Author Archives: rsree
Burkas and Other Religious Anachronisms
How much of an anachronism an ancient tribal culture or religion can be in today’s world was demonstrated recently in Amsterdam, when its Mayor Job Cohen said that women who refuse to give up wearing the burka for jobs should … Continue reading
Posted in People, Politics & Culture
Tagged Amsterdam, anachronism, burka, burqa, discrimination, unemployable, unemployment benefits
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The One And Only One?
I had some Jehovah’s Witnesses at the door the other day – and in the ensuing conversation I asked them how they knew that their God was the one and only true God out there. They couldn’t really answer that … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Science & Religion
Tagged Existence of God, God, Intelligent Design, Jehovah Witness, logical falacy, religion, Religious Faith, St. Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas, unproven assumption
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Leave Your Brain At Home When You Go To Church
In 1962 – not really all that long ago – the Holy Office of the Roman Catholic Church issued the following monitum – or reprimand – regarding the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, (1881-1955), a French Jesuit priest who … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Science & Religion
Tagged evolution, Monitum, Original Sin, Relious Doctrine, Roman Catholic Church, Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man
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BC Legislative Session Starts With A Prayer?
No, that was not appropriate. This stuff is meaningless to me – and although graceful hogwash by any other name – I want our politicians to be accountable to me and everyone else they claim to represent, the people in … Continue reading
Posted in People, Politics & Culture
Tagged Accountability, BC Legislature, Higher Authority, Prayer, Separation of Church and State
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Creationism and other Bedtime Stories
Over the years I have watched – somewhat bemused, I must admit – the ongoing debate between the proponents of the theory of evolution and those who hold that everything that exists today is the instantaneous product of an act … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Science & Religion
Tagged Creationism, evolution, intellectual dishonesty, super natural beings, theory versus fantasy
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What Will They Dream Up Next?
So there are folks in India and members of the Hindu religion, who – at the occasion of the recent solar eclipse – gathered by the thousands to take a bath in the filthy and polluted Ganges river near the … Continue reading
Posted in People, Politics & Culture
Tagged Hinduism, Reincarnation, religion, unsubstantiated beliefs
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The Meaning of Meaning
Meaning is a function of context – the framework of relationships between people, things and events that bear on a thing or event such that they are placed within this framework in a way that value is provided to the … Continue reading
Posted in People, Politics & Culture, Philosophy, Science & Religion
Tagged finding meaning, framework of relationships, meaning, subjectivity, the context of meaning
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Moving Beyond Survival
Much if not most of what drives a human being today appears to be rooted in the basic need to survive. Initially very much like the animal that is an intrinsic part of us, we would have had to compete … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Science & Religion
Tagged human survival, need to survive, survival as an end in itself
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The Truth Is Not Out There.
Some scientists like to believe that more information about the origin and nature of the universe can be found by poking around in the farthest reaches of outer space, many millions of light years away. What they are trying to … Continue reading
Posted in People, Politics & Culture
Tagged cosmic dust, earth, infinite timespace, truth, universe
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The Cosmos Explained – Well, Maybe …
There is a scene in the movie Terminator 2, where the next generation terminator – who had morphed himself into a cop – is frozen solid after a tanker truck filled with liquid nitrogen spills its load all over him. … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Science & Religion
Tagged cosmology, cosmos, evolution
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