This Friday, April 22, is the first night of Passover. Jews will gather, mostly in their homes, to eat a ritual and festive meal called a Seder. Before the actual meal, they will eat a variety of symbolic foods and read the Haggadah, a text that includes a narrative of the Exodus. Among the symbolic … More Passover: A Message of Liberation
Amanda Marcotte argues in Salon that Bernie Sanders “has to accept that Pope Francis is not a friend of the left.” http://www.salon.com/2016/04/14/bernie_sanders_must_accept_that_pope_francis_isnt_a_friend_to_the_left_the_pontiff_cant_be_a_true_humanitarian_with_his_anti_woman_and_anti_lgbt_views/ According to Marcotte the Pope is no humanitarian, because, among other things, he has not embraced LGBT rights, apparently a sine qua non of laying claim to humanitarianism. While Pope Francis hasn’t managed … More Pope Francis, a Friend of the Left?
A faction of Canada’s New Democratic Party presented the Leap Manifesto (https://leapmanifesto.org/en/the-leap-manifesto/) at the NDP’s convention in Edmonton Alberta. The Leap is a call to action on climate change. The writers of the Leap are obviously terrified of the devil—the one in the details. For example, the Leap calls an immediate cessation of all oil … More The Great Leap
Religion has been a rather positive influence in my life. As a child I was exposed to the beauty and pageantry of Catholic ritual. I went to a Catholic school for 12 years, and the nuns and priests were certainly positive role models. When I stopped being a practicing Catholic, I still retained many of … More On Judaism
Has Pope Francis just effectively endorsed Bernie Sanders by inviting him to the Vatican on the eve of the NY primary? One could make a case that Pope Francis is trying to boost Sanders’ chances. The two men are on the same page, at least on issues of economic justice. Each in his own way … More Francis and Bernie
Anybody who cares about the future of the United States should start to worry that the Republicans will somehow wiggle out of nominating Donald Trump as their presidential candidate. Why should every sane person on the planet, not just angry Trump voters and savvy Democrats, hope Trump is the GOP candidate? With the rise of … More Oh please, God, let Trump win the nomination…
“Can I say ‘shit’ in my head?” This is a question my five-year-old grandson posed to his mother. Her response, obviously a wise one, was “Go for it.” She didn’t want him to be troubled by the inevitable intrusion of a taboo word into his thoughts. A five year old has enough to worry about. … More The Shit in Our Heads
Is Donald Trump a fascist? A historian friend of mine thinks Trump is a fascist only if you define fascist as simply “a political opponent.” He said this in answer to his wife’s insistence that Trump is a fascist. It does seem preposterous to claim that Donald Trump has thought seriously enough about political philosophy … More Trump the Fascist?
The Richard Dawkins Foundation has published a letter by British Roman Catholic Bishop Declan Lang denouncing the persecution of atheists in Bangladesh, several of whom have been hacked to death recently by fanatical Muslims. https://richarddawkins.net/2016/03/stand-up-against-the-persecution-of-atheists-around-the-world/ People don’t normally think of atheists as a persecuted group, but in fact they suffer severe discrimination in most Muslim countries. … More Persecution of Atheists
Many of the so-called New Atheists believe that free will is an illusion. Sam Harris, a very militant New Atheist, puts it this way: “I generally start each day with a cup of coffee or tea—sometimes two. This morning, it was coffee (two). Why not tea? I am in no position to know. I wanted … More If Free Will is an Illusion….
No Harm Spilt 