Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Friday, October 26, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
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My comment:
A theist believes God exists; an atheist believes He doesn't exist. Neither has proof; they are merely belief systems. So why should it surprise anyone when Richard Dawkins says he can't be sure God doesn't exist? Nobody, however erudite or clever can be sure about God's existence or non-existence. And I believe it is true to say that Richard Dawkins has consistently stated so in his talks and writings. – © Mark
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Friday, December 16, 2011
THE INDEPENDENT: SCIENCE Since quantum physics, the idea of a purposeful universe has become scientifically admissible. Scientists themselves, however, remain firmly divided. Martin Redfern reports on the challenge to dualist thought
FOR THE first time in 400 years, sensible people are saying some very dangerous things. Theologians are discussing the origins of the physical universe, the beauty of the fundamental laws of physics and the wonder of the complexity of nature. Scientists, too, are discussing what they suggest may be a sense of purpose behind the universe and questioning why those laws of nature should be exactly the way they are and why they give rise to those wondrous complexities. This year, a flurry of new books has been published, written by eminent scientists and with the word ``God'' in the title. It may be that this is in part due to pressure from publishers - ``God'' sells well - but it also represents a profound change of attitude since, until recently, few scientists who value their reputations would have risked the G-word even in private. That scientific books invoking God should sell well is also a reflection on the rest of us. Society seems to be searching for something which neither religion nor conventional science on its own has been able to deliver.
Science and religion began to go their separate ways in the Renaissance. The process continued when Galileo and Descartes started to ponder on the nature of the universe. To do so, they had to stray into the territory traditionally the exclusive domain of the church and, in Europe in the first half of the 17th century, the church was powerful indeed. Those who offended it too loudly or too fundamentally could burn in a hell that was very much on earth. So it was out of an instinct of self-preservation that Galileo divided the world into two. He said that there are primary qualities that are external and objective, such as temperature, wavelength, hardness and so on, and secondary qualities that are subjective, such as the sensations of heat, colour and pain. Thus he gave the primary qualities to science in comparative safety and left the secondary qualities to the church: on these he said, I am silent. » | Martin Redfern | Sunday, December 24, 1995
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Reverend Mark Sharpe, 44, claims parishioners slashed his tyres, smeared excrement over the family car, strewed broken glass over his drive and even poisoned his pet dog.
Rev Sharpe said he and his wife Sara, 43, were forced to install CCTV cameras at the rectory to protect themselves and their four children after their post was tampered with and internet and phone connections were cut.
Eventually they moved away and yesterday Rev Sharpe began a claim of constructive dismissal against the Church of England.
The vicar, who was ordained in 2001, initially moved to the rural Teme Valley South Ministry in Worcestershire in January 2005, after resigning his previous job as a Navy chaplain.
He had left that post after claiming he was ''continually'' exposed to violent hardcore pornography and won an employment tribunal against the Ministry of Defence for sexual harassment in 2006. » | Nick Britten | Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Friday, September 09, 2011
Another richly textured week in the crazy, crazy life of Mr Tony Blair draws to its close... and as so often when that ineradicable fungal infection in the national armpit flares up, the head is sent spinning by the man, his works and his genius for self-delusion.
It isn’t so much that you don’t know where to start with him, though I confess that on this occasion, beset by so much choice, it’s a struggle; more that you could go mad – droolingly, screechingly doolally – trying to fathom what goes on in his head.
Start somehow we must, and a brief chronological recap of recent Blairworld highlights seems as useful a launch pad as any. On Tuesday, we belatedly learnt of his attendance last year, on the banks of the Jordan, at the christening of god-daughter Grace, now nine-year-old girl child of Rupert and Wendi Murdoch. On Thursday, though only a Blair super-nerd will have noticed, it emerged that he has received a “peace award” – another one! – in Tel Aviv for his splendid if mysterious work sprinkling harmony across the Middle East. Yesterday, that cherished role as peacebringer firmly in mind, he informed us in an interview in The Times that war with Iran is the way ahead. » | Matthew Norman | Friday, September 09, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Richard Dawkins has made his name as the scourge of organised religion who branded the Roman Catholic Church “evil” and once called the Pope “a leering old villain in a frock”.But he now stands accused of “cowardice” after refusing four invitations to debate the existence of God with a renowned Christian philosopher.
A war of words has broken out between the best selling author of The God Delusion, and his critics, who see his refusal to take on the American academic, William Lane Craig, as a “glaring” failure and a sign that he may be losing his nerve.
Prof Dawkins maintains that Prof Craig is not a figure worthy of his attention and has reportedly said that such a contest would “look good” on his opponent’s CV but not on his own.
An emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, Prof Dawkins last year supported a plan to charge Pope Benedict XVI with crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in the cover-up of sex abuse by Catholic priests.
Prof Craig is a research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, in California, and the author of 30 books and hundreds of scholarly articles on Christianity. Continue reading and comment » | Tim Ross, Religious Affairs Editor | Saturday, May 14, 2011
Thursday, November 11, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Republican congressman who believes that global warming is not a threat because God has promised not to destroy the Earth has put himself forward as chairman of a powerful committee that deals with energy policy and its effect on the environment.John Shimkus, an evangelical Christian representing Illinois, quoted the Bible in a congressional hearing last year on a proposed "cap and trade" legislation designed to limit carbon emissions.
Reading from God's post-Flood promise to Noah in Genesis 8:21, he said: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though all inclinations of his heart are evil from childhood and never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done."
Mr Shimkus added: "I believe that's the infallible word of God, and that's the way it's going to be for his creation.
"The Earth will end only when God declares it's time to be over. Man will not destroy this Earth. This Earth will not be destroyed by a Flood. I do believe that God's word is infallible, unchanging, perfect." >>> Alex Spillius, Washington | Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Thursday, September 02, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The Big Bang was the result of the inevitable laws of physics and did not need God to spark the creation of the Universe, Stephen Hawking has concluded.
The scientist has claimed that no divine force was needed to explain why the Universe was formed.
In his latest book, The Grand Design, an extract of which is published in Eureka magazine in The Times, Hawking said: “Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist.”
He added: “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going.” >>> Laura Roberts | Thursday, September 02, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Glenn Beck says America is wandering in the darkness because of 'divisive politics': WASHINGTON - Glenn Beck held a huge rally Saturday to "celebrate America" - and himself - at the Lincoln Memorial, drawing scores of Tea Party faithful into a swirling debate on race and politics. >>> Richard Sisk, Daily News Washington Bureau | Saturday, August 28, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Julia Gillard's honesty in not paying lip service to a belief in God could harm her at the ballot box, says a Christian lobby group.
The Prime Minister, who as a child won prizes for remembering Bible verses, said yesterday she did not believe in God and, therefore, would not go through the motions of religious rituals.
''I am not going to pretend a faith I don't feel. For people of faith I think the greatest compliment I could pay to them is to respect their genuinely held beliefs and not to engage in some pretence about mine.''
Ms Gillard's position drew immediate praise from atheists, but a word of caution from the Australian Christian Lobby.
''I don't think it is a case of being disappointed,'' the lobby's chief-of-staff, Lyle Shelton, said. ''It is great that the Prime Minister is being so open and honest on such an important question in life, but I think it would be naive to think that it may not have some electoral implication.''
Only last week the group arranged for the former prime minister Kevin Rudd and the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, to address churches across the nation in a live webcast. PM nudged about wrath of God >>> Jacob Saulwick | Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: New Zealand's conservative Prime Minister, John Key, a former investment banker, summed up the state of the world financial system brilliantly during a recent visit to Sydney: "Six months ago, The Wall Street Journal came to interview me and asked me if capitalism was dead. Now Goldman Sachs is paying record bonuses."
After a near-death experience, the world financial system is returning to business as usual - only worse.
The Group of 20 countries, meeting at the end of this week in Pittsburgh, is supposed to be restructuring the system so that it "never happens again". Or, as Barack Obama put it last week: "We will not go back to the days of reckless behaviour and unchecked excess that was at the heart of this crisis."
But we already are. Even if the G20 succeeds in every aspect of its well-intentioned agenda this week, the two greatest systemic problems stand unchanged and uncorrected.
The big investment banks, and Goldman Sachs is the biggest of them, have feasted on public money and, now, restored to strength, are throwing themselves back into the markets as recklessly as ever - only more so.
The big US investment banks are not just symbolic of the greed and excess of the pre-crisis craze. They were instrumental. They created, sold and traded the derivatives the world later came to know as "toxic assets''. But now, after restoring themselves with emergency government loans, they have repaid the US Treasury and rushed back into the markets. Goldman reported a record profit for the three months to the end of June of $US3.4 billion ($3.9 billion).
And the company - where average employee pay is $US700,000 - set aside a record $US11.4 billion for staff bonuses for the first half of the year alone. Guess where the firm made its biggest profit? From trading all the Treasury bonds the US Government issued to pay for the $US787 billion stimulus it injected into the economy to save it from the financial crisis.
Criticism of its bonuses sent Goldman's chief, Lloyd Blankfein (2007 salary plus bonus: $US70 million), out to give a contrite speech. But behind the facade, his firm was betting the bank once again. >>> Peter Hartcher* | Tuesday, September 22, 2009
*Peter Hartcher is the Herald's international editor and author of Bubble Man: Alan Greenspan and the Missing Seven Trillion Dollars
Thursday, August 06, 2009
THE INDEPENDENT: Church of England pews may be empty, but the fields of Somerset are rocking with a series of evangelical festivals this summer. Jerome Taylor joined the faithful
Rich Nathan is just about to wrap up his evening sermon when a loud and piercing shriek erupts from the back of his congregation. A woman in the crowd of 3,000 worshippers is shaking uncontrollably and wailing. "Jesus!" she cries. "Jesus I feel you!" Nearer the front of the stage, a small and equally exuberant group of faithful is receiving the Holy Spirit in other ways. Some rock from side to side, others simply mutter in hushed tones or raise their hands skywards.
It could be a scene from the American Mid-West – Pastor Nathan is, after all, a prominent Jewish-born convert to Christianity who leads a church in Ohio. But today's energetic act of mass worship is taking place in the rolling countryside of Somerset, just to the south of the picturesque town of Shepton Mallet.
As the leaders of Britain's more mainstream denominations scratch their heads and debate how to revitalise their congregations, evangelical Christianity in Britain is going from strength to strength. The number of evangelical churches in Britain has risen from 2047 to 2,719 since 1998 and their followers now make up 34 per cent of Anglicans, figures show.
Nowhere is the strength of British evangelism more apparent than at the numerous summer festivals that have sprung up and attract tens of thousands of people every year. Britain's first atheist summer camp, attended by 24 children last week, made headlines around the world. But just down the road an estimated 60,000 Christians of many different but predominantly evangelical hues will pass through the gates of the Royal Bath and West Showground over the next five weeks for a succession of festivals that offers a heady mix of Glastonbury and God. >>> Jerome Taylor | Thursday, August 06, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
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