What's New Archive ● 2001 ● December
December 30, 2001
Added "A Christmas Conversation" by Brandon Seger to the Agora section of the Kiosk.Atheists don't celebrate Christmas, right? Not necessarily, as a theist discovers when he engages in discourse with a nonbeliever, who celebrates a secular winter solstice.
December 26, 2001
Added "Mr. Bayes and the true nature of scientific hypotheses" by Massimo Pigliucci to the Opinions section of the Kiosk.Professor Pigliucci describes why a Bayesian description of the scientific enterprise -- while not devoid of problems and critics -- is revealing itself to be a tantalizing tool for both scientists, in their everyday practice, and for philosophers, as a more realistic way of thinking about science as a process.
December 24, 2001
Added "The Evolving Destruction of the Female" by William Edelen to the Agora section of the Kiosk.In my last column I wrote of the sex change from 25,000 years of female Goddesses to the male God of the sword, and of the fanatic zeal of Paul and the early Christian cult to destroy the female. The destruction of the female Goddesses were built into the dogmas and laws of the three religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.Added "A Zen Jesus for Christmas" by William Edelen to the Agora section of the Kiosk.
In 1945 an Arab peasant in the upper Egyptian desert near Nag Hammadi made a spectacular discovery. Buried in earthenware were 52 papyrus texts, some dating from the beginning of the Christian era and presenting a Jesus who said things that could have come out of the mouth of a Zen Master, or even the Buddha himself.Added "The Christ Myth and Solstice" by William Edelen to the Agora section of the Kiosk.
I like knowing where our celebrations fit into the large picture of our human family. I like knowing that the quest for religious literacy is finally finding its way into our high school classrooms. I like knowing that the traditional Christmas stories are today being taught as mythology in my grandsons class in Northern California.Added "The Children of Winter" by William Edelen to the Agora section of the Kiosk.
"If I have stopped only ONE heart from breaking, I shall not have lived in vain." wrote Emily Dickinson.In this Christmas and Solstice season and throughout the coming year may our hearts be open for that one other heart that we might keep from breaking ... and then this season will not have come ... and gone ... in vain.
December 18, 2001
Added "FRODO, HARRY, AND GOD ... In the Battle of Good & Evil" by Amanda Chesworth as our current Feature.The recent movie release by Warner Brothers of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone has led to a resurrection of harsh criticism from the Christian right. Perhaps due to the overlapping movie release of the first book in J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, comparisons are being drawn between the two works of fiction and their respective authors.
December 16, 2001
Added "Swinburne's Explanation of the Universe" by Quentin SmithSmith reviews Swinburne's book, Is There a God?.Updated the Internet Infidels Call for Papers by soliciting the following papers:
- Review of HarryPotter and the Bible by Richard Abanes. Horizon, 2001. Pp $11.99 (Paper)
- Do extraodinary claims require extraordinary evidence? Many skeptics think so. We're interested in publishing a reply by a theist who disagrees.
December 15, 2001
Added "Free of the Biblical God" by William Edelen to the Agora section of the Kiosk.Blessed are the Atheists, Agnostics, Deists, Mystics, Humanists, Free Thinkers, Taoist, Buddhist and all others who do not have an archaic, primitive God in their mind/brains.Added "The Torpid, Mindless Mass" by William Edelen to the Agora section of the Kiosk.
I was asked to explore Carl Jung's question: "Why are so many millions willing and eager to turn their lives over to outside authorities?"Added "No Faith in PBS" by Steven Mahone to the Agora section of the Kiosk.
Focus on the Family president James Dobson recently described the eight-hour evolution series shown on PBS as "pure, unadulterated propaganda," and claimed it was "anti-Christian" in its intent.Added "The Female Supreme Being ... The Goddess" by William Edelen to the Agora section of the Kiosk.
At first, in primal times, there was only the forces of nature and the unknown power behind it all. Gradually there evolved the concept of a Supreme Being, a female, a She, a Goddess who created the Universe and all of its laws. She was the ruler of Nature, Fate, Time, Eternity, Truth, Wisdom, Justice, Love, Birth and Death. .And so, for 25,000 years there was only the Goddess.
December 07, 2001
Added "Biblical law" Attorney Withdraws Name to the Agora section of the Kiosk."Biblical law" attorney withdraws his name from consideration for National Labor Relations BoardAdded "Ashcroft and the Religious Right" to the Agora section of the Kiosk.
AHA believes Ashcroft pushing his extreme personal religious agenda.
December 06, 2001
Added "The Secular Web in the News...Sort of" (2001) by Richard Carrier.We don't seem to win much notice in the press, but when we do, its good press. Carrier surveys the few instances he could find. Some are quite interesting.
See "What's New? " for past months.