Academia & Ecclesia

http://chronicle.com/article/From-Technologist-to/128231/?sid=wb&utm_source=wb&utm_medium=en

I am not a fan of Bill Maher. As a matter of fact, I find him to be annoying. His obnoxiousness does not appeal to me. But I watched Maher’s “Religulous.” Essentially, it is a documentary that pokes fun at the credulity of religious people and the ridiculousness of religious claims (Christianity in particular). Although I am a Christian, I surprisingly like “Religulous.” It appears sacrilegious or blasphemous for a Christian to watch it. But I think that Christians should watch it. Rottenness is sometimes not readily visible. It infects the inner core and gradually sets the process of decay. Sometimes the truth about a certain condition becomes more visible, when someone uninhibitedly brings out in the open the rottenness of what many consider to be sacred. So, there has to be a playing field, where nothing is sacred. In that playing field, we discover even that which is initially unimaginable. In a playing field where freethinking is suppressed in order to protect the sacred, the mind...

Although the Assemblies of God is commonly associated with evangelical fundamentalism, it is actually a denomination that is coming-of-age. Just look at the revised version of its position on the doctrine of creation: http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Position_Papers/pp_downloads/PP_The_Doctrine_of_Creation.pdf Unlike its former position on the issue, it does not reject (at least explicitly) the theory of evolution. In addition, as a denomination, it does not associate itself with any political party, considering that, as an organization, it is apolitical and, for the sake of unity, it considers the attempt to associate the church with any political party as deeply divisive. http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/topics/contempissues_09_government.cfm http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/topics/contempissues_10_politics.cfm About a year ago, I was accused of being a wolf in sheep's clothing by an Assemblies of God pastor for supporting the same positions.

While I was driving yesterday, I ended up listening to a Christian radio station. The hosts with a special guest pointed out how creationist students are persecuted by evolutionist professors. The special guest who was a former student in a secular university exaggeratedly related a story about a biology professor who would not write a recommendation letter for a student who did not affirm the truth of the theory of evolution. While I was listening, it dawned on me what exactly is the problem with the perspectives of fundamentalist creationists and dogmatic evolutionists. It appears to me that both of them are confused about the nature of a theory (especially a scientific one). I usually hear creationists claiming that the theory of evolution is a mere philosophical theory. So, they claim that it is not intellectually superior to creationism. On the other hand, evolutionists usually claim that the theory of evolution is actually a scientific theory, while creationism is a mere religiou...

For a more sensible evangelical stance on politics, see http://www.anevangelicalmanifesto.com/manifesto.php

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-religion-survey-20100928,0,3225238.story

I haven't read the book, but I watched Larry King's interview with Hawking and Mlodinow. It appears that the lack of any need to invoke god to explain the beginning of the universe is a minor point in the book. But, of course, it is the claim that is bothersome to many, since many consider their belief in the creator god to be foundational or fundamental. In addition, many people cannot really respond to the scientific claims in the book, since one needs to know a lot about the sciences, in order to do that. So, there is a tendency for many to focus their attention on the claim about god, since it does not require any scientific expertise in order to say something about claims about god. Why did the authors bother to make claims about god in a science book? I think that the authors are concerned with a trend among some scientists, religious philosophers, and theologians, who are taking seriously the religious implications of fine-tuning, goldilocks enigma, etc., which appear to...