Episcopal Cafe – Page 428

The Halloween costume that went too far

November 1, 2008 No Comments

News reports abounded yesterday about Halloween costumes that were age-inappropriate or too “sexy.” So perhaps it wasn’t surprising that one New Jersey 8th grader was sent home to change when his costume was deemed too distracting. What caused the Associated Press to pick up the story for national circulation, however, was the fact that Alex Woinski, an honor-roll student from an interfaith family, had chosen to wear a white robe, a red sash, sandals, and a crown of thorns.

The battle over Pope Pius XII

October 26, 2008 1 Comment

Eight years ago, when Pope John Paul II prayed at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, there seemed to be a new level of trust between Roman Catholics and Jews. But so heavy is the historical baggage that the relationship still creaks under the strain. The latest problem is a nasty flare-up in an old argument over the role of Pius XII, who was pope during the second world war. Was he a hero who deserves to be beatified, or was he, as some Jews say, guilty of neglectful silence?

Putting the Bailout in perspective

October 26, 2008 No Comments

Nearly £2 trillion has been pledged to stabilise the banking system and start the flow of credit again. This is nearly 36 times the aid sent by the richest nations of the world to the poorest every year, and 190 times the gross domestic product of the whole of Ethiopia. We are, it seems, as profligate when it comes to solving our own problems as we are miserly when it comes to solving other people’s.

Why we can’t imagine death

October 26, 2008 3 Comments

People in every culture believe in an afterlife of some kind or, at the very least, are unsure about what happens to the mind at death. My psychological research has led me to believe that these irrational beliefs, rather than resulting from religion or serving to protect us from the terror of inexistence, are an inevitable by-product of self-consciousness. Because we have never experienced a lack of consciousness, we cannot imagine what it will feel like to be dead. In fact, it won’t feel like anything—and therein lies the problem.

Why we believe

October 26, 2008 No Comments

Our greatest fear is annihilation, not physical death, necessarily, but annihilation as a person. It is the desire to avoid this that motivates us throughout our lives. For some, religion is the answer, because it tends to suggest quite straightforwardly that life carries on after death.

The coexistence of God and evolution

October 25, 2008 1 Comment

The Washington Post reviews three new titles advancing the case for faith-based belief in evolution in tomorrow’s Book World: Thank God for Evolution, by Michael Dowd; The Faith of Scientists, edited by Nancy K. Frankenberry; and Saving Darwin, by Karl W. Giberson.

Cheers for Restoration

October 25, 2008 No Comments

The Parish Church of St. Guthlac, located in Market Deeping, is a (mostly) 15th-century landmark in the small Lincolnshire, England, town, pop. 6,200. Currently, the church is undergoing some renovations and additions, thanks to successful fund-raising efforts. But one contributor in particular is of note: the Hobshackle Brewery, which has created a beer especially for the church.

Court finds for Bennison in civil trial

October 25, 2008 No Comments

A civil court has decided that Charles E. Bennison Jr., the former bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, did not commit fraud in removing the

A rabbi on the financial meltdown

October 19, 2008 No Comments

And we are seeing also the manifestation of another of nature’s cruel aspects: the greed and folly of human nature. A society built on the acquisition of material possessions, constructed around the beliefs of those who tell us that it is possible to buy now and pay later; that what’s theirs is ours and what’s ours is theirs – but please can they have what’s theirs back now. But we can’t give it back because it was never ours in the first place.

Atheists and politics

October 19, 2008 1 Comment

As an atheist, Ms. Norman felt indignant about what she considered an intrusion of religious dogma into public policy. So she decided to hold a rally of like-minded nonbelievers, who might variously describe themselves as atheists, humanists, freethinkers or secularists. By various polls, such people accounted for nearly one-quarter of Colorado’s citizens.

The Archive

Author: Episcopal Cafe