The Unpublishable Philosopher

Dueling Interpretations of Genesis 1

2012-01-31T20:53:00.000-08:00

In my internet perambulations, I came across this article and, by fortunate happenstance, the one I reproduce below.Many Christian fundamentalists impose a literal interpretation on Biblical myth, thus missing the larger moral messages and rejecting later scientific discoveries, a mistake most apparent in their reading of the Genesis creation story, as the Rev. Boward Hess explains.By the Rev.

Consternation at the Romney Estate

2012-01-26T19:38:00.000-08:00

Inside the Romney households, the mood was not joyful.“What the heck do these people want? I’ve said every crazy gosh-darn thing they want me to say. Corporations are people! Fertilized eggs are people! The only things that aren’t people are people, the Muslims, undocumented foreigners, and gays anyway!” Mitt’s color had turned slightly pink as he, uncharacteristically, felt emotions.Tagg,

The Temptation of Tim Tebow

2011-12-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

After Tim Tebow's night at Gethsemane on the Lord's Holy Day, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth and the Patriots, no doubt, will be cast into the outer darkness. The Tebow did not fail (given his 92 yards rushing, many of them picked up in garbage time) but was only failed by his teammates who were weakened by sin, dropped passes, fumbles and missed blocks. Like God himself, Tebow is

Pat Buchanan's Nostalgia for the Segregation Era

2011-10-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

Pigmentally-challenged-American Pat Buchanan, according to this story, criticizes terms such as 'African-American' on the grounds that they divide America. Now, you or I might note that there is no sense in which people are expressing allegiance to Africa. You might even think that 'African-American' is patriotic since it emphasizes one's American-ness, the identification with America, rather

Georgia Republicans Consider Change to Electoral System

2011-09-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

Dissociated Press. 9/20/2011One week after Republicans in Pennsylvania considered changing their state's distribution from a winner-take-all system to one in which those votes are distributed by county, and one day after Republicans in Nebraska began a push for a winner-take-all system rather than the proportional one that gave Barack Obama a single electoral college vote from Nebraska, Georgia

Sophisticated Theism: The New New Atheism

2011-09-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

Gather around, children, and hear the tale of sophisticated theism. A sophisticated theist does not believe statements made by religion; a sophisticated theist adopts a practice he or she finds congenial; he or she accepts myths that have a metaphorical version of the truth; but he or she would never be so gauche as to believe any set of statements associated with a religion.The sophisticated

Faith in God's Promises

2011-08-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

Analysis of Christian Daily Devotionals--third in an occasional series. I've temporarily misplaced the free booklet of Christian devotional passages (mini-sermons or whatever), but it occurred to me that such a thing must have an on-line component and, wonder of wonders, here it is. I'll just pick on today's for fun. The title of today's message is, "Promises You Can Bank On". Here's the text:

Through Morgan Freeman's Wormhole, part 2

2011-08-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

David Chalmers on Consciousness The second segment of the "Is There a Sixth Sense?" episode of Through the Wormhole (TTW) discusses consciousness and whether it is explainable in physical terms. The episode of TTW can be viewed here. Part 1 of my series of critiques is here. The main reason this discussion of consciousness appears to be on the show is that it is intended to show that people

Christianity's Son-Drenched Future

2011-08-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

Second in a series on the evangelical pamphlet Our Daily Bread that I found in my door one day. The title of the second day’s meditation is “Sonrise”, and the text is as follows. My state’s name, “Idaho,” according to one legend, comes from a Shoshone Indian word “ee-dah-how.” When translated into English, it means something like, “Behold! The sun rising over the mountain.” I often think of

Through Morgan Freeman's Wormhole, Part 1

2011-08-08T06:18:00.000-07:00

"The secret ingredient is hate," -- Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz I had originally planned a short post on the Through the Wormhole episode on the sixth sense, but researching the various claims made has taken up so much time and so many pages that I am breaking into a multi-part (probably 5 part) series of posts. I'm not sure why I've kept working on this since there's no real point to debunking it,

The Santa Claus God

2011-08-04T18:17:00.000-07:00

Stuck in my front door a few days ago was a booklet, Our Daily Bread, full of heartwarming and inspirational stories to help one live a fulfilled, happy and not-at-all meaningless Christian life. It’s not just fire-and-brimstone televangelists who indoctrinate people into harmful and delusional belief systems. These apparently innocuous, friendly messages can be harmful as well and more insidious

McConnell's Greece Analogy

2011-07-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

Mitch McConnell has recently received some criticisms from the supposed elite know-somethings-about-economics based on his comparison of the United States to Greece. Now, in the context, it appears that McConnell is trying to say that the U.S. economic situation, with respect to its debt, is like that of Greece, which is facing near economic catastrophe. And, of course, McConnell is then, crazily

Freedom from Speech is What You Want

2011-06-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

You may have heard recently about the Supreme Court case (McComish vs. Bennett) that found that when I disagree with you, I am violating your right to free speech because you then have to speak more, you see, to express yourself. You see, more speech is actually less speech. This goes along with Antonin Scalia's homage to 1984's Ignorance is Strength mantra in the stay of the Florida recount in

On the Anniversary of My Mother's Death

2011-06-24T12:27:00.000-07:00