Monthly Archives: February 2008

Somebody Here is Very Spiritually Naive

One of the characters in this video is displaying some serious spiritual naivete, a dangerous disconnection from reality. My question for you is, which one, and why? (The clip is 2 minutes, 38 seconds long. Use this alternate link if the video fails to display properly–it hasn’t always been behaving today. I have another question …

February 18, 2008 – 10:47 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged , , , | Comments (18)

If Not a Dolphin, If Not Yourself, Then Maybe a Robot

“Not tonight, dear, I have to reboot.” Artificial-intelligence researcher David Levy projected a mock image on a screen of a smiling bride in a wedding dress holding hands with a short robot groom. “Why not marry a robot? Look at this happy couple,” he said to a chuckling crowd…. In his 2007 book, Love and …

February 18, 2008 – 8:04 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Life and Choices | Tagged , | Comments (5)

Christianity and the Nature of Science

Science and Christianity–are they at odds with each other? Is science the kingly road to knowledge, and is religion a matter of mere belief? Do they speak to each other, or do they occupy (as Gould said) non-overlapping magisteria? To the heart of the point: can a Christian really take her faith seriously in this …

February 17, 2008 – 9:03 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science, Thinking Christianly | Tagged , , | Comments (31)

Facts, Values, and the Wren Chapel Cross

Gene Nichols resigned as president of the College of William and Mary–just five miles or so from my office–this week. In his resignation letter he listed four things that he thought had led to College’s decision not to renew his contract for next year, which in turn led to his stepping down. The letter includes: …

February 17, 2008 – 11:18 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

What Christ Does For Us, Part 11: Life in Christ

We saw in earlier posts in this series that Jesus Christ lived to show us the way to live, died to rescue us from the trouble we have gotten into by not living right, and rose again to defeat death and to give new life. Christians believe in eternal life for those accept it from …

February 16, 2008 – 4:07 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

Too Much Religion in the Military?

There have been complaints about overzealous proselytization–even abuse–in the U.S. military. Brian Trapp comments: The story portrays this to be a widespread phenomenon. For example, the head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation claims to have 6,800 accounts of this sort of abuse at the hands of Christians in the military. But a Pentagon spokesperson …

February 14, 2008 – 9:46 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Comments Off

Christian Carnival CCXI

Christian Carnival CCXI (211): The Valentine to God Edition, is now posted at Brain Cramps for God.

February 14, 2008 – 10:26 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Miscellanea | Comments Off

“The archbishop, the law, and the press”

Geoff Pullum of Language Log tries to unwrap what Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams really said about Sharia law in Britain: Under the headline “Rowan Williams says Sharia law unavoidable” the Telegraph newspaper says: The adoption of some aspects of Islamic Sharia law in Britain “seems unavoidable”, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said. Did he say …

February 14, 2008 – 7:27 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged , | Comments Off

Portable Alternative “Marriages”

From the Washington Times, via Family Scholars Blog, comes this news on portable polygamy: The British government has cleared the way for husbands with multiple wives to claim welfare benefits for all their partners, fueling growing controversy over the role of Islamic Shariah law in the nation’s cultural and legal framework…. a panel of four …

February 12, 2008 – 7:17 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Life and Choices | Tagged , | Comments (6)

Microphone Technique for Public Speaking

This is completely off the usual topic, but I just scanned and uploaded an article (PDF, 1 MByte) I wrote in 1994 for The Toastmaster: “Loud and Clear: Microphone Technique for Public Speaking.” It might be useful to someone.

February 11, 2008 – 1:49 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Miscellanea | Tagged , , | Comments (1)