Part One: Making it Up as We Go Along: Religion in Human Evolution
Human Evolution Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins, by Ian Tattersal, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, $26.00 The Social Conquest of Earth, by Edward O. Wilson, W. W. Norton, 2012, $27.95 Scholars who teach and write about “Big History” (such as David Christian, in Maps of Time or Fred Spier, in Big History and the Future of Humanity) incorporate scientific discoveries made during the twentieth century to demolish the young earth claims that Christians have made, based upon primitive calculations derived from genealogies found in the Bible. Rather than “give heed to fables and endless genealogies” (1 Timothy, 1:4) only to conclude that the world is no more than 5,000 to 10,000 years old, historians like Professors Christian and Spier use scientific evidence provided by geologists, archaeologists, paleontologists and astronomers who have demonstrated … Read entire article »
Filed under: Book Reviews, Christianity, History
Last Rites for the United States, and Himself
A Review of Last Rites, by John Lukacs In 1990, at the age of sixty-five, John Lukacs wrote a well-received “auto-history” entitled Confessions of an Original Sinner. Now, almost twenty years later, Mr. Lukacs has given his readers part two: Last Rites. The book not only appears to constitute a valedictory for an erudite and influential 85 year old man — who admits that his curiosity, reading and appetite for life are weakening — but also the swan song for the five hundred years of European culture carried forward, until recently, by the United States. Which is to say that Mr. Lukacs sees signs of America’s decadence all around: academics who neither buy nor read books, the widespread decline of serious reading, “the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Book Reviews, Christianity
Crackpot Christianity and America’s Current Moral Degeneration: Bush and the Third Great Awakening (Part 3 of 3)
Here’s a brief quiz that serves to illuminate the harm inflicted by crackpot Christianity upon America. The test has two parts. First, fill in the blanks of the following paragraph. Second, give the name of the world-renowned Christian theologian who wrote it. “_________________ belonged to a little junta which foisted the ______________ War upon the American people. The ambition and vanity which prompted him could be veiled and exalted because the will-to-power of an adolescent nation and the frustrated impulses of pugnacity and martial ardor of the pitiful little ‘men in the street’ could find in him symbolic expression and vicarious satisfaction.” No, the author was not referring to the “vicarious satisfaction” – recently experienced by so many “pitiful … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bush Administration, Christianity
Crackpot Christianity and America’s Current Moral Degeneration (Part 2 of 3)
During the weekend of August 26-27, 2006, Americans were given another opportunity to see “Crackpot Christianity” in action. All they had to do was tune in to The Coral Ridge Hour and watch its presentation of Darwin’s Deadly Legacy. I watched it Saturday evening and was respectively amused and appalled by the show’s infantilism and dishonesty. Although it would not persuade any educated American, the show’s dishonesty implies a staggering contempt for its intended audience — the untaught. Knowing the audience, I expected such buffoonery and mendacity. As I demonstrated in an earlier article (Part 1), the overwhelming majority of America’s Christians know next to nothing about the origins and actual composition — let alone the myriad contradictions — of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Christianity, History
The Nation: Editor's Picks
- Fighting Facebook, A Campaign for a People’s Terms of Service May 22, 2013 Ari Melber, Woodrow Hartzog and Evan Selinger
- Rahm Emanuel’s Zombie Pigs vs. Chicago’s Angry Birds May 22, 2013 Dave Zirin
- The GOP's Black Friends Need More Black Friends May 21, 2013 Mychal Denzel Smith