Search for "aghapour"

How Evangelical-Friendly Are Scientists? A Response

By Jonathan Orbell

…offensive scientism in mind when interpreting the conditional way, to use Aghapour’s term, evangelicals seem to collaborate with the scientific community. I want to reiterate that the issues Aghapour points out in Ecklund’s work are legitimate. He is absolutely correct in imploring evangelicals to stop themselves from forcing the findings of secular scientific work into narrow boxes in an effort to make them fit within their “biblical” world view…

The Blame for Ferguson: A Response

By Stephanie Gaskill

…estion: why do people more readily blame individuals than institutions? In Aghapour’s analysis, which draws on cognitive science, institutions are too big and abstract for us to blame easily. We’re better equipped to decipher the intentions, motivations, and actions of individuals. But for many pressing social problems, Aghapour argues, structural factors may explain more than failures in individual choice. To borrow his central example, residenti…

It’s Still Your Fault: The Cubit’s Guide to Blaming

By Andrew Aghapour and Michael Schulson

…er the past year. Building on his interview with Richard Rothstein, Andrew Aghapour argues that we must learn to blame public institutions, like the federal government, for causing racial segregation and its resulting social dysfunctions. In her response Stephanie Gaskill writes that our individual prejudices still play a significant role in the plight of African Americans, since whites are more likely to blame crime on individuals if those indivi…

Updated: Was Adnan Syed Falsely Accused? RD’s Live-Tweet of Serial, the Final Episode

By Andrew Aghapour and Hussein Rashid

…one’s dream.” Prelude to the lack of an ending? #RDSerial #Serial — Andrew Aghapour (@AndrewAghapour) December 18, 2014 Listening to #serial with #RDSerial and @AndrewAghapour…I am afraid that the ending will be a non-ending — Kyla Taylor (@Kyla_Taylor) December 18, 2014 Kyla Taylor and I were not the only ones—Serial fans have been obsessing over the finale ever since the podcast caught up with real time at around Episode 9. Fans wanted a neat an…

Prisoners In the Hands of an Angry God: A Conversation About Religion and Reform

By Andrew Aghapour and Stephanie Gaskill

…oral rehabilitation. In the following conversation, Cubit co-editor Andrew Aghapour speaks with Stephanie Gaskill, an emerging scholar, about how a faith-based program at Louisiana’s Angola Prison showcases the kinds of nuances that so seldom emerge from polling. ________ Andrew Aghapour: What did you make of “Religious Beliefs and Public Support for Prisoner Reentry,” the study behind this Newsweek article? Stephanie Gaskill: As with other survey…

Blame Series Bonus: How Federal Policy Created America’s Fergusons

By Andrew Aghapour

In his most recent piece RD associate editor Andrew Aghapour explores why it’s psychologically difficult, but increasingly important, to blame social institutions for causing harm. The article cites an interview with Richard Rothstein, research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, which is available here in full. For more on this topic, explore It’s Your Fault, a series on blame in contemporary society by RD’s The Cubit. AA: How did Fergus…

Introducing The Cubit, RD’s New Religion & Science Portal

By Andrew Aghapour and Michael Schulson

…ke religion—remains subject to human concerns and flaws. Who we are Andrew Aghapour is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he studies religion and the brain. Michael Schulson is a freelance writer in Durham, N.C. He has covered religion, science, and culture for The Daily Beast, Aeon, Salon, and Religion & Politics, among others. Both Andrew and Michael have written about religion-and-science issues for RD, co…

Blame Series Bonus: Why We Want That Dish For Free, an Uncut Interview with Bertram Malle

By Andrew Aghapour

In his most recent piece, RD associate editor Andrew Aghapour explores why it is psychologically difficult, but increasingly important, to blame social institutions for causing harm. The article cites an interview with Bertram Malle, a professor of psychology at Brown University, which is available here in full. For more on this topic, explore It’s Your Fault, a series on blame in contemporary society by RD’s The Cubit. AA: Is it fair to say th…

Our Failure To Understand Ferguson: A Cognitive Explanation

By Andrew Aghapour

…ubit’s series on blame in contemporary society, RD associate editor Andrew Aghapour explores why it is psychologically difficult, but increasingly important, to blame social institutions for causing harm. For more on blame, read the introductory post or explore the full series. I recently found myself yelling at JetBlue from the backseat of an Uber. My wife Emmie was in the passenger seat, rifling through her bag for our Iranian passports. She t…

What If Animals Believe in God?

By Andrew Aghapour

…an Diego, and the founder of Farm Forward, met with Cubit co-editor Andrew Aghapour at a coffee shop in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to explore how religion applies to elephants, dogs, chimpanzees, and factory farming. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. As a scholar of religion, why do you think it’s wrong see religion as exclusive to humans? I think most of us have the sense that whatever religion means, it’s not obvious. It’s…