hamilcarr
JoinedTopics Started by hamilcarr
-
23
Forgiving traditionalists, offending Jews
by hamilcarr inon saterday, 24 january pope benedict xvi lifted the excommunication of richard williamson and three other bishops punished for having been consecrated without papal consent 20 years ago by the late french conservative archbishop marcel lefevbre.
one of the four bishops, the british-born richard williamson, has made a number of statements denying the full extent of the nazi holocaust of european jews, as accepted by most mainstream historians..
-
3
Beyond Post-ism: Moral Clarity
by hamilcarr inmind over whats the matterby simon blackburnpublished: july 27, 2008nyt_inline_image_position1 it is very hard to write well about ethics, and especially so in a way that engages and interests that elusive phantom of writers imaginations, the general reader.
but susan neimans previous book on ethics, evil in modern thought, was widely and favorably reviewed, and the present work is a worthy successor.
neimans particular skill lies in expressing sensitivity, intelligence and moral seriousness without any hint of oversimplification, dogmatism or misplaced piety.
-
50
Anecdotal evidence for atheism
by hamilcarr inbelievers on this board repeatedly claim subjective experience as a major source for their belief.
this anecdotal evidence can't be checked by science because it falls outside the empirical realm.. what about atheism?
would it be possible that an atheist too has had a personal experience that convinced him of the non-existence of god?
-
35
Human Perspective
by hamilcarr ini remember jws asserting that ge 1 was written from a human perspective.
therefore, "the two great luminaries" (ge 1:16), referring to the sun and the moon, are only "great" when seen from the earth, but in fact they are pretty small when compared to stars.
other passages within ge 1, otoh, are written from a divine perspective (no literal days for instance, ps.
-
6
Dawoed as a solution for Middle East conflict?
by hamilcarr inwith the recent escalation of the israel/palestine conflict in the gaza strip dominating news headlines, even former hard-boiled zionist thinkers like daniel gavron start to consider alternative options for the future of the jewish state.
but these chapters contain only a few vague hints of the heretical conclusion - for a life-long, traditional zionist, that is - that gavron has reached and which he presents to his unsuspecting readers in the book's eighth and final chapter: after 55 years of jewish sovereignty, the time has come to dissolve the jewish state and establish, in its place, a single israeli-palestinian state.
"having reached the conclusion that the territory between the mediterranean and the jordan river must be shared, but cannot be sensibly partitioned," he writes in his book, "we are left with only one alternative: israeli-palestinian coexistence in one nation.
-
33
Darwin in Context
by hamilcarr inwhy non-atheists needn't be afraid about the upcoming darwin anniversaries.. the fear is that the anniversary will be hijacked by the new atheism as the perfect battleground for another round of jousting over the absurdity of belief (a position that darwin pointedly never took up).
many of the prominent voices in the new atheism are lined up to reassert that it is simply impossible to believe in god and accept darwin's theory of evolution; richard dawkins and the us philosopher daniel dennett are among those due to appear in darwin200 events.
it's a position that infuriates many scientists, not to mention philosophers and theologians.. "a defence of evolution doesn't have to get entangled in atheism," says mark pallen, professor of microbial genomics at birmingham and author of the rough guide to evolution.
-
9
Gordon Brown on America's newly found progressiveness
by hamilcarr inamerica has embraced the values of progressthe election of obama has inspired millions around the world.
it shows how voters need government to provide security in troubled timescomments (230)gordon brownguardian.co.uk, sunday november 9 2008 00.01 gmt the observer, sunday november 9 2008 article historythis is a defining moment.
a new chapter of the human story is being written and will be studied by our children, and their children, and their children after them.
-
7
Isolation or integration?
by hamilcarr inthe world wants changean international poll confirms what the us's pilgrim founders first recognised - that the eyes of the world are on americaso, after eight years of blair and brown toadying up to bush, 65% of brits want barack obama to win the presidential election, according to the guardian's international poll published today, and only 15% are rooting for the mccain/palin ticket and one suspects that some of those would be voting for the racist bnp given half a chance, not least when the numbers indicate that obama is only supported by the 54% of the lowest socio-economic class, whose neglect by new labour has left many of them clutching at racist straws.. in every country, opinions of the us have declined to record levels over george bush's two terms as president.
one can understand why 75% of the french would think so, but what do you make of the swiss, 86% of whom think so, even though not even the republicans boycotted helvetian cheese or cuckoo clocks?.
the world is showing what it thinks of sarah palin and the bushite know-nothings who have usurped mccain's campaign.
-
4
Religious belief may be helpful to relief pain
by hamilcarr inreligious belief can help relieve pain, say researchersian sample, science correspondent the guardian, wednesday october 1 2008 article historyassumption of the virgin mary by giuseppe ghedine.
scientists have uncovered an ancient and elaborate source of pain relief that is based purely on the power of the mind, according to research published today.. brain scans of volunteers who were subjected to electrical shocks revealed that roman catholics felt less pain than atheists and agnostics when they were shown a painting of the virgin mary.
images of the volunteers' brains showed that in devout believers, an area of the brain that suppresses reactions to threatening situations lit up when they were shown the picture.. researchers at oxford university, led by katja wiech, recruited 12 nonbelievers and 12 practising roman catholic students.
-
14
Death of Utopia
by hamilcarr intime to move on to the real world?.
a shattering moment in america's fall from powerthe global financial crisis will see the us falter in the same way the soviet union did when the berlin wall came down.
the era of american dominance is over our gaze might be on the markets melting down, but the upheaval we are experiencing is more than a financial crisis, however large.