Mark R. Kelly
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Recent Posts
- Lilla: THE ONCE AND FUTURE LIBERAL
- Gladstone: THE TROUBLE WITH REALITY
- Kakutani: THE DEATH OF TRUTH
- Levitan: NOT A SCIENTIST
- Nichols, THE DEATH OF EXPERTISE
- Levitin: A FIELD GUIDE TO LIES
- Ariely: PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL
- Keen: HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE
- Lightman: SEARCHING FOR STARS ON AN ISLAND IN MAINE
- Gould: UNIVERSE IN CREATION
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Meta
Category Archives: Religion
Lightman: SEARCHING FOR STARS ON AN ISLAND IN MAINE
Alan Lightman is the best known of the three authors reviewed today; he’s published numerous books before, including the novels EINSTEIN’S DREAMS and THE DIAGNOSIS, as well as numerous volumes of essays, out of all of which I’ve only read … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Religion, Science
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Links and Comments: Formal and Intuitive Religion
Two items. First, the latest survey showing the rise of the “nones,” the younger generation for whom formal religion is losing its attraction. In Nearly Every Country, Young People Are Way Less Religious Than Adults. The pattern holds throughout most … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Religion
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Link: Wills on Carter on Ideology v. Religion
From Garry Wills’ review of Jimmy Carter’s new book Faith, in the New York Times Book Review a couple weeks ago (posted online earlier): In the ideology that the right thinks is a religion, the sin of sins is abortion, … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Religion
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Links and Comments: Storytelling; Religious Fundamentalism and Fake News; the Attraction of Conspiracy Theories
Time magazine, December 5, 2017, Jeffrey Kluger: How Telling Stories Makes Us Human [S]torytelling is a powerful means of fostering social cooperation and teaching social norms, and it pays valuable dividends to the storytellers themselves, improving their chances of being … Continue reading
Posted in Narrative, Psychology, Religion
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Tim Crane, THE MEANING OF BELIEF
Subtitled: Religion from an Atheist’s Point of View This is a small volume that appeared in 2017 and was well-reviewed in the New York Times. The author is a philosopher, and as the subtitle indicates an atheist (he denies the … Continue reading
Posted in Atheism, Book Notes, Religion
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Links and Comments: Optimists; Bible; Children
Time Magazine’s current issue is called “The Optimists,” and is edited by Bill Gates. Steven Pinker has a piece: Why We Refuse to See the Bright Side, Even Though We Should According to the latest data, people are living longer … Continue reading
Posted in Children, Culture, Human Progress, Religion
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Link and Comments: UFOs and Other Fairy Tales
No I don’t “believe” in UFOs, in the sense of believing them to be evidence of extraterrestrial visitors, because I’ve long been too familiar with the many ways human perception can go awry and of the many ways reports of … Continue reading
Posted in Psychology, Religion
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Link and Quote: Hitchens on Christmas
Slate reposts a 2008 essay by curmudgeon Christopher Hitchens: ’Tis the Season to Be Incredulous: The moral and aesthetic nightmare of Christmas. Aesthetics aside; whether Jesus existed or not, was the Son of God or not… Suppose we put the … Continue reading
Posted in Religion
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Links and Comments: Regulations; Science on Sundays; How to Talk to Someone in a Conservative Bubble
Slate: Trump’s quiet attack on the regulatory state is another part of his broader class war The conservatives’ simplistic rebellion against “regulations” will have consequences, and costs. Regulations are there for a reason. Yes, these rules and regulations might technically … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Psychology, Religion, Science
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Link and Comments: Fractured Reality
The cultural theme of this second decade of the 21st century seems to be the fracturing of consensus cultural norms, even of consensus reality, especially in the US. I’ve observed this in tandem with reading about advances in psychology, over … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Psychology, Religion
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