So here's my question: creationists (a subset of Fundamentalist Christians) claim that life on earth is too "irreducibly complex" to have arisen spontaneously, without an "intelligent designer," so how do they explain the existence of God, who is, presumably, infinitely more "complex" than any life on earth? Was God designed by…
In the movie version of the H.G. Wells story, "The Time Machine," the story ends with the Time Traveler disappearing into earth's distant future, where the human species is not only living a primitive Stone Age existence, but is engaged in a life-and-death struggle against a violent competing species. However,…
I hereby propose a new version of the Ten Commandments.
1 Choose and follow a version of the golden rule. Note in your heart that golden rules have appeared in the writings of many cultures, including Jewish, Buddhist, Confucian and Ancient Egyptian.
2. Never publicly advocate that one’s own version of a supernatural God is truer than the Gods of others; always apply the same degree of skepticism one uses regarding the Gods and sacred writings of others to one’s own God(s) and sacred writings. Don’t build expensive or ostentatious worship places in honor of your God. Never scare any child with stories of great suffering in order to cause that child to believe in the existence of any particular supernatural being. Thou shalt not blasphemy the unfolding mysteries of the universe by claiming to know the thoughts or plans of any God. Thou shalt always approach the mysteries of life with humility, awe and unbridled curiosity.
3. Do not honor any God who you believe prohibits you from honoring any other God or who, in your opinion, threatens to eternally torture any person or animal for any reason. Constantly remind yourself that you have a serious obligation to take good care of all of the children of the world, not just your own children. Regularly breathe deeply and remember to keep a sense of humor, especially when considering spirituality, sex and death. Whenever you speak of God, don’t get that look like you’re about to be smacked with a …
Aristotle wrote with great insight and clarity that maintaining friendships was a prerequisite to acting virtuously. For Aristotle, to act virtuously was necessarily to consciously act for the right reasons. But doing this requires bringing our non-rational parts into harmony with the rational. Further, finding this harmony requires self-knowledge that…
I returned from China two weeks ago, after a three-week trip to three cities, two of which I spent over a week visiting. I have little recollection of the first couple of days home, swathed in a jet-lagged fog as I must have been. I had, as a friend’s daughter describes it, “jet legs.”
The next few days involved what has become my standard decompression after these trips. I’m still not sure how I work my way out of it – whether I recover, or whether I simply desensitize further each time. Let me explain.
I’ve made five of these trips to China now, during which I’ve worked with an incredible foundation (halfthesky.org) in orphanages in eleven different cities. The cities vary with the extent of western influence they’ve suffered – some are still blessedly devoid of McDonald’s and KFC and Wal-Mart; their bloated corporate shadows have already darkened others. Those without such western “flavor” are endlessly more intriguing to explore.
What all the locations have in common, though, is the visual evidence, everywhere, of both a poverty we in the West can’t imagine, and a work ethic we’ve all but lost. I watch farmers trudge into town carrying baskets of brilliant green produce fresh from their small patches of ground – a trek they repeat daily. Some have land tucked into the nearby hills, some scratch out just enough space in the local hutong or next to a dusty construction site to get by.
They set up shop at …