People who believe in god(s) are inclined to say that one reason they believe in god(s) is because they would find their lives "meaningless" otherwise. So, here's my question: how does belief in god(s) create "meaning" in life? Let's consider an example. Many Christians are inclined to say that one…
There are two kinds of people, right? That's how many analyses begin. Here is one that I humbly offer, with little optimism that sufficient numbers of people will have the courage to take it to heart. What is the opposite of Islam? Most Americans would say that the answer is…
Here's what MSNBC reports regarding the newly passed bill "to protect the pledge of allegiance." The bill's sponsor, Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., said America was a nation of God-given inalienable rights and that's why the country is in a war against "radical Islamists." Democrats wouldn't want to "cut and run"…
Yesterday I wrote a post describing how I discovered Bertrand Russell while I was an intellectually frustrated and isolated teen-aged boy. Back then, I was startled to see someone else who was publicly critical of religious institutions. Thinking about those days yesterday provoked me to scour the Internet today for some of Russell’s well-known quotes. There are many more Russell quotes out there than these; he was a prolific writer.
Russell, best known for being a mathematician and logician, dismayed many people while he was alive. After all, he didn’t believe in God. He spoke openly of sexual pleasure being a good thing; he protested against the Vietnam war. Now, however, many of his writings seem only like common sense.
I admired Russell’s clean writing style, his sense of wit, his astute observations and his good heart.
Pouring time into this blog has been deeply satisfying to me. But what is this accomplishing, I sometimes wonder?
After all, there are already numerous writers out there. Technorati.com indicates that it is now tracking 48.5 million sites and 2.7 billion links. Plus, there are numerous traditional sources of information (books, magazines, movies, television) available to anyone who is interested.
I don’t have any illusions about my alleged importance. As Charles De Gaulle famously said, “The cemetery is full of indispensable people.” Nonetheless, I joined the Blogosphere to have a voice and to hopefully present a meaningfully unique voice. This blog is an experiment that will always be provisional and evolving.
This blog grew out of an email relationship between a fellow who lives in Madison (he goes by the name of Grumpypilgrim on this blog) and me. I met “Grumpy” when I provided legal services for a company for whom Grumpy worked. We had emailed our rants and observations back and forth for more than a year. Eventually, I suggested that we exchange our ideas in a public way, in case anyone else might be interested.
Two months later, dangerousintersection.org was designed by Nick Smith of nicksmithdesign.com. I chose the name after looking at a big yellow “Dangerous Intersection” sign I had in my office (I had it around as a novelty) and after considering how that name might generally fit an iconoclastic blog. I took the photo of the intersection used in the site’s logo. Nick made it …