‘Religion’ Archive

SAUCE FOR THE CHRISTIAN GOOSE, SAUCE FOR THE MUSLIM GANDER? 03/25/2012 No Comments

Recently it was revealed in a column by Mustafa Akyol, a Turkish liberal Muslim, that Newt Gingrich is a fan of none other than Mustafa Kemal Atatuerk.  Say what?  Kemal Atatuerk was one of the most radical secularists of the 20th century outside of the Communist world itself.  Ruling Turkey from 1923 to 1939, he remodeled [...]

Christmas and Steven Pinker’s Decline of Violence 12/11/2011 1 Comment

A few months ago biologist Steven Pinker released a paper (Article 1, Article 2) and a book claiming that despite 9/11, Rwanda, and other such events, violence is actually declining in the world.  He rebukes the myth of the ‘noble savage’ by pointing out that most savages and our pre-civilized ancestors were incredibly violent.  He gives the lie to [...]

9/11, Ten Years Later 11/01/2011 2 Comments

When the 9/11 attacks happened, ten years ago, we knew that we didn’t like it.  But we in the Western World were forced to think about the delicate question of, if we were against this, what were we for?  Were we defending the older Western Christendom?  Or were we defending a new order that entailed [...]

What a Seemingly Innocuous Request But Such a Triumphal Statement 06/02/2011 2 Comments

Why don’t the Muslims just buy the churches, if they want them?  The Catholics need the money. Related: “Muslims in France Ask to Use Empty Churches” by Soeren Kern at Hudson New York  

Driven to Extinction, Indeed 03/31/2011 2 Comments

Well, that leaves 140 countries where religions (I prefer to use the plural, because there’s no such thing as ‘religion,’ only religions) are doing fine.  What’s going to be interesting about the nine is that when ‘religion’ goes extinct, a lot of the incentive to have children, especially more than one or two, also goes [...]

The H-word, and the Other H-word 12/06/2010 2 Comments

In the ‘60s we had a lot of slang phrases using the word ‘head’ – “head trip” “got a crazy idea in his head” “feed your head” (Jefferson Airplane) “we’d like to change your head” (The Beatles) “out of my head” “big head” “hard headed woman” (Yusuf Islam) In other words, the significance of the [...]

Bahnsen on D’Souza and Catholic Protestants 11/27/2010 1 Comment

This is my opportunity to introduce my friend David Bahnsen to Blue Kennel readers.  I myself happened to be under the impression that before D’Souza relocated to NYC he was in fact attending an evangelical megachurch in San Diego.  But be that as it may.  Yes, the Protestants mostly abandoned the Protestant “world and life [...]