Science, Religion, and the Big Bang. Interview: Salman Rushdie, Author Of 'Joseph Anton' | How Rushdie Survived A Fatwa. Hide captionSalman Rushdie's other novels include Midnight's Children, Shame and Luka and the Fire of Life. Syrie Moskowitz/Random House Salman Rushdie's other novels include Midnight's Children, Shame and Luka and the Fire of Life.
The recent violence sparked by the film Innocence of Muslims recalls a very different controversy from more than 20 years ago: In 1988, Salman Rushdie published a novel, The Satanic Verses, that many Muslims declared to be offensive, whether they'd read it or not. Today, Rushdie is again living in the open, and he has finished a memoir about the experience, called Joseph Anton. "The police asked me to come up with a pseudonym, partly because I needed to rent properties and so on, and obviously couldn't do it in my own name," he says. Rushdie also invented a life story for Anton: He was a nervous American publisher who felt he needed a lot of bulletproof glass. "I think it actually reads like something that an inquisition would make you sign," he says. Taliban commander: “I was relieved at the death of Osama” Of all the militant groups waging insurgencies in the Muslim world, the Afghan Taliban movement is the only one that has experience of forming a national government.
The memory of the Taliban wielding state power has helped them and their backers to sustain their protracted armed struggle against the new state structures put in place in Afghanistan after the Bonn Agreement of 2001. But two other aspects of the Taliban’s political practice are remarkable. First, they have maintained their internal cohesiveness for approaching two decades. Second, they manage to operate from behind an iron curtain, with tight central control over communications between the movement and the non-Taliban world.
The Taliban’s compunction to trade on their status as a former governing party helps ensure that there is a certain corpus of political thinkers within their ranks. Does the Taliban movement hope for military victory over the Afghan government? How should Afghanistan’s head of state be selected? ‘The Storytelling Animal,’ by Jonathan Gottschall. These questions animate “The Storytelling Animal,” a jaunty, insightful new book by Jonathan Gottschall, who draws from disparate corners of history and science to celebrate our compulsion to storify everything around us. There are several surprises about stories. The first is that we spend a great deal of time in fictional worlds, whether in daydreams, novels, confabulations or life narratives.
When all is tallied up, the decades we spend in the realm of fantasy outstrip the time we spend in the real world. As Gottschall puts it, “Neverland is our evolutionary niche, our special habitat.” A second surprise: The dominant themes of story aren’t what we might assume them to be. Consider the plotlines found in children’s playtime, daydreams and novels. The narratives can’t be explained away as escapism to a more blissful reality.
The same applies to our nighttime hallucinations. What do these observations reveal about the function of story? But storytelling may run even deeper than that. Salzburg to Lincoln Center, Spirituality Is on the Program. Nor is spirituality a word you associate nowadays with the Salzburg Festival, a once-modest summer presentation of classical music and theater founded in 1920 by the playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal, the composer Richard Strauss and others, now grown huge and proud. A product of the economic and cultural despair at the fall of the Hapsburg empire, it is now the summer home of the vaunted Vienna Philharmonic; it’s famous for lavish productions and notorious for some of the highest ticket prices anywhere. But last weekend the festival, with a week added to the front of its calendar, embarked on a 10-day Spiritual Overture.
And in doing so, the festival, which has become something of a bellwether since Gerard Mortier shook it up in the 1990s after decades of elegant sameness under the conductor Herbert von Karajan, seems to have caught a wave of spirituality that is surging through the world of classical music (or, given the years of advance planning involved, helped instigate it). Mr. Mr. In Texas, young Hindus want to Americanize ancient faith. By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor Houston, Texas (CNN) – In many ways, 29-year-old Rishi Bhutada is a traditional Hindu, not so different from his Indian-born parents.
An officer at his dad’s pipefitting company, Texas-born Bhutada had an arranged marriage in India three years ago and then brought his wife back to his hometown, where they recently welcomed a son. Bhutada is a strict vegetarian and avoids alcohol, as do many observant Hindus. Complete coverage: Defining America And the dashboard of his Toyota Prius is adorned with a small metal statue of Ganesh, an elephant-headed Hindu god known as the remover of obstacles. Bhutada prays to it each morning before leaving his driveway. And yet Bhutada is a different kind of Hindu than his mom and dad.
His parents were part of a major wave of Indians who arrived in the U.S. in the 1960s and ’70s and focused their religious lives on building a community of believers and temples around Houston, which was then a Hindu wilderness. The U.S. Promoting Hinduism? Parents Demand Removal Of School Yoga Class. Hide captionThird-graders at Olivenhain Pioneer Elementary School in Encinitas, Calif., perform chair pose with instructor Kristen McCloskey last month. Kyla Calvert for NPR Third-graders at Olivenhain Pioneer Elementary School in Encinitas, Calif., perform chair pose with instructor Kristen McCloskey last month.
During first period at Olivenhain Pioneer Elementary School in Encinitas, Calif., Kristen McCloskey leads about two dozen third-graders through some familiar yoga poses. "All right, so let's do our opening sequence A," she says, instructing the kids. "Everyone take a big inhale, lift those arms up. Look up. " At the end of the half-hour class, 8-year-old Jacob Hagen says he feels energized and ready for the rest of the day. Schools across the country are focusing more on teaching students to make healthy choices; Encinitas Superintendent Tim Baird says yoga is just one element of the district's physical education curriculum. "We also have a nutrition program," he says. The Foundations Of Belief. Mormonism: A Scrutinized, Yet Evolving Faith.
Hide captionThe historic Mormon Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City. George Frey/Landov Mitt Romney refused to mix religion with politics in this year's presidential campaign, but that didn't repress people's curiosity about Mormonism. His candidacy brought the homegrown faith into the spotlight. Patrick Mason, a professor and chairman of the Mormon Studies program at Claremont Graduate University, says attention paid to his faith has been twofold. On one hand, it's been good for attracting new converts. "South Park is a great example of this, The Book of Mormon musical is a great example of this, where people say, well, with increased attention comes increased scrutiny," he says. Mason says many people are skeptical of the church's origins, which involve the story of an angel directing Joseph Smith to golden plates and revealing a new Gospel.
A Fluid Faith Faced with those evidentiary challenges, some Mormons have felt betrayed and left the faith. Shifting With Time Charles Dharapak/AP. Atheism. Dawkins hate mail. ‘Free Will,’ by Sam Harris. But the last half-century has seen this ancient subject pulled down from its academic perch and into courtrooms, laboratories, real-world questions about moral responsibility, and even popular culture. (It forms the plot of such contemporary movies as “Minority Report” and “The Adjustment Bureau.”) Over the last few decades, procedures for measuring, imaging and analyzing mental processes have grown in number and subtlety. During this same period, books for the general reader about the brain and its functions, consciousness and will, thought and reasoning have proliferated.
We have Daniel Dennett, Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins, Cordelia Fine, Oliver Sacks, Michael Gazzaniga, Daniel Kahneman and scores of others explaining, and extrapolating from, new findings in neuroscience and almost always addressing the matter of free will. (Daniel Wegner’s “Illusion of Conscious Will,” published by the MIT Press in 2002, is a central full-length scientific text about this subject.) Sam Harris - Death and the Present Moment. Sam Harris Vs. Bill O'Rilley. War in the name of atheism. How to suck at your religion. Morgan Harris - Connolly on religion. A Catholic Reply to “How to Suck At Your Religion” An anti-religious (and specifically, anti-Catholic) webcomic is making the rounds on the Internet right now.
It’s part of a webcomic called The Oatmeal, and is called “How to suck at your religion.” I have to warn anyone clicking that link that it’s really offensive: profane, lewd, and blasphemous, all at once. Honestly, if you don’t have some reason to read it, just go ahead and skip it (and this whole post). Whatever your religious views, this webcomic simply doesn’t enrich the discourse, or advance the debate in any positive or meaningful way. You would think that something this over-the-top would cause even non-religious people to balk at posting it on their Facebook feeds as indicative of their own views. Apparently not. I’ve already gotten two e-mails from people who had friends share it, and who wanted to know how to respond. There is a temptation to say, “It’s a webcomic, don’t take it so seriously!” So here are my thoughts, by panel: From Minister To Atheist: A Story Of Losing Faith. Hide captionTeresa MacBain walks her dog, Gracie, at a park near her Tallahassee, Fla., home. After a lifetime in the church, MacBain came out as an atheist at an American Atheists' convention in Bethesda, Md.
Colin Hackley for NPR Teresa MacBain walks her dog, Gracie, at a park near her Tallahassee, Fla., home. After a lifetime in the church, MacBain came out as an atheist at an American Atheists' convention in Bethesda, Md. This is the first in a series of stories on losing faith. Teresa MacBain has a secret, one she's terrified to reveal. "I'm currently an active pastor and I'm also an atheist," she says. MacBain glances nervously around the room.
Her secret is taking a toll, eating at her conscience as she goes about her pastoral duties week after week — two sermons every Sunday, singing hymns, praying for the sick when she doesn't believe in the God she's praying to. "On my way to church again. Courtesy of Teresa MacBain Finding Atheism For years, MacBain set her concerns aside.
God In America - Inside the tumultuous 400-year history of the intersection of religion and public life in America. I AM The Documentary | Official Site. Moon by Björk on Spotify. Myth by Beach House. Republicans Or Democrats: The Choice Comes Down To Competing Myths : It's All Politics. Hide captionWhat does your vision of America look like? Loud Red Creative/iStockphoto.com What does your vision of America look like? Early in his acceptance speech last night, President Obama laid out the voters' task in these words: "On every issue, the choice you face won't be just between two candidates or two parties. It will be a choice ... between two fundamentally different visions for the future. " It's a thought that emerges often in the Obama campaign, the idea of 2012 as a watershed election — "a hinge of history," as Vice President Biden called it at the convention in Charlotte, N.C.
"So here we stand," said GOP nominee Mitt Romney. To some degree, all president elections might claim such historical significance. The incumbent speaks of vision, his challenger of destiny. On offer in Tampa was a depiction of America as an entrepreneurial paradise, a place where hard work, innovation and prudence are all that matters. Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes on Spotify.
Is This Your Brain On God? Orfeo: A Dialog between Robert Hunter and Terence McKenna. This is Part OnePart TwoPart ThreePart FourPart Five (current) Terence, in reading your books I was struck with how closely your DMT experiments paralleled my own. I wasn't surprised by the confirmation, as you might guess. I considered myself a serious DMT explorer between 1967-69. I stopped only because I was told to, in no uncertain terms, by the Boss of that place.
Three times, in fact, to my dismay. Robert Hunter Greetings Bob-- I was interested in what you had to say about being an explorer of the DMT world until the management told you to stay away. I enjoy the idea of a slow moving dialog, I hope this can continue. Best, T Terence, I suppose the "facts" of DMT might as well be written in cunieform on our breastbones for all the good it does to know about it, as opposed to "dwelling in the know of it. " My personal take on the "secret" of DMT: it was long, hard work making this world real. My take could be way off base but anything more Gnostic is off-putting. DMT is self-selecting. 14 Wacky "Facts" Kids Will Learn in Louisiana's Voucher Schools. Separation of church and what? Currier & Ives/Library of Congress Thanks to a new law privatizing public education in Louisiana, Bible-based curriculum can now indoctrinate young, pliant minds with the good news of the Lord—all on the state taxpayers' dime.
Under Gov. Bobby Jindal's voucher program, considered the most sweeping in the country, Louisiana is poised to spend tens of millions of dollars to help poor and middle-class students from the state's notoriously terrible public schools receive a private education. While the governor's plan sounds great in the glittery parlance of the state's PR machine, the program is rife with accountability problems that actually haven't been solved by the new standards the Louisiana Department of Education adopted two weeks ago.
Here are some of my favorite lessons: 1. Much like tough cop Katie Coltrane and Teddy the T-rex in the direct-to-video hit Theodore Rex Screenshot: YouTube 2. 3. 4. 5. Doesn't everyone look happy?! 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Genesis: Translation and Commentary by Robert Alter. The Hold Steady - "Cattle and the Creeping Things" Live. Modest Mouse - Ocean Breathes Salty. The Ten Commandments. Own Worst Enemy. Heretics. As Social Issues Drive Young From Church, Leaders Try To Keep Them : The Two-Way. On Friday, Morning Edition wraps up its weeklong look at the growing number of people who say they do not identify with a religion. The final conversation in the Losing Our Religion series picks up on a theme made clear throughout the week: Young adults are drifting away from organized religion in unprecedented numbers.
In Friday's story, NPR's David Greene talks to two religious leaders about the trend and wonders what they tell young people who are disillusioned with the church. According to the Pew Research Center, one-third of Americans under 30 have no religious affiliation. As Harvard professor Robert Putnam told Greene in the piece that kicked off the series, this trend among young people is tied to religion's association with socially conservative politics.
Take Melissa Adelman, 30, a participant in a roundtable about religion that Greene had with six young adults. In Friday's story, the Rev. "I knew their pain, and I was not going to bring that to the pulpit," he says. The Evolution of God - by Robert Wright. Newtown Tragedy: Would A Good God Allow Such Evil? Hide captionPeople gather for a prayer vigil at St. Rose Church in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14. In the aftermath of such tragedies, many people ask how a benevolent God and suffering can coexist. Emmanuel Dunand/Getty Images People gather for a prayer vigil at St. Rose Church in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14. When a human tragedy occurs on the scale of the Newtown shootings, clergy are invariably asked an ancient question: If God is all-knowing, all-powerful and benevolent, why does he allow such misfortunes? There's even a word for reconciling this paradox: theodicy, or attempting to justify God's goodness despite the existence of evil and suffering.
A World Both Beautiful And Shattered Steven Folberg, senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Austin, Texas, has been asked this question before. No small assignment. "I saw a bumper sticker once that said, 'God is good. "The idea was to say, if one accepts those three propositions as true, then they're logically inconsistent. The Rev. Jonathan Haidt: Religion, evolution, and the ecstasy of self-transcendence. Robert Wright Interviews Jonathan Haidt. Humanism is an impossible dream | Andrew Brown. American Mystic The Movie - Empire8 Productions. Snoop Dogg "Reincarnated" as Snoop Lion - Press Conference. The Fabric of the Cosmos: What Is Space? | Watch NOVA Online. Curiosity with Stephen Hawking, Did God Create the Universe? Einstein & Faith. David Haskell Finds Biology Zen in a Patch of Nature. When Einstein Met Tagore.