Articles Index
Bad Faith: The Danger of Religious Extremism, by Neil J. Kressel
Anyone studying religion is immediately and unavoidably faced with a difficult dilemma: believers report that their religion is a source for morality and values in their lives - and there are many examples of religion inspiring good behavior - but at the same time religion is also demonstrably a source for violence, terrorism, war, and evil. What is it about faith that it can inspire so much negative behavior even while being promoted as a force for good? What is the connection?
Lust: The Seven Deadly Sins
There are few sins with which people are so well acquainted as the sin of lust. But should lust get such a negative reputation and be treated as something dirty and nasty? Might lust be a good thing?
God and the World: A Conversation With Peter Seewald
While still a cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger gave three book-length interviews in which he was asked wide ranging questions about church history, his own life, politics, and Christian theology. He didn't know the questions in advance and at most only made minor adjustments to his answers after reading them in written form. These books therefore provide insight into the past thinking of Pope Benedict XVI which carefully prepared and edited books cannot.
The Human Christ: The Search for the Historical Jesus, by Charlotte Allen
Who was Jesus? Innumerable people - scholars and lay people alike - have wanted to answer that question and have therefore embarked upon a 'quest for the historical Jesus.' What has been the result of their efforts? According to Charlotte Allen, not very much. Allen argues that these 'quests' reveal much more about the psychology and ideology of the questors and little or nothing about Jesus.
Faith-Based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik, edited by Douglas Johnston
Considering how much of a role religion can play in causing conflicts around the world, is it reasonable to think that we can find solutions and resolutions that don't involve religion?
Religion Without God
Among both believers and nonbelievers, there are people who tend to assume that there must exist some essential tension between religion and atheism. For whatever reason, it is simply taken for granted that the two do not and cannot mix. But what if this assumption is wrong? What is atheism is readily compatible with religion?
Pope Benedict XVI: A Biography of Joseph Ratzinger
As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he was an exceptionally divisive and controversial figure in the Catholic Church. As Pope Benedict XVI, he is supposed to be a living symbol of the unity of not just all Catholics, but all Christians in the world. Can he make a credible transition from defender of orthodoxy to pastor of the entire church? That will be perhaps the most serious challenge of Benedict's papacy.
Alternatives to Hitler: German Resistance under the Third Reich, by Hans Mommsen
Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, has stated in the past that resistance to the Nazis was “impossible” and that’s why he cooperated with the Nazi authorities when he was young. Is that true, however? Was it really not possible for people to resist the Nazi regime and thereby either deny it the support it needed or even seek to replace it? The evidence suggests it was indeed possible.
Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea, by Carl Zimmer
What is evolution, and what sort of explanation does it provide for the diversity of life on our planet? Those are important questions, but especially so for the United States, where so few people understand what evolution is and so many simply reject it outright, generally because of their religious convictions.
Homeopathy: How It Really Works
Homeopathy is one of the most popular of the various alternative medical treatments, bringing in around USD $1.5 billion a year. It's also one of the oldest, having been created by German physician Samuel Hahnemann in the mid-19th century. Considering its age and popularity, is there anything at all to the treatments? Do they work?
Anti-American Terrorism and the Middle East: A Documentary Reader
It has often been said that when you want the straight truth about something, it is generally better to try to go to the original sources rather than allowing the authors of secondary literature to tell you what those sources say. Naturally many in the West are intensely interested in learning the truth about what radical Islamists think and why - but where can they find the original sources in something other than Arabic?
Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages
Everyone knows about language - the ability to use language is, in fact, one of the defining characteristics of the human species, something glimpsed only in rudimentary forms in other animals. Humans have developed an incredible variety of languages over the millennia, but something rather disturbing is occurring: a great many languages are dying out and may soon disappear.
Stalin's Last Crime: The Plot Against the Jewish Doctors, 1948-1953
Everyone is at least vaguely aware of the fact that Joseph Stalin's brutal policies caused the arrests and deaths of untold numbers of innocent people during his dictatorial reign. The extent of his crimes are still coming to light, though, and we may never know all the details. One attempted purge, which fortunately did not go as far as planned, was the 'doctor's plot,' an alleged conspiracy of Jewish doctors working on behalf of Western imperialists and Zionists to kill the Soviet leadership.
Civil Wars: A Battle for Gay Marriage, by David Moats
The debate over gay marriage is one of the most serious and divisive in America today, but perhaps nowhere has it had as high of a profile and raised so many emotions as in Vermont. In 1999, the Vermont Supreme Court rules that the state's marriage statutes which discriminated against gays were unconstitutional. In 2000, the legislature passed a ground-breaking measure authorizing the creation of 'civil unions' for gay couples. Was this a success for gays, and how did it occur?
Morality Matters, by Roger Trigg
Does morality matter? It's difficult to see how it wouldn't, but in an age when relativism has gained such widespread currency that may not be the case. After all, if every moral choice is equally valid, how can moral choices really matter at all? That isn't very credible, though, which is a good reason to doubt the validity of relativism
A Rebel to His Last Breath: Joseph McCabe and Rationalism
Just who was Joseph McCabe? Many freethinkers and atheists are familiar with the name, and quite a few have read at least a couple of his many works. But how many really know anything about him - where he came from, what his views were like, etc.? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is "not many," but this recent book by Bill Cooke should help remedy that situation.
GOD.com: A Deity for the New Millennium, by John A. Henderson
Most of the religions we have today were created thousands of years ago when humans lived very different sorts of lives. Granted, we haven't evolved much biologically in that time, but culturally and socially we have changed a great deal. This may go a long way to explain how and why religion tends to be more a force for violence in the modern world than a force for peace. Should we perhaps create new religions which meet the needs of humans today?
Hitler's Justice: The Courts of the Third Reich, by Ingo Muller
Leaders of the Third Reich were put on trial after World War II, with the argument being that the Nazi government acted in a criminal manner. Within Germany, however, those institutions responsible for punishing crime and upholding justice were themselves integral components of the Nazi machine. Without the active and even eager complicity of lawyers, judges, professors, and everyone else involved with criminal justice, the injustices of the Third Reich might never have happened.
Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage
Debates about the legalization of gay marriage have forced society to take a closer look at the institution of marriage itself. Opponents of gay marriage insist that it must be preserved in its traditional form, but their arguments are completely ahistorical. Marriage has changed dramatically over the centuries, with some of the most significant changes occurring in the past one or two hundred years.
The Death and Afterlife Book: The Encyclopedia of Death, Near Death
When we die, is that it? Is that the end, or is there some form of 'life' after our physical death? Most people and most religions have believed in some form of afterlife - but what exactly have they believed and why?
Government vs. Erotica: The Siege of Adam and Eve, by Philip D. Harvey
Should the government have the power to regulate private sexual conduct - and if so, how far should that power reach? When a single right, like free speech, is ignored or restricted by the government, there will almost invariably follow infringements upon other liberties. This is because none of our rights stands completely alone: they are all interconnected aspects of what being a free citizen means.
Where Ghosts Walked: Munich's Road to the Third Reich, by David Clay Large
Adolf Hitler was born and raised in Austria. After he became Chancellor of Germany, the capitol of the nation remained in Berlin. The capital of his Nazi movement, however, was neither in Austria nor Berlin -- it was in Munich, the capitol of conservative, Catholic Bavaria. Neither the region's traditional Catholicism nor the city's avant garde, bohemian atmosphere appear to be conducive to the rise of Nazis, but that's precisely why the connections must be studied.
The Church Enslaved: A Spirituality For Racial Reconciliation
One of the most significant aspects of American Christianity which no one wants to talk about, much less seriously engage, is the legacy of racism, slavery, and segregation. Too often people act as though it was simply a part of American culture and politics, detached from the Christian experience; yet the truth is that defenses of racism have been integral to Christian churches for centuries. Ignoring this requires misrepresenting American Christianity itself.
Spiritual Clarity, by Jackie Wellman
The popularity of religion is undeniable, but why does religion have such a hold on people, and is its appeal justified? Many try to better understand the nature of religion and whether there is anything of substance behind the curtain - but not enough, frankly. Most people seem content to accept what religious leaders tell them and don't invest serious effort in questioning traditional beliefs.
Hitler’s Prisons: Legal Terror in Nazi Germany, by Nikolaus Wachsmann
When most people think of imprisonment in the Nazi Germany, they probably imagine concentration camps - and they are justifiably an icon of the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis. At the same time, though, far more people were held in regular prisons than in concentration camps, so their significance in German life was far greater. Too much attention on the concentration camps and too little attention on the prisons has obscured important aspects of law and justice in Nazi Germany.