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Religion 101

A sizable proportion of the American public in general — which, of course, includes a correspondingly sizable proportion of the community college students who enroll in my world religions classes each semester — evidently believes that creationism and evolution are on roughly equal footing, as more or less evenly matched opponents in the scientific (not…

A surprising number of students who enter my world religions classes every semester seem to have the idea that the United States is a “Christian nation.” It isn’t. Now, we must of course be careful to clearly define our terms here. If we are simply talking about population statistics, then it is certainly true that…

Today is January 1, 2013, otherwise known as New Years Day. The beginning of a brand new year (as much of the world reckons time and date), today is the day we throw away our old 2012 calendars and open our new 2013 calendars. It’s also a day when some of us make “resolutions” to…

In my previous blog, I clarified the difference between the Immaculate Conception and the Virgin Birth (they’re by no means the same thing at all, despite widespread misconception and misuse of the two terms as if they were synonymous). The Immaculate Conception is one thing; the Virgin Birth is simply something entirely different altogether. There’s…

Yesterday was Christmas. Christmas is, of course, the Christian religious holiday that commemorates the birth of Christ, which may have to do with why this particular religious misunderstanding just happened to pop into my mind. Or it might have popped into my mind because I heard the term “Immaculate Conception” misused, as if it were…

As I write, tomorrow (December 25) is Christmas, one of the most important holidays on the Christian religious calendar; the term itself derives from the phrase “Christ’s Mass.” The holiday (or “holy day”) is widely celebrated, even among non-Christians, as a festive annual occasion of gift giving, good will, and general merriment. Secular observances of…

Today (Friday, December 21, 2012) is the date of the winter solstice within the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, by contrast, today is the date of the summer solstice. Solstices have long been observed as important seasonal festivals in many traditional cultures. Accordingly, Dec 21 being a solstice day, today is also a significant…

The Internet has been abuzz for quite some time now regarding the infamous Mayan calendar, and its notorious terminal date of December 21, 2012. Since that ominous date is now (as I write) looming before us as the day after tomorrow, the online and wider media buzz is growing louder than ever. The general idea,…

Back in July of this year, I posted a rather lengthy blog entry entitled “The Colorado Shooter & The Problem of Evil.” It reflected upon how a gunman who had opened fire in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, killing 12 people and wounding 58 others, served as a vivid and painful reminder of the degree…

The Buddhist world subdivides into three major branches: Theravada, Mayahana, and Vajrayana. In my previous post, I provided a short thumbnail sketch of what Theravada Buddhists believe and practice. Now, we’ll finish painting the broad Buddhist picture with brief portraits of the other two major Buddhist branches. Mahayana (“Greater Vehicle”) Buddhism is predominant throughout East Asia: China, Korea,…
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