Nineteen Sixty-four: Spot the difference...
Deconstructing the economic incompetence of The Economist when it comes to understanding the Catholic Church. TL;DR is “The Church is not Wal-Mart.” Nineteen Sixty-four: Spot the difference…
Posts in: 2012s
The church's deep pockets, the butler did it, and myths about atheism - John Allen
John Allen’s column at NCR is a fairly significant proof for the theology of the saving remnant. Essential Friday reading, every week. The church's deep pockets, the butler did it, and myths about atheism - John Allen
The New York Times’ embarrassing error
I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but I have a new Exhibit A for when I tell my students that mainstream media know nothing of religion or theology. Click the link. The New York Times’ embarrassing error
Matt Ridley: When Bad Theories Happen to Good Scientists
The origin of our tendency to confirmation bias is fairly obvious. Our brains were not built to find the truth but to make pragmatic judgments, check them cheaply and win arguments, whether we are in the right or in the wrong. Matt Ridley: When Bad Theories Happen to Good Scientists
Flying Under the Influence - By @Drunkenpredator
Every morning, the hangar doors roll open and the sunlight flares my electro-optical sensors. I drag myself onto the flight line, load up my pylons with Hellfire and Griffin missiles, and try to get some coffee into my tank before takeoff. If all goes well, I lumber into the air, loiter over some godforsaken warzone du jour, and occasionally lob weaponry at those I’m told are the enemies of the free world.
How Books Learn - Alan Jacobs
In light of this long, long history, during which the poem has had to learn so much, adapt to so many circumstances, how could it be intimidated by the rise of electronic reading? “Why should I concern myself with bits and pixels? I remember the harried scribe with his papyrus sheets. I was once a song.” How Books Learn - Alan Jacobs
What Is It to be Intellectually Humble? | Big Questions Online
Intellectual humility will be a trait of our character when we care so much about knowing, understanding, and getting to the truth of some big question that we become oblivious of how we rank, of what we are “worth” vis-à-vis the other status-striving agents in our circle. The apostle Paul says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up,” (1 Corinthians 8:1) and we might add that love of knowledge can build us up in humility.
Valuing Diversity of Ideas
Dump the stereotypes. Dave Barry and others ask if we really believe all red state residents are dumb, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, NASCAR-obsessed, gun-fondling, Bible-bullying, redneck, sweatshop tycoons who claim government doesn’t work, and then get elected and prove it; or that all blue-state residents are godless, unpatriotic, ear-pierced, Volvo-driving, latte-sucking, tofu-chomping, tax- crazed bleeding-hearts who presume people shouldn’t have to work and beg our enemies, “Please don’t hurt me.” Seek out people with different beliefs.
The Democratic Virtues of John Roberts - Ross Douthat
I have all sorts of problems with the health care bill, and I found the constitutional case against the individual mandate relatively compelling. But the solution to faulty legislation is usually better legislation, and the Supreme Court isn’t the only branch of government that’s responsible for upholding the Constitution. The specifics of Roberts’ umpiring may have left something to be desired, but given the temptations associated with his office, there’s something to be said for the fact that he let the two sides keep on playing ball.
6 Ways the iPhone Changed Higher Ed | Inside Higher Ed
The way to think about the iPhone in relation to higher ed is less as a single product but a new product category. This category, which includes Android/Google and maybe eventually the Windows 8 phones, equals smart phone plus an app ecosystem. 6 Ways the iPhone Changed Higher Ed | Inside Higher Ed