religion
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I’m not against religion in the sense that I feel I can’t tolerate it, but I think written into the rubric of religion is the certainty of its own truth. And since there are 6,000 religions currently on the face of the earth, they can’t all be right. And only the secular spirit can guarantee those freedoms and it’s the secular spirit that they contest.
Ian McEwan, found in The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers.
Also see science vs. scripture and the difference between curiosity and wonder, 50 famous academics on science vs. religion, and why the very lack of certainty is what drives science forward.
Bertrand Russell and F.C. Copleston debate the existence of god, 1948. Open Culture has a transcription of the most compelling parts.
Complement with 100 famous scientists and academics on “God” here and here, and 7 essential meditations on the science and philosophy of religion.
Also see Bertrand Russell on love and hatred and his 10 timeless commandments of teaching.
Religion in maximum-security prisons, a stirring series by photographer Serge Levy.
Chart showing the ratio of church affiliation to the total population over 10 years of age – and more stunning maps and information visualizations based on the 1870 census by Francis Amasa Walker from Codex 99
The first Japanese printed map to depict the world, including Europe and America, from a Buddhist cosmographical perspective, 1710. Also see Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art.
For when all is said and done, we each share the mystery. We live with the miraculous and try to interpret it with our data correctors or our faith healers.
Ray Bradbury, whose bittersweet 92nd birthday we celebrate today just months after his death, on science vs. religion
It is a small thing, this dear gift of life handed us mysteriously out of immensity.
Ray Bradbury, who would’ve been 92 today, on science vs. religion.
When we look at prayer through the lens of neuroscience, we can make an interesting observation: Talking to God is not really different from talking to one’s friends and neighbors.
The Neuroscience of prayer. Also see Jesse Bering on the science of spirituality.
Everybody dies. There’s nothing you can do about it. Whether or not you eat six almonds a day. Whether or not you believe in God.
RIP Nora Ephron
I can forgive people for having all sorts of seemingly nonsensical or magical beliefs - God knows I have some of my own - but I cannot forgive a theology that will destroy the relationship of trust, and love between a parent and child.
A former Mormon on the warped line between a cult and a religion
