An Atheist Manifesto - StumbleUpon
Update: (2/08/2006 1:35 p.m. EST) Read Sam Harris’ additional arguments about The Reality of Islam Editor’s Note: At a time when fundamentalist religion has an unparalleled influence in the highest government levels in the United States, and religion-based terror dominates the world stage, Sam Harris argues that progressive tolerance of faith-based unreason is as great a menace as religion itself. Harris, a philosophy graduate of Stanford who has studied eastern and western religions, won the 2005 PEN Award for nonfiction for The End of Faith, which powerfully examines and explodes the absurdities of organized religion. Truthdig asked Harris to write a charter document for his thesis that belief in God, and appeasement of religious extremists of all faiths by moderates, has been and continues to be the greatest threat to world peace and a sustained assault on reason. An Atheist Manifesto Somewhere in the world a man has abducted a little girl. No. Continued: The Nature of Belief
Dr. Tian Dayton: The Hidden Pain of the Addicted Family
Part of "Recovery Month" Series In the 1960s, when my Dad got treatment, we all thought that once the alcoholic got sober, the rest of us in the family would sort of get better automatically. Normalcy would be restored and we could all go on with our lives as if addiction had never really been there. We weren't total idiots, that's what everyone thought. That's what a lot of people still think, in fact. If you happen to think this, I will save you a lot of time and heartache. How Addiction Leads to Trauma Living with addiction often results in cumulative trauma that deeply affects family members. How Trauma Leads to Addiction Living with the kind of unpredictable and damaging behaviors that surround addiction, often challenges our sense of a normal and predictable world. When the Addict Gets Sober Why Isn't the Whole Family Better? The addict sobering up is only the first step in healing. The addict may relapse. The family may break up or polarize. Recovery Can Grip A Family Too
The Improbability of God - StumbleUpon
The Improbability of God by Richard Dawkins from Free Inquiry, Volume 18, Number 3. Much of what people do is done in the name of God. Irishmen blow each other up in his name. Arabs blow themselves up in his name. Imams and ayatollahs oppress women in his name. Celibate popes and priests mess up people's sex lives in his name. Why do people believe in God? So ran Paley's argument, and it is an argument that nearly all thoughtful and sensitive people discover for themselves at some stage in their childhood. What do all objects that look as if they must have had a designer have in common? This is not a circular argument, by the way. Of all the trillions of different ways of putting together the atoms of a telescope, only a minority would actually work in some useful way. We can safely conclude that living bodies are billions of times too complicated -- too statistically improbable -- to have come into being by sheer chance. Eyes and wings cannot spring into existence in a single step.
Deepak Chopra: How to Dispel the Darkness
When people face a dark hour, as all of us have to, what is the best way to move out of it? The kinds of darkness haven't changed over the centuries, but our response has. The greatest change is that medicine has replaced religion as a way to explain what is happening. The medical model is free of judgment; it removes blame from anyone who is afraid or depressed, who suddenly loses faith in themselves or wants to give up out of sheer hopelessness. Doctors can serve as modern replacements in order to alleviate immediate mental pain, but when it comes to wisdom or long-term change, they are relatively helpless. The paradox of suffering Suffering is universal, and yet pain isn't a good motivator for change. But you can't make the symptom the solution, which is what countless people do. Passivity: The vast majority of people do nothing. You can tell if you are resorting to passivity when any of the following responses has turned into a pattern: -- Asking for constant reassurance (To be cont.)
Hiroshi Tasaka: 3 Strategies for Fusing Science and Spirituality
What is the most important thing that will happen in the 21st century? The fusion of science and spirituality. That will happen. Why? Then, two questions arise in our minds: how will this fusion happen? Strategy 1: Teach Modern Science in the Religious Community (Natural Sciences Approach) When we learn the latest findings in the forefront of modern science, a sense of wonder naturally comes to our mind. Strategy 2: Deepen Modern Psychology Through the Wisdom of Traditional Religions and Spirituality (Human Sciences Approach) The most important question for the science of psychology in the 21st century is "Who am I?" Then, one important question arises in our minds: Where can we find and observe the world of the collective subconscious? Strategy 3: Create a New Economic Principle by Combining the Internet Revolution and the Wisdom of Compassion in Traditional Religions and Spirituality (Social Sciences Approach)
Aspen Ideas Festival 2011: Panel Agrees on Washington’s Problems. The Solutions, Not So Much | FORA.tv Blog
Ron Brownstein True to form, the 2011 Aspen Ideas Festival kicked off with some big ideas on big problems. “We are here to talk about the state of the American political system and its ability to produce solutions,” said Ron Brownstein, political director at the Atlantic Media Company and moderator of the Aspen Ideas Festival’s June 28 panel discussion, “We Agree on Problems; Can We Agree on Solutions?” Mark McKinnon Brownstein painted a picture of just why the country can’t readily agree on solutions. When all of this is set against a backdrop of 9 percent unemployment, he asked, is there a way out of this morass? An expert panel that included Obama and Bush advisors, an insurance company CEO and two former US Representatives (one Democrat, the other Republican) tackled this very question. Is Our Political Division a Reflection of Public Sentiment, or Just Partisan Politicians? David Axelrod Chief media advisor for George W. Is Compromise Between Parties Now Perceived as Capitulation?
