News items from the past week include growing Christian opposition to legal divorce, the way people attribute personal failings to innate flaws, the damage caused by political talk shows, Christian beliefs about the role of women in society, and more.

Book Reviews: Books on Alternative Medicines, Faith Healing
What is alternative medicine? Does it do any good? Why do people pay money for it? The popularity of alternative medicine has increased dramatically in recent years, but understanding of scientific medicine hasn't. There are a lot of books out there which promote various alternative treatments, like homeopathy and acupuncture, but not as many which take a skeptical, critical look at the industry.

Abortion & Contraception: Political, Social, Medical Deb
Abortion is a contentious issue in American society. Some regard it as an immoral abomination while others regard it as fundamental to reproductive liberty and privacy. Contraception is starting to be treated in a similar manner. It is, then, natural that there would be regular news stories involving abortion and contraceptives - what place do they have in society? Should they be legal and available?

Heresy as Intra-Religious Conflict
The term heresy comes from the Greek haireisthai, which means "to choose." It came to refer to the act of holding very unorthodox and/or unpopular religious opinions. Technically speaking, then, heresy is not so much the rejection of a religious authority as it is the rejection of a particular religious authority in favor of some other religious authority.

Christian Opposition to Divorce
A new target of the Christian Right

Sex Differences: Men, Women, American Culture
What is the cause of failure?

Women's Role in Society
Fundamentalists have their own ideas

Political Talk Shows
They Damage the Political Process

Christians Should Take Control
It's a growing belief in America

Good Will and Ethics
An unrecognized principle

Theological Liberalism and American History
Interesting and important connection

 

User Polls:

1) Should Atheists Become More Politically Active?
Atheists have political opinions, but they disagree on most political issues. There is no one atheist position on abortion, taxes, war, etc. Is that, however, a reason against atheists organizing political as atheists an forming atheist political organizations?

2) Is Criticizing the Government a Form of Treason?
There are a number of people who attempt to equate free speech with treason. For them, the revelation of misdeeds of the government or even just criticisms of the government are the same as betrayal of one's country. Do they have a point or are they undermining the freedoms they pretend to be defending?

3) Should Public Humiliation Be Used As A Form Of Punishment?
Embarrassment seems to play an important role in people's moral sense -- more often than not, they "do the right thing" so as not to experience shame in front of people they know. In today's society, however, it is easier to remain anonymous and to "do the wrong thing" without having to experience shame. Is humiliating someone a fair response to this or counterproductive?