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.
Continue reading "Science vs. Faith: Crux of the Matter" »
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:
Continue reading "Truth, Religion & Compromise?" »
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.
Continue reading "Muslim leaders in India demonstrate enlightened values" »
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....
Continue reading "Slain Terrorists Denied Stairway to Heaven " »
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.
Continue reading "'Tis Religion..." »
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:
Continue reading "Multiculturalism's Real Victims " »
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:
Continue reading "Carbon & Its Conceited" »