He wrote to a rights organization desperately requesting help with an asylum application.… Read the rest
Rwanda: newspaper editor arrested
Jul 14th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAgnès Uwimana Nkusi, editor of Umurabyo, was detained in connection with publication of stories on “sensitive” subjects.… Read the rest
Besides, Vatican radio causes cancer
Jul 14th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe radio towers interfere with appliances, too. No, really.… Read the rest
Connections between theology and the sciences can be explored
Jul 14th, 2010 11:39 am | By Ophelia BensonMark Vernon explains that John Polkinghorne is not a god of the gaps theist-scientist. He’s a nature is underdetermined theist-scientist. That’s much more sensible, apparently.
…there is a possibility of giving an account of divine action within nature, which is compatible with science. It relies neither upon a God who intervenes outside the usual play of nature, nor seeks low-level causal gaps. Rather, God’s action could be viewed as analogous to top-down, emergent causation – particularly when it implies signs of purpose or intentionality.
He doesn’t explain why “God” is the right name for top-down, emergent causation, or how one is to reconcile that with the familiar “God” of the people who pray to it, but never mind – … Read the rest
Bargaining with the holey C
Jul 14th, 2010 11:24 am | By Ophelia BensonIt seems to me there’s a considerable amount of bullshit in the UK government’s response to the petition urging it to tell the pope on second thought to stay home.
The visit is described as a Papal Visit with the status of a State Visit…
The Holy See has a global reach and so is a valuable international partner for the UK Government. Our relationship with the Holy See enables us to address jointly a range of foreign policy and development issues…
As with any bilateral diplomatic relationship, there are issues on which we disagree.
Lots of things have “a global reach”; that doesn’t necessarily make them worth treating as honored guests. Al Qaeda has a global reach; McDonald’s … Read the rest
UK government replies to no pope petition
Jul 14th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOur relationship with the Holy See enables us to address jointly a range of foreign policy and development issues.… Read the rest
Simon Blackburn reviews John Polkinghorne
Jul 14th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt is pretty uplifting to be a scientist-theologian, happy with the universe, confident of the ways of the Lord.… Read the rest
Mark Vernon explains about Polkinghorne
Jul 14th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt’s complicated. So, “there is a possibility of giving an account of divine action within nature, which is compatible with science.”… Read the rest
Yet another ‘centre for science and religion’
Jul 14th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThis one celebrated god and physics last week for John Polkinghorne’s 80th birthday.… Read the rest
Quetta tense after Habib Jalib Baloch’s killing
Jul 14th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAll educational institutions, including Balochistan University, will remain closed for two days.… Read the rest
Gunmen murder former senator in Balochistan
Jul 14th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSeparatist groups in the province have targeted opponents, have also been blamed for killings they deny.… Read the rest
Helen Ukpabio’s fans speak up
Jul 13th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“Bartholomew whether you believe it or not, children are witches.”… Read the rest
A website bashes critics of Helen Ukpabio
Jul 13th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRichard Bartholomew reports a smear campaign against Gary Foxcroft, Leo Igwe, Olusegun Fakoya and Bartholomew.… Read the rest
The scarecrow of “scientism”
Jul 13th, 2010 5:10 pm | By Ophelia BensonA note on Karl Giberson’s Huffington Post piece.
Can one accept the modern scientific view of the world and still hold to anything resembling a traditional belief in God?
My answer to this question is “yes, of course,” for I cannot see my way to clear to embrace either of the two alternatives — a fundamentalist religion prepared to reject science, or a pure scientism that denies the reality of anything beyond what science can discover.
But that isn’t the choice. Really, it’s not. Science can’t discover exactly what it feels like to be you, for example, but you know that that feeling is real. The complexity of personal experience alone is enough to keep you busy and happy … Read the rest
Barbara Forrest on philosophical naturalism
Jul 13th, 2010 11:51 am | By Ophelia BensonIf you’re tired of hearing people say that science cannot address the supernatural, Barbara Forrest’s “Methodological Naturalism and Philosophical Naturalism: Clarifying the Connection” is just what you want to read.
From the abstract:
I conclude that the relationship between methodological and philosophical naturalism, while not one of logical entailment, is the only reasonable metaphysical conclusion given (1) the demonstrated success of methodological naturalism, combined with (2) the massive amount of knowledge gained by it, (3) the lack of a method or epistemology for knowing the supernatural, and (4) the subsequent lack of evidence for the supernatural. The above factors together provide solid grounding for philosophical naturalism, while supernaturalism remains little more than a logical possibility.
From page 5
… Read the rest…the methodology
Christopher Hitchens interview
Jul 13th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWould you say you’re a neo-conservative now? I’m not a conservative of any kind.… Read the rest
A name change?
Jul 13th, 2010 10:51 am | By Ophelia BensonMooney doesn’t like being called an accommodationist. (Not unlike the way we don’t like being called “the New Atheist noise machine” or “the New Atheist comment machine,” perhaps.) He suggests different words.
I also am tired of the label “accommodationist.” It seems to imply that there is something weak about my view, as if I’m all ready to just cave to some common enemy. On the contrary, I think that I’m being tolerant and pragmatic.
Tolerant of what? Not of overt (explicit, non-apologetic, argumentative, reasoned) atheism, certainly. Tolerant of one side of a dispute that he himself has done a lot to create, so “tolerant” doesn’t really fit. (That’s not a very damning point, in my book – I think … Read the rest
Does theology progress?
Jul 13th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIf the spectacle of theology having to retreat in the face of advancing scientific knowledge does not undermine the enterprise, it is hard to imagine what does.… Read the rest
Jerry Coyne on Giberson on science and religion
Jul 13th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe disparity in “ways of knowing” is the true incompatibility between science and faith.… Read the rest
Are science and religion compatible?
Jul 13th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonKarl Giberson says yes, but finds his position precarious as both sides shoot at him.… Read the rest