon Press, 2012 208 pages (Kindle) Available Amazon Powell “I had never heard the word ‘faitheist’ before,” says Chris Stedman, “but I was pretty sure it wasn’t a compliment.” So begins Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious,

My newest article, “A priest, a rabbi, and an atheist walk into a conference,” for ToledoFAVS.com (our local hub of the Religion News Service) is up. In this piece I reflect on this year’s annual meetings of The American Academy of Religion and The Society of Biblical Literature through the eyes of two scientific studies on group

If there ever was a frontier that poses the most questions in science, I imagine the idea of consciousness is one of them. Most books on consciousness are either from a religious perspective of the soul or look at neuroscience, discussing studies and experiments and what they may imply about the brain and perception.

Mortality by Christopher Hitchens Twelve, 2012 128 Pages (Kindle) Available Amazon Powell’s Many people I know consume deathbed conversion narratives like they’re crack, but Mortality—the posthumous collection of essays by Christopher Hitchens written during his fight with cancer—is proof that there are atheists in foxholes.