In The Devil’s Dictionary (online), great American cynic and writer Ambrose Bierce offers definitions that disrupts common understandings and received wisdoms. Every few years or so, I find it salutary to do a letter a month.
In “R” we find: “RELIGION, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the [...]
Tags:Ambrose Bierce·Benjamin Schwarz·fear·hope·ignorance·Library of America·The Devil's Dictionary·unknowable
It should surprise no one that Fox News talk show host Glenn Beck, who is Mormon, does not believe that humans evolved and we are primates. It is surprising, however, that he is proud of his ignorance and would be flippant with God should he meet the Maker and learn evolution is fact:
How many people [...]
Tags:apes·bipedal·Bishop Wilberforce·creationism·creationist·Fox News·Glenn Beck·God·human evolution·ignorance·language·monkeys·Mormon·Soapy Sam·symbolic thought·the Maker·Whatever
In a recent poll of over 3,400 Americans, the Pew Forum on Religion ironically found that atheists and agnostics know more about religions than do believers. Here is the abstract:
Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on [...]
Tags:agnostics·atheists·blind faith·Catholics·comparative religion·ignorance·Jews·Maimonides·Pew Forum·Protestants·transubstantiation·U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey
Over at WaPo’s Faith section, Martha Woodroof has posted a dreary piece that discourages people from asking religious questions or seeking answers. Here are some of the more defeatist excerpts:
As people of faith, should we concern ourselves with God’s nature, relatives, ways and history? I, for one, think we should not. It seems to [...]
Tags:acceptance·blind faith·faith·God·God is unknowable·ignorance·ineffable·inscrutable·Martha Woodroof·mystery·mystery of God·people of faith·the great Whatever·unknowable·Washington Post
