Introduction This is the second of two essays on Daniel Boorstin’s The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, first published over a half-century ago, in 1962. The first piece, published last month, explained the pseudo-event concept and pointed to its ongoing relevance in a world where Boorstin’s observations have proved prescient. This second article... Continue Reading →
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in a January 2nd speech at Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie, Louisiana, told the audience that the constitution does not require government to be neutral between religion and non-religion. The separation clause of the First Amendment prevents government from favoring a particular faith, that is true, but it is... Continue Reading →
President Obama’s eulogy for Clementa Pinckney—massacred Pastor of Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina—was one of the finest I’ve heard, and deserves standing among the most important speeches in our history. Think about his problem for a moment. What could he say to the wife, daughters, extended family, colleagues, and co-religionists of a Pastor... Continue Reading →
In an earlier blog essay, Religion and the Credibility of Science, I argued that religion and science are fundamentally opposed to each other. In the book Abdication: God Steps Down for Good, I make the same claim, but with a twist, namely that the two, while antagonistic, are also allies of one another! How can that... Continue Reading →
The legitimacy of the recently published book, Abdication: God Steps Down for Good rests entirely upon acceptance of two premises. The first asserts that our age is one of immediate planetary crisis due to pollution and climate change, and the threat of nuclear war in the not distant future. The Doomsday Clock is used to measure... Continue Reading →
A week ago in this blog the publication of Abdication: God Steps Down for Good was announced, accompanied by the book description that appears on its cover. I am today posting the Preface to the book. It provides a fuller summary of the book, its spirit, and some thoughts on the experience of writing it. I should note that the... Continue Reading →
As readers know, I have left this Blog fallow for quite some time while I worked on a book. I am happy to say that the book is completed. It has just been published bf Friesen Press of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The book is entitled: Abdication God Steps Down for Good The book is available... Continue Reading →
What should scientists do when the majority of parents and children are in the thrall of a wrong idea? That was the problem Copernicus had with the church when the earth was thought to be the center of the universe. Copernicus was wary and withheld the publication of his book, On the Revolutions of the... Continue Reading →
Scientists in Russia, led by Svetlana Yashina and David Gilichinsky, are reported to have successfully resurrected a narrow leafed Campion plant (Silene Stenophylla) from fossil fruit buried in northern Siberia 32,000 years ago. Squirrels had buried the fruit in burrows on the banks of the lower Kolyma River in an area populated at the time... Continue Reading →
I was brought up a Christian, in the American Baptist tradition, baptized by my father, the minister of the churches I attended until I left the church for good after high school. I had mentally absconded well before that, however, starting around the age of six, because—I secretly told myself—these parishioners weren’t hearing what my... Continue Reading →
profunditiesandabsurdities 