The mainstreaming of paranoia:
The rise of conspiratorial thinking expresses the loss of causality and meaning in the contemporary world. ... What is truly disturbing about the contemporary era is that it is not only the frightened and dispossessed who have internalized this cultural narrative, but also significant sections of mainstream society. Who needs The Protocols or other elaborate conspiracy theories when contemporary culture continually incites people to fear invisible forces?
There's an excellent review of The Evolution of God by Robert Wright in the The New York Times:
Wright makes it clear that he is tracking people’s conception of the divine, not the divine itself. He describes this as “a good news/bad news joke for traditionalist Christians, Muslims and Jews.” The bad news is that your God was born imperfect. The good news is that he doesn’t really exist.
For such a learned man Pope Benedict XVI has a faith almost childlike:
Scientific tests prove bones housed in the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome are those of the apostle St. Paul himself, according to Pope Benedict XVI.
Pope: Basilica bones belong to apostle St. Paul
The tests prove the bones are very old. No more.
What a silly old man.
While the first impulse is to laugh at conspiracy theories, the increasing popularity of zany, hateful explanations for major events and political changes is a form of social poison.
Although [David Voodoo Histories] Aaronovitch deploys a dark wit and extraordinary patience as he lays bare the psychology of conspiracism, he is no doubt that the "idea of conspiracies" has more power to cause harm than actual conspiracies. In September, Francis Wheen will release Strange Days Indeed: The Golden Age of Paranoia (Fourth Estate), which holds up the crisis of the 1970s as a mirror for our frightened times. Early next year sees Anthony Julius's study of British anti-Semitism, a work of impressive scholarship, which ends with an account of how the traditional conspiracy theory of the far-Right crashed through the central-reservation barrier to deform the thinking of the Left.
God may help those who help themselves but they can't do much for themselves if mom is praying that Dr. Jesus will cure diabetes rather than take her daughter to the hospital.
Her daughter, Madeline Neumann, died of untreated diabetes March 23, 2008, surrounded by people praying for her. When she suddenly stopped breathing, her parents' business and Bible study partners finally called 911.
Found guilty of reckless homicide for letting sick daughter die
No, we don't deny that religion won't die. We just deplore it.
Evangelising rationalists will continue to deny the fact, but religion – in all its varieties – is shaping the future, much as it shaped the past.
Poor old Pope Benedict. He may be a force for evil but you can't help but laugh when you read about his cool podcasts and Facebook page.
Benedict will never understand that it isn't his technological profile that needs to adjust - it is the church's teaching on abstinence, prophylactics and marriage between gay men and gay women.
A new Vatican website, www.pope2you.net, has gone live, offering an application called "The pope meets you on Facebook," and another allowing the faithful to see the Pope's speeches and messages on their iPhones or iPods.
Bart Ehrman is a Biblical scholar who writes popular books on New Testament history. A former believer his faith diminished the more he thought about God as it is presented in the Christian Bible.
A story from the early days of his loss of Christian faith:
He even began to change his opinion of the Christian youth group leader who helped convert him. The youth leader visited Ehrman's father when he was dying of cancer in a hospital.
The youth leader used a bottle of hotel shampoo to "anoint" his father, and tried to persuade his father to confess specific sins, Ehrman says. Ehrman says he was angry at the minister for acting "self-righteous" and "hypocritical."
"For a vulnerable high-schooler who is trying to figure out the world, a personality like that is very attractive," Ehrman says. "They're like cult leaders. They have all the answers."
Holy hair shampoo?
It seems that anger over Angels & Demons has caused the Roman Catholic Church to find petty ways in which to harass Ron Howard and ...
Fanning controversy, a 102-year-old Italian bishop was quoted in Italian media over the weekend calling the film "highly denigrating, defamatory and offensive to Church values and the reputation of the Holy See."
When I read that Paris Hilton didn't fear swine flu because pig meat isn't part of her diet I had to laugh. But then it sounded as if many Americans feared pork:
... Dave Warner, communications director for the National Pork Producers Council. "It is not a 'swine' flu, and people need to stop calling it that ... they're ruining people's lives."
Inaccurate 'swine' flu label hurts industry, pork producers say
Then again the pork industray trade journal reports:
More than eight of every 10 consumers continue to believe pork is safe to eat, according to the daily consumer tracking research. And among consumers who have purchased pork products recently, more than nine in 10 believe it is safe.
Advertising Program to Reinforce 'Pork is Safe' Message
Clinging to misinformation about pigs and swine flue helps Egyptian Muslim persecute Coptic Christians:
Most of Egypt’s pig farmers are Christians, and some accuse the government of using swine flu fears to punish them economically.
Culling Pigs in Flu Fight, Egypt Angers Herders and Dismays U.N.
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