Religion Dispatches
The argument between science and theology is as old as ancient Greece, where scientific rationalism first flourished, but it was revived with the advent of Darwinism.
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You have to look long and hard in the public-square discussion today to find bilateral calls for complementarity and partnership. Yet why should the relations between evolution and creation constitute a zero-sum game?
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An atheist convention, attended by premier nonbelievers Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett, inspires some reflections on the virtue of a positive, productive humanism, rather than the anti-theism that dominates the discourse.
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Science tells us that our minds, our consciousness, our very selves, reside in our physical brains. But what if this model, relying as it does on a seventeenth century understanding of mind and matter, is outdated? Philosopher Alva Noë proposes a revolutionary alternative.
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Once again Comedy Central is the forum for calm, reasoned debate.
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When public intellectuals spar about religion, stalemate is often the result; atheists ignore liberal elements within religious traditions, and liberals don’t do justice to difficult truth-claims, like the divinity of Jesus. Critic James Wood has had it with both camps—but does his “third way” make sense?
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The New Atheists, armed with swords and cudgels, are still doing old-fashioned battle with religion; but they haven’t noticed that the skirmish may have passed them by. Are religion and science poised for a truce?
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What does the word “God” mean? Anything and everything, depending on whether you’re a Bible-believer or an atheist, a rap artist or a writer for South Park, a peyote-eater or Meg Ryan in a diner…
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In a recent promotional letter, Richard Dawkins caricatured the average American’s Christian beliefs. Problem is, caricatures cease to be useful when the critic invites his audience to deride the real thing based on a lampoon.
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Does morality come from religion or is it merely “the language games of one’s time”? Are the most basic moral boundaries we evolved that make life easier and less chaotic a reflection of the character of God? If there is no God, or if He doesn’t care about us, then our common morality is still the result of practical, reality-based needs, which also “teach” that a good life depends on the “Do unto others…” ethic.
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