God and the State by Mikhail Bakunin. Religion and Science: A Beautiful Friendship, Part 1. [The 21 st ] century will be defined by a debate that will run through the remainder of its decades: religion versus science. Religion will lose. – John McLaughlin, TV talk show host Former priest John McLaughlin is hardly alone in his pessimism about religion’s future. A spate of bestsellers— The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins ; The End of Faith by Sam Harris ; and God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by the late Christopher Hitchens—argues that religion, as we’ve known it, no longer serves the needs of people with a modern education and a global awareness.
Books like these have spelled out religion’s shortcomings and I see no point in piling on. Rather, in a series of posts, I’ll make the case that, in the long view, both religion and science come off as godsends (forgive the pun). And that, looking ahead, both are indispensable to letting go of old predatory practices and creating a fair, just, and peaceful world. I realize that this terrain is full of landmines.
Jonathan Haidt on the moral roots of liberals and conservatives. ¿Dios es real o sólo un amigo imaginario? Neurólogos daneses realizan controversial hallazgo. Si perteneces al amplio grupo de personas que se definen cristianas, la ciencia tiene una buena y una mala noticia para ti. La buena, es que un equipo de neurólogos de la universidad Aarhus en Dinamarca, pudo demostrar empíricamente cómo el cerebro se “ilumina” al momento de rezar. Esto lo lograron midiendo la actividad cerebral de un grupo de cristianos, identificando 4 áreas comprometidas mientras se comunicaban con Dios.
La mala sin embargo, es que el equipo también confirmó que las áreas del cerebro con mayor flujo sanguíneo durante la oración son exactamente las mismas utilizadas al hablar con otra persona. Es decir, para nuestros cuerpos rezar es una actividad tan mundana como conversar con el vecino o con un amigo, al menos desde el punto de vista médico, consigna CBC News. Uffe Schjodt, líder de la investigación, interpretó estos resultados como la evidencia de que el ser humano ha ido evolucionando para adaptarse a los desafíos de su entorno natural. From Tribalism to World-Citizenship. Between the rockets from the Gaza strip and the endless debate about Iran, last week I participated at an event that showed where Israel could be heading—the first Israel Singularity Convention held at the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Jaffa. The inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil and the space entrepreneur Peter Diamandis founded the Singularity University five years ago at the NASA Base in the Silicon Valley.
Its mission is "to assemble, educate and inspire a new generation of leaders who strive to understand and utilize exponentially advancing technologies to address humanity's grand challenges. " Research and Development are speeding up at an exponential pace; yesteryear's science fiction becomes tomorrow's reality. As entrepreneur Yanki Margalit, who initiated the convention, said, the cost of mapping the genome was phenomenal in the 1990s—and now you can get your genome mapped for a few hundred dollars. This may sound like a utopia, but it isn't. Sharia. To Arabic-speaking people, sharia (shariah, shari'a, sharīʿah; Arabic: شريعة šarīʿah, IPA: [ʃaˈriːʕa], "legislation"),[1] also known as Islāmī qānūn (اسلامی قانون), means the moral code and religious law of a prophetic religion.[2][3] In English usage, the term "sharia" has been largely identified with Islam.[4] Sharia deals with many topics addressed by secular law, including crime, politics, and economics, as well as personal matters such as sexual intercourse, hygiene, diet, prayer, everyday etiquette and fasting.
Though interpretations of sharia vary between cultures, in its strictest and most historically coherent definition it is considered the infallible law of God—as opposed to the human interpretation of the laws (fiqh).[5] However, historically, much of Sharia has been implemented in its strictest understanding. Etymology and origins[edit] History[edit] The Umayyads initiated the office of appointing qadis, or Islamic judges. Definitions and descriptions[edit] Freedom = Criticism of ALL Religions Is a Fundamental Right.
Depending on where you live, criticisms of religious beliefs could yield a range of consequences ranging from social scorn to outright execution. Are people living in the West free to criticize religion in general, and all religions with equal alacrity? Regrettably, the answer to both questions is a resounding no. Polite society dictates certain rules of conduct, one of which is to avoid criticizing someone's religious views in too "frontal" a manner. Furthermore, whereas the intelligentsia regards some religions as perfectly fair game for criticism, mockery, and scorn, one particular religion is granted much greater protection within the public arena. I'll give you a hint: It's not the Amish. There is nothing in the American Constitution that protects religious folks from being offended.
I repeatedly read Facebook posts on my wall wherein individuals are perfectly willing to acerbically criticize some religions, but bend over backwards to protect one "untouchable" religion. What Nonbelievers Believe. So strong is the concept of God-belief in our culture that the words "believer" and "nonbeliever" are understood as referring to only one thing: belief in a divinity. This can lead to some distorted thinking, such as the idea that "atheists don't believe in anything," a notion echoed even by high-profile politicians who should know better, such as Senator John Kerry . If this is conventional wisdom , it's little wonder that disbelief is often associated, incorrectly, with nihilism and moral breakdown. This is one reason why the modern secular movement has become increasingly assertive in emphasizing what ordinary nonbelievers do believe. Typical secular views are rooted not in complex philosophy but common sense, and when they are fairly considered - without misguided prejudices - we find that they are neither extreme nor dangerous.
Everything since the Big Bang can be explained naturally We can only speculate about what "caused" the Big Bang Ethics do not require a God Religion is man-made. Will Atheism Replace Religion? The Myth of Militant Atheism. Nine bullets fired from close range ended the life of Salman Taseer last month, making the Pakistani governor the latest high-profile victim of religious violence.
Taseer had the audacity to publicly question Pakistan's blasphemy laws, and for this transgression he paid with his life. Taseer joins a list of numerous other high-profile victims of militant religion, such as Dr. George Tiller, the Kansas abortion doctor killed by a devout Christian assassin in 2009, and Theo Van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker whose provocative movie about Islam resulted in his being brutally murdered in 2004.
With this background, it is especially puzzling that the American media and public still perpetuate the cliché of so-called "militant atheism. " We hear the disparaging term "militant atheist" used frequently, the unquestioned assumption being that militant atheists are of course roaming the streets of America. But this reflects a double standard, because it seems to apply only to atheists. Para mi, ahora, la religión es una superstición" Rememoramos el pasado, el Vicálvaro de hace 40 años, de los últimos años de la dictadura, de los primeros de la apertura política, del incipiente movimiento vecinal y el despertar de la reivindicación como herramienta política.
José Ramón llegó entonces a Vicálvaro con el objetivo de encauzar todo aquel potencial que surgía en el distrito. Y comenzó su trabajo desde dos ámbitos, el político y el religioso. Porque era militante de un partido en la clandestinidad; y no solo militante, también era obrero; y no solo era obrero, era también cura, y no solo cura, también era jesuita. Como un fantasma del pasado, un primer plano fotográfico del entonces ministro del régimen Fraga Iribarne vigila nuestra conversación desde el obituario de un periódico del día. -¿Quiénes erais los “curas obreros”? -Éramos, sobretodo, jesuitas que habíamos optado por esa parte del Evangelio en donde se habla de la opción por los pobres. -Y además militantes en la clandestinidad.
-¿Por qué vienes a Vicálvaro?