Science and the Sacred

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a...

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:25:20 -0400

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a Higher Power? Paint your picture of God by taking the Painting God Project Survey and help three George Mason University students on a research project.

Thanks to all who have participated in the project so far. We are less than 30 surveys away from our goal of 100! Help us reach 100 surveys by spreading the word!

Access survey here:

http://tinyurl.com/a732jku

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a...

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 10:58:31 -0500

Thanks to all who have participated in the project so far. We are less than 30 surveys away from our goal of 100! Help us reach 100 surveys by spreading the word!

Access survey here:

http://tinyurl.com/a732jku

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a...

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:32:09 -0500

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a Higher Power? Paint your picture of God by taking the Painting God Project Survey and help three George Mason University students on a research project.

Access survey here:
http://tinyurl.com/a732jku

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:18:02 -0500

‎”For since men are made happy by the acquisition of...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 12:23:16 -0500

‎”For since men are made happy by the acquisition of happiness, but happiness is itself a divinity, it is obvious that they are made happy by the acquisition of divinity. But as by the acquisition of justice they become just, or by the acquisition of wisdom, wise, so by the same argument they must, when they have acquired divinity, become gods. Therefore, every happy man is a god, though by nature God is one only: but nothing prevents there being as many as you like by participation…
it must be confessed that happiness is itself God.” -Boethius (ca. 480– 525 AD)

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a Higher Power?
Take the Painting God Project Survey and help three George Mason University students collect data on an exciting new global trend.

Access Survey here:
http://tinyurl.com/a732jku

‎”The image of God is found essentially and personally in...

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 11:44:02 -0500

‎”The image of God is found essentially and personally in all mankind. Each possesses it whole, entire and undivided, and all together not more than one alone.” -Ruysbroeck

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a Higher Power? Take the Painting God Project survey and help 3 George Mason University students collect data on an exciting development in the world of religion and spirituality! Feel free to spread the survey to as many people as possible. We are aiming for 100 responses!

Access survey here:
http://tinyurl.com/a732jku

‎”There are as many ways of worship as there are ways of...

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 09:24:25 -0500

‎”There are as many ways of worship as there are ways of being human.” - Alan Wolfe

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a Higher Power? Take the Painting God Project survey and help 3 George Mason University Students collect data for a research project! Feel free to spread the survey. We are aiming for over 100 responses. Thanks!

Access survey here:
http://tinyurl.com/a732jku

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:14:10 -0500

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a Higher Power? Take the Painting God Project survey and help 3 George Mason University students collect data for a research project!

Access survey here:
http://tinyurl.com/a732jku

The Painting God Project Survey

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:41:58 -0500

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in God or a Higher Power? Take the Painting God Project survey and help 3 George Mason University students collect data for a research project. Feel free to spread the survey. We are aiming for over 100 responses!!!

Access survey here:
http://tinyurl.com/a732jku

Apple bans drone-awareness iPhone app

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:10:40 -0400

For the frequency with which the United States launches drone strikes abroad, often killing civilians as a result, write-ups in the mainstream news aren’t always easy to spot. A smartphone developer wants to change that, but Apple isn’t interested.

Drones+, the latest endeavor from Brooklyn-based app developer Josh Begley, provides information from real and reputable news sources about executions conducted by unmanned, remote-controlled aircraft from high in the sky, the likes of which has become a hallmark of America’s wars abroad and has come with a daunting tally of deaths, both intended and collateral. At least it would do as much, that is, if Apple ever allows it to be available to iPhone users.

http://rt.com/usa/news/app-begley-drone-strikes-967/

Atheist to Give Prayer at Tulsa City Council Meeting

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 13:32:11 -0400

Atheist to Give Prayer at Tulsa City Council Meeting

A Response to Kant's What is Enlightenment? And a Call for Scholars to Argue and Disobey

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 11:13:00 -0400

In his essay, What is Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant put forth the idea that one should “argue as much as you like, and about what you like, but obey!” Kant believed that in our everyday lives one should obey orders and fulfill their duties, but when one leaves this civic arena and dons the robe of the scholar they should be able to comment on and criticize any aspect of their work, or even society at large, without fear of punishment or condemnation. Kant saw this protective veil of the scholar as providing a peaceful path toward Enlightenment, believing that “the public use of one’s reason must be free at all times, and this alone can bring enlightenment to mankind.”

However, what is to be done when the cry of the scholar falls on deaf ears, or worse, is silenced with oppression or violence? In China, 82 year old retired economist Mao Yushi thought he would be protected by the robe of the scholar when he set out to critique Chairman Mao in an essay, but instead received a vicious backlash from the Chinese people and government. Yushi said, “Of course, I never thought it would cause such a strong backlash. I’m a scholar. I write what I think, without really thinking about the consequences.” In more liberal countries like the U.S., scholars often meet the same opposition, and discover that the powers they wield often carry more bark than bite. Scholars in America cry out about the dangers of climate change while government policy barely moves an inch. Scholars from all fields of thought, from astronomy to psychology, bombard us with evidence and reason pointing to solutions to many of the world’s problems, but many of these solutions are discarded or obstructed, often thwarted by financial interests. Kant’s vision for the freedom of the scholar is certainly not alive and in practice today. Kant would say that a man like Yushi should not only be free to criticize anything he pleases as a scholar, but furthermore, those ideas, if good, should be taken into consideration by governing bodies. Instead, questioning and critiquing is suppressed all over the world for various political, economic, and cultural reasons, and Kant’s vision of enlightenment is pushed even further back into the crypts of untapped human potential.

It is times like these, Thomas Paine used to say when opening up his revolutionary pamphlets, that try men’s souls. When the cry of the scholar hits a brick wall that is being built higher and higher each day, it is not a time to argue as much as you please, but obey; it is a time to argue, and stand up to back up those arguments. It is a time to disobey. When people are struggling and starving and searching for hope, the scholar cannot remain content with simply being given the perk to complain, only to watch those complaints sit idle in the face of the destruction they seek to prevent. The scholar must fight for immediate action. The scholar must put his weight behind the people who need help now, today. There is a Chinese saying that goes, you can’t put out a nearby fire with distant water. The scholar’s voice has become an increasingly distant and shallow ocean, incapable of putting out the world’s fires. It is time for the scholar to come back to reality and drown the dry earth with rationality, reason, and compassion. It is time to argue as much as you please, and disobey. It is clear that we have not reached the enlightened pinnacle Kant envisioned, nor do I even believe I can say we are living in an Age of Enlightenment, as Kant believed he was. If anything, we are living in the Dark Age of Enlightenment. The scales are balanced and could go either way. But with the weight of the scholar behind the people, marching under the banner of Argue and Disobey, the scale will inch back toward justice, and perhaps even, toward the ever elusive Enlightened Way.

The Chicago Police Department is trying to deal with a 28-percent spike in the city's homicide total in 2012 compared to the same period last year, The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Sunday.

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 08:58:29 -0400

According to local reports, nineteen people were shot late Thursday and early Friday in Chicago. Thirteen of those were shot over a 30-minute period. Nine people were killed and 28 others were wounded. At least 17 people were shot, one fatally, from 6 p.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday alone, according to the Chicago Tribune.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/27/13500751-reports-chicago-shootings-leave-9-dead-28-wounded-since-friday-night?lite

Buying Twitter Followers

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 21:09:27 -0400

Using the StatusPeople tool, 70 percent of President Obama’s millions of Twitter followers have been identified as being either fake or inactive. 31% of Romney’s Twitter followers are also fake or inactive. Companies such as Clear Presence Media sell their clients Twitter followers for as low as a penny a follower.

http://rt.com/usa/news/twitter-obama-romney-percent-518/

The Waste Campaigns

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 09:49:09 -0400

Campaign spending on radio and television advertising has passed the $500 million mark. And about $9 out of every $10 – in total, $205 million – spent by an outside group is going to support Romney.

But those independent, swing voters Obama and Romney are aiming to woo may just be a myth, because few voters are truly up for grabs, research suggests. About one-third of Americans describe themselves as independent voters, creating a widespread impression that a large group of Americans will provide the decisive swing votes in this year’s election. But that impression is misleading, polling experts and political scientists say. Many self-described independents — close to half, according to surveys — reliably vote for one party or the other. And many true swing voters live in states, like California or Texas, where no analyst doubts the outcome in November.

So it is no surprise that Democratic pollster Mark Mellman told NPR that “Eighty percent of campaign spending is wasted.” That means $3.2 billion of the minimum estimated $4 billion of this presidential election’s campaign finances will go to waste on efforts that won’t affect the vote, according to a former presidential strategist.

What we have are political campaigns spending exorbitant sums of money that will accomplish literally nothing, when that money could go to build schools, feed the hungry, research diseases, or any number of productive and socially beneficially projects. Instead, all that time, money, and energy is poured into toxic campaigns that have no value whatsoever.

"Let’s treat this beautiful movement as if it is most important thing in the world. Because it is. It..."

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 09:33:59 -0400

“Let’s treat this beautiful movement as if it is most important thing in the world. Because it is. It really is.””

- Naomi Klein, speaking about the Occupy Movement

Shot on the front lines and meeting spaces of the Occupy...

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 09:22:31 -0400

Shot on the front lines and meeting spaces of the Occupy movement in NYC, Boston, and Washington, DC from the earliest days through the end of January 2012, American Autumn: an Occudoc is an inside looking out view of the occupy movement.

With interviews and insight from key organizers, thinkers and activists including Medea Benjamin, David Degraw, Dr. Margaret Flowers, Lee Camp, Naomi Klein, Nathan Schneider, Ashley Sanders, Vlad Teichberg, Sgt. Shamar Thomas, Dr. Cornel West, Kevin Zeese and many more, writer/ director Dennis Trainor Jr weaves commentary and a fearless style that often puts the viewer right between police and protesters.

1,000 suicides linked to hard economic times in Britain?

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 09:09:51 -0400

1,000 suicides linked to hard economic times in Britain?:

A painful economic recession, rising unemployment and biting austerity measures may have already driven more than 1,000 people in Britain to commit suicide, according to a study published on Wednesday.

The study, a so-called time-trend analysis which compared the actual number of suicides with those expected if pre-recession trends had continued, reflects findings elsewhere in Europe where suicides are also on the rise.

New Study Shows Significant Atheist Military...

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 10:13:44 -0400

New Study Shows Significant Atheist Military Population.
Findings show atheists are represented in larger numbers than any non-Christian denomination. However, there has been no commitment to reaching out to atheists and humanists in the military.

http://militaryatheists.org/news/2012/08/new-study-shows-significant-atheist-military-population/

Atheism is on the rise on a global level, international study reveals

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 09:18:00 -0400

The results of a “Religiosity and Atheism” poll conducted by WIN-Gallup International reveals that from the period 2005-2012, atheism is on the rise (3 percent increase globally) and religion is seeing a decline (9 percent decrease globally). 51,927 people from 57 countries were interviewed. The 57 countries represent more than 73 percent of the world’s population.

The press release is 25-pages long and includes a wealth of tables and statistics. Some of the highlights include:

Religiosity is higher among the poor. People in the bottom income groups are 17 percent more religious than those in top income groups, indicating that the better off we are, the less religious we become (page 3).
The top ten atheist populations, based on the percent of those who said they are “a convinced atheist,” are China, Japan, the Czech Republic, France, Korea, Rep (South), Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Iceland, Australia and Ireland (page 4).
The most religious countries are Ghana, Nigeria, Armenia, Fiji, Macedonia, Romania, Iraq, Kenya, Peru and Brazil (page 4).
Globally, those claiming to be religious dropped by 9 percent while atheism rose by 3 percent. Comparatively, there was a 22 percent drop among the Irish population claiming to be religious (page 5).
Since 2008, the top ten countries experiencing a notable decline in religiosity are Vietnam, Ireland, Switzerland, France, South Africa, Iceland, Ecuador, the United States, Canada and Austria (page 6).

http://www.goddiscussion.com/99787/atheism-is-on-the-rise-on-a-global-level-international-study-reveals-the-poor-are-the-most-religious/

Science and the Sacred

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a...

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a...

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a...

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a Higher Power? Paint your picture of God by taking the Painting God Project Survey and help three George Mason University students on a research project. Access survey here:http://tinyurl.com/a732jku

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a...

‎”For since men are made happy by the acquisition of...

‎”The image of God is found essentially and personally in...

‎”There are as many ways of worship as there are ways of...

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a...

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a Higher Power? Take the Painting God Project survey and help 3 George Mason University students collect data for a research project! Access survey here:http://tinyurl.com/a732jku

The Painting God Project Survey

Apple bans drone-awareness iPhone app

Atheist to Give Prayer at Tulsa City Council Meeting

A Response to Kant's What is Enlightenment? And a Call for Scholars to Argue and Disobey

The Chicago Police Department is trying to deal with a 28-percent spike in the city's homicide total in 2012 compared to the same period last year, The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Sunday.

Buying Twitter Followers

The Waste Campaigns

"Let’s treat this beautiful movement as if it is most important thing in the world. Because it is. It..."

Shot on the front lines and meeting spaces of the Occupy...

1,000 suicides linked to hard economic times in Britain?

New Study Shows Significant Atheist Military...

Atheism is on the rise on a global level, international study reveals

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a Higher Power? Paint your picture of God by taking the Painting God Project Survey and help three George Mason University students on a research project.

Access survey here:
http://tinyurl.com/a732jku

Unaffiliated with organized religion, but still believe in a Higher Power? Take the Painting God Project survey and help 3 George Mason University students collect data for a research project!

Access survey here:
http://tinyurl.com/a732jku