News items from the past week include how Intelligent Design was conceived as a tool for theocracy, how people try to privilege religion in modern society, the importance of balancing skepticism against objectivity, contrasting fear of terrorism against fear in the workplace, efforts by the Christian Right to misuse the legacy of Civil Rights, and more.

Privileging Religion in Modern Society
People who argue that religion should be privileged - and that their religion in particular should be privileged - almost never actually state outright that privilege is what they are seeking. Instead, they find various ways to insist that the privileges they want are merely their rightful due. How convenient that they have a 'right' to be treated better than everyone else.

Who is Saved? Who Can Know?
A fundamental and vital aspect to the evangelical Christian worldview is being 'saved.' The whole purpose of Christianity is to be saved, which means avoiding hell and going to heaven. How does a person know whether they are saved or not? Most appear to be convinced that they are saved but there is still some anxiety about how a person can know and whether one is fooling themselves.

Faith Based Funding and Programs: Recent News and Posts
President George W. Bush has worked hard to get the government to finance religion and religious programs. This "faith based funding" is designed to provide financial aid to religious groups regardless of discrimination and evangelization. Thus, a church receiving federal money for job retraining could discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, or sexual orientation with that money. Read about some of recent news dealing with faith-based funding fiascos and programs.

Intelligent Design as a Theocratic Tool
It has no other purpose...

Nations, Obligations, and Human Rights
What obligations do states have?

Martin Luther King, Jr. vs. Christian Right
No contest...

'Left Behind' Series
What it Really Means

Theocratic Vision for America
James Dobson speaks...

Equipose
Balancing Skepticism and Objectivity

Fear of Terrorism vs. Fear at Work
What do we have to fear?

 

Book Reviews:

1) Ratzinger Report: An Exclusive Interview
Now that Joseph Ratzinger is Pope Benedict XVI, his past statements on religion, politics, and the Catholic Church are being examined much more closely. As Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he had significant power and influence, but as pope, he wields even more. Fortunately, he was somewhat unusual in the extent of his writings on so many different subjects, so there is a lot of material to go through.

2) Salt of the Earth
As Cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger wrote a number of books on Christian theology. In his role as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he had to defend the orthodox positions of the Catholic Church; as a theologian, he could explore religious issues with a bit more freedom. He also gave lengthy interviews which were collected into book form, and these combine both his personal views as well as his official positions on church matters.

3) Hitler: 1936-1945 Nemesis
Although Hitler did not enjoy overwhelming support from the German people when he took power, his popularity did grow until he was lauded with almost unbridled enthusiasm from all sectors of German society. He and the Nazi party are regarded today as the epitome of human evil, so how could the German people have become so enthralled by them? What was it about Hitler that allowed him to exercise such control over German society?