Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness

Science vs. Faith: Crux of the Matter

by Anurag Wadehra

Following up on Reena's post, I noticed another article by Jerry Coyne in Edge called Does Empirical Nature of Science Contradict Revelatory Nature of Faith? . A lot of smart folks have commented on this debate, but none come close to the crux of the matter as eloquently as the post by Steven Pinker. He correctly identifies and eloquently defends REASON as the root of matter.

Science cannot be walled off from other forms of belief. That includes meaning and morality – reason connects them all. The same standards of evidence that rule out unparisimonious, unfalsifiable, or empirically refuted hypotheses in science also rule out crackpot conspiracy theories, totalizing ideologies, and toxic policy nostrums. Moral systems depend on factual beliefs, informed by psychology and biology, about what makes human beings suffer or prosper. They depend on standards of logical consistency that make it possible to apply the principle of fairness.

Truth, Religion & Compromise?

by Reena Kapoor

Since Thursday is Charles Darwin's 100th birthday I thought this article is apropos (he was born on February 12, 1809). An excellent article, Seeing and Believing by Jerry Coyne in TNR sent by a friend on the efforts to reconcile faith and science - and why that reconciliation is fundamentally doomed.  If you think this is a non-issue, read this:

Voices of Reason

by Reena Kapoor

I want to point you to an excellent letter in the WSJ today speaking about liberalism and Islam by a Rahfat Hussain of Minneapolis (I only point to the first letter in this link).  The letter also offers an oft-missed insight about the impact of the broader culture (whether it be Indian or Arabic) on the practice of religion.  Western thinkers ought to remember and take into account such nuance before they issue quick analyses on concepts such as the "culture of Islam". Also individual voices of reason can be anywhere - one just has to look a little more carefully.  This has always been true and will always be so.

India & Secularism

by Reena Kapoor

An excellent analysis India's Dangerous Divide by Ramachandra Guha in WSJ today outlining the history and current challenges faced by India as a secular nation espcially vis-a-vis its Muslim minorty; such a minority which is 150 millions strong presents unique challenges (because of the bloody history of partition of India into India and Pakistan in 1947 on the sole basis of religion, and the continued exploitation of communal loyalties by India's ugly politicians) and yet is an unprecedented opportunity for India to set an example for the world! Muslim and Hindu populations in India have been manipulated by the two major political parties (known as Congress and BJP) for votes; Congress has largely done this by appeasing the most radical elements among the Muslim minority and the latter by fanning fanatical elements among Hindus.  Both wrong and both bad for India -- and for the cause of peace everywhere. What will India choose?

Muslim leaders in India demonstrate enlightened values

by Reena Kapoor

Following Anurag's post below, I wanted to post another link Imams call for black ribbons on Bakr-Eid from New Delhi along the same lines. Islamic religious leaders in India are showing uncommon courage and good sense and are setting an unprecedented example for the world. Here is what they said:

"We are deeply aggrieved by the loss of human lives and especially by the brutal killing of Jews," they said in a statement.

Slain Terrorists Denied Stairway to Heaven

by Anurag Wadehra

How we respond, as individuals, to a crisis reveals our character. How we react, as a community, to a crisis reveals our ethos: what a group will stand for and fight against. In this light, here is a profound and symbolic gesture by the Mumbai Muslim community, as reported by NDTV (Indian media).

Musilm organizations in Mumbai deny burial for slain terrorists....

Rename it Surrealand?

by Reena Kapoor

This article (Switzerland's Green Power Revolution...) in the WSJ today talked about how Switzerland now has a constitutional amendment that mandates that geneticists conduct their research without trampling on a plant's dignity. So plant geneticists now have to first debate the finer points of plant dignity with ethicists before they can get permission to embark on any research.

One scientist correctly asked: "Where does it stop?" asks Yves Poirier, a molecular biologist at the laboratory of plant biotechnology at the University of Lausanne. "Should we now defend the dignity of microbes and viruses?" 

BUT that is when it got really bizzare...

Seeking clarity, Dr. Poirier recently invited the head of the Swiss ethics panel to his university. In their public discussion, Dr. Poirier said the new rules are flawed because decades of traditional plant breeding had led to widely available sterile fruit, such as seedless grapes. Things took a surreal turn when it was disclosed that some panel members believe plants have feelings, Dr. Poirier says.

Read on to discover there is indeed no limit to human lunacy!

'Tis Religion...

by Reena Kapoor

According to this article Kids Your time is Up, Australian Broadcasting company is promoting a Global Warming Game which allows kids to calculate by what age they should be dead in order to avoid leaving a carbon footprint.  Here is what the article says...

Watch out, Australians. According to the state-funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), most of you have overstayed your welcome on this good earth.

The colorful flash site, called Planet Slayer starts with a cartoon called the "Adventures of Greena" and ends by suggesting to vulnerable children that they are pigs whose very existence has a horrible impact on the global environment.

Multiculturalism's Real Victims

by Reena Kapoor 

A shocking story in the New York Post last week by John P. Avlon about an "honor killing" in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia where a Pakistani named Chaudhry Rashid strangled his 25-year-old daughter Sandeela Kanwal with a Bungee cord in her bedroom because she wanted to end her arranged marriage. The incident is shocking but what's really unconscionable is the lack of outrage and minimal coverage it is receiving. The American left's inane commitment to multiculturalism and its concomitant moral relativism has predictably resulted in a outrageous reluctance to pass judgment on another culture.  As Avlon correctly points out:

Carbon & Its Conceited

by Reena Kapoor

Peter Huber's article The Carbon Curtain in Forbes talks about the uselessness of climate modeling computers which may be paid, at least intellectual, heed in Hollywood, Stockholm, Brussels and even some parts of Washington but are simply being ignored by the rest of the world. The modelers and their computers have failed to convince the majority of people - even in environmentally "enlightened" nations - to radically alter their lifestyle. Peter Huber points us to the work of one very knowledgeable energy analyst, Vinod K. Dar, (who runs Dar & Company), a consultant to the energy industry, in Bethesda, Md who points to much reason for doubts about global warming. But more importantly Mr. Dar talks about the divide in climate belief-systems: