Bizarre. Mystifying. Irrational. That's what religion is. And that's also how I look upon the freak-out that erupted after the Obama administration required religious organizations (colleges, hospitals, etc.) which serve the general public to cover contraception, just like others who...
I liked this post, "My Faith: What people talk about before they die," even though it's on CNN's belief blog. It shows that what's important to people isn't dogma, but life as it's lived with loved ones. We don't live...
Does happiness need to be deserved to be genuine? Here's one person, virtuous, moral, ethical. She's kind and generous. Volunteers at her kid's school. Helps out at the homeless shelter. Prays, meditates, goes to church. All this do-gooding and God-praising...
Believers in God who follow modern science will be heartened by a recent article in New Scientist, "Why physicists can't avoid a creation event." While many of us may be OK with the idea of the big bang simply starting...
I gave it my best try last night -- arguing that we humans don't have free will, though it seems ever so obvious that we do. (Of course, it also seems obvious that the sun goes around the Earth, which...
Oh, the unfairness of it all. I really like being alive. Yet one day I'll be dead. Gone. Nonexistent. Forever unconscious. Damn it, damn it, damn it! Who the hell arranged the cosmos in this fucked-up fashion?! I want to...
Everybody wants to be something. That's so much better than being nothing. (Assuming "nothing" is something you can be.) It seems like I'm some sort of self. After all, I'm fond of saying stuff like "Personally, I think..." and "When...
Karma... a word that both is eminently scientific, and also annoyingly religious. I've spent a lot of time exploring both meanings of karma. Ever since I was a kid I've enjoyed learning about science. In my childhood room I set...
Via an email, someone just reminded me about a source of ageless wisdom that I'd tapped into some years ago, but had forgotten about: Puppetji. His socksang on "Why Are We Here?" pretty much says it all. Certainly more entertainingly...
What gives life meaning? Why do we get out of bed in the morning rather than pulling the covers over our head and curling up in existential despair? Where are we to look for purposes, goals, things to do? God...
I used to believe that underneath all the obvious differences between religions, there was a difficult-to-discern common core. Mysticism was what united Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Sikhism, and other faiths. God is One. Humans have, or rather are,...
A few days ago I got an email from someone who pointed out that, in a recent blog post comment, I'd said: "Karma, reincarnation, rebirth -- no, not solid at all, as evidence is lacking for these ideas." My correspondent...
Here's some encouraging churchless news: USA Today reports "For many, 'Losing my religion' isn't just a song: it's life." Helton, 28, and Dohm, 54, aren't atheists, either. They simply shrug off God, religion, heaven or the ever-trendy search-for-meaning and/or purpose....
Last night I took advantage of my wife being out of town to stream, through Amazon, an action movie that I've wanted to see for a long time: The Bourne Identity (2002). My wife isn't big on action flicks and...
Today is apocalyptic. God-loving quarterback Tim Tebow and his Denver Broncos play Tom Brady's New England Patriots in an important NFL playoff game. This isn't only a football game. It's a battle with cosmic significance. Will in-your-face, obnoxious, Christian "Tebowing"...
I used to think that the Sant Mat spirituality I followed for many years (in the guise of Radha Soami Satsang Beas) was truly a "science of the soul." Sure, I knew that Sant Mat and Sikhism were similar, but...
Oh, the stories I tell myself. As do you. As does everybody. We wouldn't be human if we weren't story tellers. I wake up in the morning. Almost immediately I recollect the basic narrative of my life. I live in...
The world needs a new religion. The ones we have are outdated. Every major religion -- Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism -- dates from prescientific days. Apple comes up with a new and improved iPhone every year or so. Why...
I like Tim Tebow. Never met the Denver Bronco's quarterback, but when I've seen him interviewed on TV (Jon Stewart talked with him on The Daily Show fairly recently) Tebow comes across as humble and unassuming. But that's when he...
Wow, I've just wasted ten minutes of my life watching this ridiculousness. It's called Man dies, comes back to life, what he saw. Watch it at your peril. Somehow 2,931,978 people have, likely being sucked into doing so by a...
Physicist Brian Greene has ably taken on Carl Sagan's role as TV's best popularizer of science. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed his recent "Fabric of the Cosmos" series on PBS. I've read his book by the same name, as...
Yesterday some friends and I talked about our New Year's resolutions. The conversation didn't last long. We agreed there wasn't any point to making resolutions, since we never followed them. That partly explains why my resolution for making spiritual progress...
Wonder. It's well, wonderful. What else could wonder be? Actually, quite a bit. That's a big part of the reason why wonder is wonderful, and why I'm wishing that for you, and for me, next year will be filled with...
Why is it that religious true believers are so upset when someone leaves their chosen faith? This confuses me, because many, if not most, members of a religion are converted -- either from a different religion or from unbelief. So...
Catholics want to discriminate against gays with taxpayer money. Ultra-Orthodox Jews yell and spit at a 8 year old girl because she's merely Orthodox.
Every book I got for Christmas this year was just what I wanted, including The Joy of Secularism: 11 Essays for How We Live Now. That didn't surprise me. I'd ordered each myself, then gave them to my wife to...
My wife and I enjoy Christmas, even though we don't believe in Christ. Every year we like to ponder how the preceding twelve months have gone for us, coming up with an overarchng theme. For 2011, it's unreal. Check out...
Late last night, while changing channels on our TV, I happened across a midnight mass that was being broadcast on ABC. After watching for a few minutes my wife and I were struck by how really weird the church service...
Fans of nothingness (I'm one, and enjoy the company of Nothing'arians, but it's difficult to organize a fan club around nothing) should enjoy this letter in a recent issue of New Scientist. It's in response to a special issue on...
Oh, man, this has got to be a terrific post now that I've come up with that title. It's almost Christmas, so naturally my thoughts are turning toward utterly unreligious stuff. But I'm still getting signs from the universe. At...