| ProfileThat Religious Studies W...BlogLists |  Tools  Help |
|
February 05 Update, Superbowl and...So having sat through the Superbowl game over the weekend, and watched my mate's team lose, I thought I would console myself by writing about Christian and Buddhist forms of worship for the new site (as you do):
Saying that, the plus side to the game was the half time show when Prince played - He was awesome, even though it was pouring down with rain (not Purple)... He must have been played a shed load of cash to do that, 'cause he is a tetchy little so-and-so (emphasis there on the little, rather than the so-and-so). February 01 More...MORE! Boomed the master, as Oliver asked for more food...
Well, unlike Oliver you can have more - More stuff is going up on this site daily. Here are my lastest offerings, to fill your academic and spiritual belly:
In a new race-relations section, I have added an article called What is truth? An introduction to Holocaust Denial Theory. This article introduces some of the reasons why certain 'academics' have denied the Holocaust occured, and in particular looks at the work of the dis-credited historian David Irving. This article will be of interest to those wanting to learn more about anti-semitism.
I have also added another podcast to www.gcsepodcast.com, this time on Christian attitudes to euthanasia. This is a FREE podcast, which you can download and listen to right now. There is also an online revision task which accompanies it, and you can find that by clicking here. January 31 Alive and well in Canada!If you thougt Jade Goody was bad, try this for size!
More evidence that a little bit of religious education, will save careers... AftermathSo it appears the 'race row' on Celebrity Big Brother has finally started to die down, and Jade Goody has been revealed for the ignorant bigot she is. I cannot say I am sorry this has happened... Firstly, no-one should be made a celebrity on the basis of being stupid! The UK should collectively hold its head in shame for allowing Jade Goody to make millions from a 'career' based on - well, based on what? She found fame for being an idiot, and has since continued to find fame for having plastic surgery, having kids, being fat and losing weight. My God, it's as if the song 'Money for Nothing' was written just for her...
I am glad the UK is finally waking up to the idea that we should not be celebrating stupidity! Jade Goody is proof that people need to learn about other people's cultures and religions... She is proof that a lot of harm can be done in the name of religious ignorance! A lesson well learnt - I hope she always regrets not paying more attention at school!!! January 26 Abortion pages now updatedThe ever popular pages on abortion from www.faithnet.org.uk have now been updated, and are included here on the new site. You know, I get more comments and requests about these pages, than anything else. Maybe something tells me this is a good topic to revise for exams? Methinks - yes!
Movie review - Letters from Iwo Jima'Letters is a primarily a war film, but it is also one that which entreats us to see things from another point-of-view and question the wisdom of political leaders. For Religious Studies teachers, this film has great potential to be used in lessons. Despite its R rating, clips can be selected from it and used with great effect. In particular, I would recommend the moment when an American solider is captured, and 'interrogated' by General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. If those scenes do not cause people to debate the morality of war, I do not know what will.'
January 23 Today is...Today is my birthday, so what better way to celebrate than by posting a revised version of my Utilitarian article:
Happy birthday to me... happy birthday to me... Oh, whatever! January 21 Meet Sonseere!Meet Sonseere! Having been raised as a Catholic, she converted to Judaism over twenty five years ago. In this programme you will learn about why she converted to Judaism, meet some family and friends, and share in the preparations for Shabbat.
January 18 The freewill defense and beerAnother day, another page! Today's offering to the theological gods is 'The freewill defense (St. Augustine of Hippo)'. I like this theodicy, mainly because if is true that God created everything good, then (as Augustine says), there really cannot be anything totally bad for us in the world.
So to anyone who says drinking beer is bad for you - well, I'm having none of it - if it really is that bad, why did God create hops? Go figure!!! January 17 Process TheodicyToday I updated the article - Process theodicy: Creation out of chaos and the problem of evil. I must say it is good to review these articles I originally wrote for www.faithnet.org.uk, as they cause me to re-think what I believe in terms of certain theological matters. I am also reminded that often these articles were written as I became interested in a subject, and also as I worked out my faith several years ago. I think this is a good thing to do - to work out what one believes, and why. A kind of theological and spiritual 'spring-clean' (so to speak). I also think it is important to do this as very often we might be believing something, simply because we have been told it is right (or true), and not because we believe it to be so. The danger here is that there might come a time when we find this belief irrevocably challenged, and left with no-where to go in our thinking, because we had not prepared ourselves to think that there might be other (credible) alternatives to what we had be told, was true! January 11 Sight and soundYesterday I saw a blind guy walking along, wearing a pair of headphones listening to music... Yeah, I thought the same thing! However, I also thought why not - why should only people who can see have the pleasure of listening to music, or a podcast or whatever else whilst they are walking around? Maybe it's time someone invented a portable listening device for the blind, which does not take another of their major senses away from them? January 05 Richard Dawkins interviewI received word today that Richard Dawkins is willing to be interviewed for the site, so I hope to arrange for that to happen in the next week or so... I will keep you informed as to when that interview will be posted on the site! January 03 Blasphemy ChallengeHere is a rather futile and pointless exercise (well, as far as I am concerned):
'You record a short message damning yourself to Hell, you upload it to YouTube... somewhere in your video you must say this phrase: "I deny the Holy Spirit." Why? Because, according to Mark 3:29 in the Holy Bible, "Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."' So the point of this exercise is to show the world of 'You Tube' viewers just how real your atheism is... Okay, but why do you have to deny the existence of the Holy Spirit? Surely this is suggesting that Christianity is the true faith? Why not commit the unforgivable sin as Islam, or Hinduism or any other faith-tradition understands it? Why select Christianity and the Bible as the touchstone for proving God's non-existence? This exercise will not 'damn your soul', unless you first assume that you have a soul which can be damned, and that hell exists (surely two things a true atheist would not believe in)? Also, if you are going to deny the existence of God, you would first need to explain who (or what) you believe God is (see God: An introduction). SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: Hindus believe that all human souls are divine... does this mean that any Hindu who denys the existence of God, are essentially denying that they exist, as well as everyone else around them? Also, would Hindus, Muslims, Jews or Sikhs (or anyone in any faith-tradition), have to deny the existence of the Holy Spirit as well, in order to put their 'soul' on the line? January 02 Indy 4So as Richard Dawkins throws down a challenge to find evidence for God's existence, Lucas and Spielberg finally commit to making Indiana Jones 4. Now I ask you, which of these would you bet on happening first? Finding conclusive irrefutable proof of God's existence, or seeing Harrison Ford (64) make it through this latest (and surely last) adventure for Dr. Jones?
I'm not sure my money is on either at the moment... December 31 The God DelusionOver past two weeks I have been reading Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion in order to review it for my new website. When I first heard Dawkins had released this book, I must admit I was somewhat dishearted to think that he appeared (yet again) to be having an unnecessary pop at religion. However, since reading it I have been greatly impressed with Dawkin's approach to the subject, and in particular his attitude. For I was expecting The God Delusion to be nothing more than an atheists' rant (a la Sam Harris's Letter to a Christian Nation - read my review here), but instead I found an incredibly thought-provoking and intellectually mature treatment of the subject matter. I do not agree with everything Dawkin says, but I found myself agreeing with most things...
Read my review of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins here. December 26 A new eraWell, it seems that I am not going to get looked at by Google until I have a significant number of pages either on or linked to the new website http://www.thatreligiousstudieswebsite.com. That is a little bit depressing as I wanted to complete changing all the the pages on http://www.faithnet.org.uk, before I launched this new site... Oh well, never mind!
Oh, seeing as you are reading this - Welcome to the new website! |
|
|
