religion
Articles about religion, theology and religious organisations.
No Gods, No Masters: how the churches and politicians failed to help the Roma in Belfast
Comments on the failure of the churches and politicians to tackle racism in Belfast.
When the attacks on Roma homes in South Belfast finally ceased after a week, it wasn’t because of the actions of eager politicians or earnest church representatives. However when the Roma made the final decision, 6 days after the first attack, to leave their homes, politicians were in for the photo ops, and the churches weren’t far behind in using the crisis to promote themselves.
Down with the first word war! - The Red Menace
The Red Menace look at how the governments of Iran, Pakistan and the West have used the 1989 Salman Rushdie affair to shore up support for their own regimes.
Behind the sabre-rattling in the Rushdie affair various factions are pursuing their interests. It is difficult for us to know exactly what is going on. The Irangate scandal partly exposed the secret machinations of world diplomacy and we cannot be sure what deals are being made behind the scenes this time. Some things are clear however.
Education: the future of an illusion
Article looking at 1989 attacks by the government on the higher education system in the UK.
Despite the rhetoric about reducing "state interference" the government has a unified social policy that seeks to restructure all areas of social life in line with the changing needs of capital. Examples of the breadth of this policy include the dismantling of the NHS, the increase in the size of the British prison population and a number of changes in the education system.
Revisiting the Scopes 'Monkey Trial' - radio feature
In 1925, teacher John T. Scopes was tried in Dayton, Tennessee, for teaching evolution in a science classroom. Stephen Jay Gould pointed out a number of misconceptions relating to the trial, and radio feature this week revisited the small town that became known for one of the most famous trials in US history.
In 2008, the year that marked the 150th anniversary of Darwin and Wallace's ideas on evolution by natural selection first being presented, at least seven US states experienced legal challenges to evolution (most of which died) being taught in the science classroom, and in the past decade, many more states have seen teachers subjected to the whims of creationist lobbyists on school boards.
Islam and Science
BBC Four's 3-part series 'Islam & Science' starts tonight, and presenter, physicist Jim Al-Khalili, begins by discussing 'the language of science'.
In an article today, he also discusses the work of who he considers the 'first true scientist', al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham:
[i]without doubt, another great physicist, who is worthy of ranking up alongside Newton, is a scientist born in AD 965 in what is now Iraq who went by the name of al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham.
'The Wedge' Document - Intelligent Design exposed
In 1998, the Discovery Institute (DI), a conservative intelligent-design think-tank based in Seattle, produced the now infamous 'Wedge' document. The document was meant only for members of the DI but was leaked not long after. The Wedge describes the short and long-term goals of intelligent design advocates, not just in displacing evolution from the science curriculum in US public schools, but with the broader cultural, social, and political aim to 'reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions.'
[Originally posted on the NCSE site.]
Note - This is the text of the Discovery Institute's "Wedge Document," prepared in 1998. It lays out "the Wedge strategy" by which the newly-formed Center for Renewal of Science and Culture would promote "intelligent design" creationism.
THE WEDGE
CENTER FOR THE RENEWAL OF SCIENCE & CULTURE
INTRODUCTION
The Creation/Evolution Continuum
Physical anthropologist Eugenie Scott of the National Centre for Science Education explains the variety of beliefs relating to the origin of life and present such views as part of a continuum. Scott's work unfortunately has an over-reliance on Gould's principle of 'Non-Overlapping Magesteria' (NOMA) and typically refrains from outright criticism of non-materialist worldviews, although she is herself an atheist. This NOMA principle is used in much of the NCSE literature as an attempt to persuade religious believers than evolution poses no threat to their religious faith.
Many — if not most — Americans think of the creation and evolution controversy as a dichotomy with "creationists" on one side, and "evolutionists" on the other. This assumption all too often leads to the unfortunate conclusion that because creationists are believers in God, that evolutionists must be atheists.
Creationism in the science classroom - 29% of science teachers say 'yes'
More than a quarter of science teachers polled by Ipsos MORI think creationism should be taught in the science classroom.
Ipsos MORI reports 'Teachers Dismiss Calls For Creationism To Be Taught In School Science Lessons'.
Bauer, Marx and religion - David McLellan
McClellan discusses Bauer's critique of religion and its enduring influence on the young Marx.
The role of the Catholic Church in Yugoslavia's holocaust - Seán Mac Mathúna, 1941-1945
Historical information about Catholic priests and Muslim clerics being willing accomplices in the genocide of the Yugoslavia's Serbian, Jewish and Roma population during the Second World War.
During the Second World War in Yugoslavia, Catholic priests and Muslim clerics were willing accomplices in the genocide of the nations Serbian, Jewish and Roma population.
