Posted inReligions

Islam’s war on women

I got an email from A Mohit, who shared a link to a post he wrote about "Islam and Women." Very disturbing, this tale of an Afghan woman who is raped, then has to marry her attacker in order to be freed from jail. Mohit tells it like it is. Shame on her tribe, shame on their society! I do not condemn her family, who are probably as helpless as Gulnaz herself is. I raise my hands in prayer: May God have his fury on the people who oppress women in the name of God. Here's another story about the…
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Posted inScience

Shocker! Thoughts really aren’t about anything at all

Thoughts. Desires. Intentions. Plans. Interpretations. Meanings. These seem to be so important, so vital, so much a part of being human.  We think about stuff. We have feelings about stuff. We argue, debate, laugh, cry, discuss, cogitate, agonize over, dream about stuff. Yet there are good neuroscientific reasons to say, "We're totally mistaken. It's impossible for our minds to be about anything." So argues Alex Rosenberg in his book, "The Atheist's Guide to Reality." A few days ago I blogged about it here, ending with a quotation that stimulated this post: Ultimately, science and scientism are going to give up…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories

Dancing teaches me a life lesson

Quality, not quantity. Relate, don't compare.  That's the essence of what Debra, my dance instructor, told me yesterday. On my other blog I described these life lessons. Have a read. And a look, as I included a dance video that Debra liked a lot. Religions urge that we form an intimate relationship with God or some other supernatural entity. Ballroom dancing points us toward the here-and-now: relating to the partner who is in our arms.  Which is more real? For me, dancing. For sure.
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Posted inReality Science

“Atheist’s Guide to Reality” answers life’s biggest questions

Here's a gift idea for the atheists and agnostics on your Christmas shopping list: Alex Rosenberg's The Atheist's Guide to Reality: Enjoying Life Without Illusions. I'm enjoying it a lot, having bought it at Powell's Books in Portland (best bookstore in the world!) a few weeks ago. Rosenberg, chair of the Philosophy Department at Duke University, is a powerful writer. He is utterly fearless in proclaiming his atheistic thesis. Here it is in a nutshell, on pages 2-3 of his new book where he confidently answers life's biggest questions in a few words: Is there a God? No. What is…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Religious stories are too wonderful to be true

One of the things scientists have learned about humans is how much we love stories. People are bothered by uncertainty, doubt, not-knowing. Our brains are hardwired by evolution to jump to intuitive conclusions that seem oh-so-right, even when the evidence supporting those conclusions is oh-so-limited. Stories fill in the gaps in our ignorance, producing a pleasing thematic arc: introductory first act, dramatic second act, tying it all together third act. For example, Christianity tells us a story of how God created a perfect world, humans screwed things up by sinning, and Jesus was sent to save us. Of course, there…
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