Filed under: Religion Tagged: Christianity, Easter, Infographic, Religion
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Alberta Politics: Ted Byfield’s back, cyber-crusading for Jason Kenney’s bid to lead Alberta back to the Fifties!
PHOTOS: Ted Byfield at the microphone (Edson leader photo). Below: Alberta Education Minister David Eggen, the late Link Byfield, Mr. Byfield’s son, and a cover from the bad old days of Alberta Report magazine. Like the proverbial bad penny, Ted Byfield is back. It should come as no surprise that
Continue readingScripturient: TEOTWAWKI, New Year’s Eve
Some religious wingnuts aren’t planning to celebrate the ringing in of the New Year, 2017. Nope: they’re going to await the arrival of their zombie deity who, one can only suppose, will be bringing the champagne to his own party when he returns from the dead. The end of the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: How to put Christ back in Christmas: It starts with Christians pressing ‘Reset’
ILLUSTRATIONS: Santa Claus … not Jesus. Below: Karl Marx (not mentioned in the story) … also not Santa Claus. Jesus Christ (quoted at length) … not Santa Claus either. This is an edited version of a post that first appeared in this space in 2012. With the Right in Alberta
Continue readingScripturient: Godless – The Truth Beyond Belief
“Godless – The Truth Beyond Belief” investigates one of the last frontiers in civil liberties and human rights: Atheism. So reads the opening sentence on the website of a new film about atheism and society. It asks, “can you be good without god?” Well, yes, you can. That’s the whole point
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Sunday Religious Disservice – Christian Pop Culture Beyond Salavation
There was a time when religion commissioned great and wondrous art. Awe-inspiring cathedrals were built by the most grand and innovative architects. Beautiful music for masses were composed by the greatest musical minds in history. Religious paintings were created with skills and passion that have yet to be matched, even
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Sunday Religious Disservice – Abolishing Satan Should Be Easy.
Of course, there might be other factors at play. Filed under: Religion Tagged: Christianity, god, Money, Satan, The DWR Sunday Religious Diservice
Scripturient: Fake Ark, Fake Religion
Well, it finally opened: the $100 million-dollar Noah’s Ark theme park in Kentucky that features an allegedly life-size model of the mythological boat described in the Bible. It’s 510 feet (155.4m) long, 85 feet (26m) wide, more than three …
Continue readingScripturient: Type amen, click like and share…
I created what proved an interesting discussion on Facebook recently when I threatened to ‘unfriend’ anyone who continued to out those obnoxious ‘type amen and share’ posts on their timelines. Now if you’re a FB user, you…
Continue readingScripturient: The Myth of Persecution
I just finished reading The Myth of Persecution by theology professor Candida Moss (Harper One, New York, 2013). I picked it up because of my general interest in theology, but also my more specific interest in early church history. I didn’t reali…
Continue readingScripturient: The Rational Gods of Iceland
While 61% of Icelanders say they believe in God, according to a recent poll, absolutely none under the age of 25 believe that their personal hairy thunderer created the world: Less than half of Icelanders claim they are religious and more than 40% of…
Continue readingScripturient: What Would $101 Million Buy?
The answer to that question could be very long. I’ll bet among all the things you thought of buying with that much, you weren’t even once thinking it could buy a 510-foot replica of the mythological Noah’s ark. But that’s what …
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Sunday Religious Disservice – Watch out! – Christian Black Friday Follies
Imagine if you would a salt shaker on your dinner table. Now imagine another shaker on your table, only filled with bullshit. Most of organized religion is this shaker filled with shit that people add (voluntary or not) to the various dishes and activities in their lives. Our happy thought experiment plays on the […]
Religion is bad for kids
It might strike some as surprising, but it shouldn’t. A study by academics from seven countries suggests that children from religious families are less kind and more punitive than those from non-religious families. According to the researchers, “Overall, our findings … contradict the common-sense and popular assumption that children from
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Was the Senate report on ‘countering’ the threat of terrorism intended to incite hatred for political gain?
PHOTOS: Conservative members of the Senate of Canada answer questions about their “interim report” on countering terrorist threats to Canada. Actual Conservative Senators may not appear exactly as illustrated – but close enough, unfortunately. Below: Liberal senator Grant Mitchell of Alberta, who dissented from the report; former British MP George
Continue readingScripturient: One Small Step, One Long Whine
The Supreme Court of the United States made a landmark decision last week that states cannot constitutionally (i.e. legally) ban same-sex marriage. The bottom line: under the Constitution, every citizen is entitled to the same rights and freedoms regardless of sexual orientation. Most of the world celebrated with the USA
Continue readingWill Republicans keep invoking God if the Pope keeps pissing on their philosophy?
American politicians are particularly prone to invoking their Christian faith as a guide to their political beliefs. Although members of both major parties freely trot out scripture at the drop of a writ, conservative Republicans are especially inclined to pepper their appeals with references to their faith, God and Jesus.
Continue readingScripturient: How Many Virtues?
The Greeks had but four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, temperance, and courage (or fortitude). To this, many centuries later, the Catholic church (notably Aquinas) added three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity (or love). These are the seven basic virtues of Western culture. But they’re not the only ones. In
Continue readingScripturient: Conrad Black: Wrong on Religion, Again
Atheists renounce and abstain from religions; they don’t reform them. So said Conrad Black in a recent National Post column. Black seems to be increasingly theological in his writing; perhaps he has had some sort of epiphany in prison. If so, it seems to be pushing him towards a Pauline-style
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Written by God?
I don’t pay as much attention to American politics as I suppose I should, in part because despite the entertaining craziness of some of their politicians, the internal politics seldom affect Canadians, and also in part because the craziness not only baffles me – it scares me. But this week
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