Tag: Social Issues

On the way home from a trip with my niece to visit her mom (my sister) down in Louisiana in July, we routed back through New Mexico to see the celebrated Anasazi ruins of Chaco Canyon, which has been on my bucket list for some time. Punctuated by wandering cows and bugs languid in the summer heat, the road into the park is a long unpaved bumpy washboard, the result of litigious private landowners unable to reach an agreement with the Park Service on paving. Perhaps this is a blessing, for it keeps visitors to a trickle, limited to those whose curiosity to see the place overcomes worries about the resilience of their vehicle’s suspension.

It has long troubled me that the word "good" has two antonyms: "bad" and "evil." Like there isn't a more potent level of "good" to be the opposite of "evil," to stand against evil. All "good" has going for itself against evil is small, comparatively — yet somehow, not inadequate.

There's evil in the world because we're always unsatisfied.

Because people are hurt by experiences

Because people are not satisfied with being human

A new study of almost a century’s worth of data shows that the smarter you are, the less likely you are to believe in God.

The study, conducted by Miron Zuckerman, a psychologist at the University of Rochester, examined the findings of 63 earlier studies — one dating back to the 1920s — that measured intelligence and religiosity.

The dispute over dropping a beloved Christian song from a new Presbyterian hymnal has widened into a multi-denominational tussle, with Baptists joining the fray.

At issue are various Christian doctrines of the atonement, which attempt to explain why Jesus died and whether his death satisfies God’s wrath over humankind’s sinfulness.