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guillaumeb

guillaumeb's Journal
guillaumeb's Journal
April 29, 2017

Trump is the best ever at.............

What do you think?

April 28, 2017

Bill McKibben talks faith on his way to the Climate March

From the article:

WASHINGTON (RNS) Bill McKibben, who some call the world’s most famous environmentalist, headlines the People’s Climate March on the National Mall this Saturday (April 29), where he will forcefully make the case — as he has been doing for decades — that the Earth hangs in the balance...........

But even fans of McKibben may not know that the founder of the 350.org environmental nonprofit is also a religious man — a churchgoing former Sunday school teacher who has written passionately and extensively about the spiritual underpinnings of his drive to save the planet...........



to read more:

http://religionnews.com/2017/04/28/bill-mckibben-talks-faith-on-his-way-to-the-climate-march/
April 27, 2017

Top Democrats, Bernie Sanders Defend Anti-Abortion Members Of Their Party

From the article:

WASHINGTON ― Top Democratic leaders said Sunday that their party welcomes people who are pro-life, despite the party being strongly defined by its support for abortion rights.......

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said it’s fine if an elected Democratic official personally opposes abortion, but from a policy standpoint, he or she must support a woman’s right to choose.........

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) went to Omaha last week to rally for Heath Mello, who is trying to unseat the city’s current GOP mayor. He said Sunday that he didn’t think the intraparty scuffle was that big of a deal.
“I have a 100 percent lifetime pro-choice voting record,” Sanders said on CBS’ “Face The Nation.”


So in the name of growing the Party, some Democrats are willing to accept that not every Democrat personally agrees with every position, but every Democrat should be willing to promote official Democratic platform policy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democrats-pro-life_us_58fcd709e4b06b9cb917a7ee
April 27, 2017

More education means less religious commitment unless you're Christian

From the article:

(RNS) It’s a popular belief: The more educated a person is, the less religious he or she likely will be.
And it’s mostly right, according to a new analysis of Pew Research Center surveys released Wednesday (April 26)........

But there are exceptions.
The “big however,” Smith said, is that Christians — the majority (71 percent) of American adults — don’t seem to fit the pattern at all.......

Christians with higher levels of education (70 percent, combining all measures) appear to be just as religious as those with less schooling (73 percent of those with some college and 71 percent with some high school), according to the analysis


Interesting findings.

To read more:

http://religionnews.com/2017/04/26/more-education-means-less-religious-commitment-unless-youre-christian/
April 27, 2017

How our beliefs influence how we perceive things:

There is a quote from Einstein that is used in another post here. (Co-incidentally, it is my post.) The quote is as follows:

I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.


What was Einstein saying?

First, I believe his first phrase, "in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one" clearly states that Einstein does not believe in the concept of a personal deity. It is not a rejection of the concept of a deity, it is simply a rejection of a personal relationship with a deity.

Second, when Einstein says, " but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist " he seems to be speaking about those atheists who preach their beliefs as strongly as many theists. Those like Dawkins, and Sagan, and Hitchens, those who feel that atheism for them is not just a rejection of theism, but must also include an attack on theism.

Finally, when Einstein concludes, "I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.", he is not saying that he has reached a verdict on the matter, he is saying that, given the limitations of our human intellect, he cannot make a pronouncement.
April 27, 2017

United Methodists to hold special session on LGBTQ inclusion in 2019

From the article:

(RNS) The United Methodist Church will hold a special session of its General Conference to settle questions of LGBTQ inclusion that have vexed the global denomination for years.


For more:

http://religionnews.com/2017/04/25/united-methodists-to-hold-special-session-on-lgbtq-inclusion-in-2019/

One hopes that a message of inclusion and love consistent with the admonition to "do unto others..." will inspire the attendees to vote for diversity and basic human rights.
April 27, 2017

The far right goes on a rampage in Berkeley

From the article:

THE LIBERAL San Francisco Bay Area city of Berkeley has become the prime target for violent far-right individuals and organizations emboldened by the reign of Donald Trump.
Their latest provocation on April 15 shows the physical threat that the far right represents as it gains confidence--and underlines the urgent need for all those who oppose bigotry and reaction to mobilize in large numbers to show that the racists will be opposed whenever they try to claim the streets.


And the corporate media is only too quick to speak about liberal intolerance and the First Amendment that they claim to hold sacred when Coulter and Milo are the subject of protests.

Read more:
https://socialistworker.org/2017/04/25/far-right-goes-on-a-rampage-in-berkeley
April 27, 2017

Einsteins faith and ours

From the very interesting article:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) Kurt Vonnegut believed that Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, as an intellectual contribution for the benefit of humanity, could be compellingly paired with another compact formula as radical and revolutionary as any scientific discovery.
Also the product of Jewish thought, it comes from the peasant-artisan Jesus of Nazareth, and it goes like this: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”


True enough. And were the history of religion the sad tale of countless souls submitting sadly to the reigning dogmas of their times and places, the question would be settled. Einstein was in no way religious. He was, in fact, religion’s opposite. But what if his own witness is a model for thinking these matters through more carefully?



Einstein’s faith seems to have borne a deep resemblance to that of one of his heroes, Baruch Spinoza, the 17th-century Jewish philosopher and lens-grinder who was famously unwilling to credit a definitive distinction between God and nature. When it comes to seemingly ultimate questions that won’t submit to proofs, both men viewed relentless humility as the only posture befitting good faith. Einstein was known to accept, from those who chose to affix it, the label of agnostic, but he bristled at the thought of being pushy about it: “I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.”


An attitude of humility, as Einstein stated, recognizes that humans do not have the intellectual capacity to recognize everything..............even if the human in question has an IQ above 120 or so.

To read more:
http://religionnews.com/2017/04/24/einsteins-faith-and-ours/
April 27, 2017

Californias weed nuns on a mission to heal with cannabis

From the article:

MERCED, Calif. (Reuters) The Sisters of the Valley, California’s self-ordained “weed nuns,” are on a mission to heal and empower women with their cannabis products......

“We’re against religion, so we’re not a religion. We consider ourselves Beguine revivalists, and we reach back to pre-Christian practices,” said 58-year-old Sister Kate, who founded the sisterhood in 2014.


To read more:

http://religionnews.com/2017/04/20/californias-weed-nuns-on-a-mission-to-heal-with-cannabis/
April 26, 2017

You just might be a Trump voter:

If you think a slogan is the same as a plan.........................you just might be a Trump voter.

If you think 6 bankruptcies and being saved repeatedly by a rich daddy makes a good businessman...................you just might be a Trump voter.


Please feel free to add more.

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Member since: Mon Jan 26, 2015, 06:15 PM
Number of posts: 42,641

About guillaumeb

bilingual, bipedal homo sapien
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