Robertson's comments on HaitiThe ground had hardly stopped shaking in Haiti when Pat Robertson, the affable but loose-lipped founder of Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) and President of Regent University, started a rumble of his own by saying that the stricken nation was "cursed" because of a 200-year-old "pact with the devil" supposedly made by rebellious slaves to obtain freedom from their occupying French masters.
philosophy and faithA gracEmail reader writes: "I have recently been involved in conversations with a philosophy student who has lost his faith. Several issues in the Bible trouble him, in the areas of original sin, predestination, and the nature of the resurrection. Can you point me to Scriptures or to other reading materials that might help?"
don't ask this columnist about critical thinkingA widely-syndicated opinion piece by Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr. published on March 16, 2007 provides opportunity for a useful exercise in critical thinking. Under the title "Don’t ask this general about morality," Mr. Pitts takes to task Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, who four days earlier expressed publicly his personal conviction that "homosexual acts" are "immoral."
ideology mattersNewspapers across the United States featured a religion article this weekend titled "Ideology Matters: What is the most dangerous idea in religion today?" . . . The most dangerous idea in religion today, say Kushner, Chopra and Dyer, is the notion that any religion is more true than another. An-Na'im, the Muslim spokesman, begins by stating that he wouldn't "believe in a religion if [he] didn't believe it to be better than other religions," but he proceeds to denounce any attempt to convert others to a religion different from their own.
God's artistryThis past Christmas eight related households in five states each received an exquisite piece of counted cross stitch artwork. These gifts of love represented many hours of meticulous craftsmanship by my mother, who recently celebrated her 85th birthday.... Sara Faye and I opened ours at Mom's birthday party in January -- a portrait-quality portrayal of a cottage yard aflame with brilliant flowers, complete with a birdhouse and bordered in by a white picket fence.
World villageIf the world's population were shrunk to a village containing 100 people with present human ratios remaining as now, the human village would contain 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 people from the Americas (North, Central and South) and 8 Africans. Of the 100 villagers, 70 would be non-white. Sixty-six would be non-Christian (22 Muslims, 15 Hindus, 14 non-religious, 6 Buddhists, 9 other)