Skeptical Faith

Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth Google Image Tish Harrison Warren, an Episcopal priest who writes a column about religion for the New York Times, recently wrote about the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a pastor in Birmingham, Ala. in the late 1950s. Few people have heard of Rev. Shuttlesworth, perhaps, but he was a civil rights leader who was a friend and colleague of Dr. Martin Luther King. “On Sept. 9, 1957,” writes Harrison Warren, “the very day President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act and lawyers sought injunctive relief to force Arkansas to integrate Central High in Little Rock, Shuttlesworth organized the integration of Phillips High School in Birmingham, driving his own two children to the school to enroll them. “He was met by a white mob that beat him with baseball bats, chains and brass knuckles. As he was beginning to lose consciousness, Shuttlesworth recounts that “something” said to him: “You can’t die here. Get up. I have a job for you to do.” In the hospital later that da...

Google Image Attending church recently, I heard the gospel of the day - the annual reading that includes what is known as “the Beatitudes” - for what I calculate to be about the 75 th time.  (I’m guessing the age that I started paying attention.) You know them, I’m sure, because they are among the most well-known parts of the Christian Bible.   “When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying:   "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”   Poetic I alway...

Google Image I know little about physics in general, and even less about astronomy, but I’m interested in both and am fascinated by astronomical discoveries. We live in a remarkable age for discovering and exploring our universe. The James Webb Space Telescope , the most powerful space observatory yet, is a big part of that.  Another is the NASA rover project that has produced fantastic pictures of Mars. Many pictures from space show evidence of spectacular explosions and disruptions. Scientists talk about pulsars and black holes, infant exoplanets and dark matter. Honestly, it’s mostly Greek to me. The Time Involved What intrigues me is the time involved in forming the universe and the earth as we know it and its relationship to God’s revelation. And let me be clear, I believe in evolution and science and see no contradiction between science and religion. Scientists have at least two ways of measuring the age of the universe, according to Wikipedia. They attempt to measure...

Google Image Due to time restraints caused by my moving out-of-state, Skeptical Faith blogs are, as they say in show biz, "encore presentations." This one was published in 2018. The New York Times recently published an opinion piece by philosopher Stephen Asma with the above title. It was among the newspaper’s most trending stories and elicited thousands of comments. It’s a tough time to defend religion,” Asma acknowledges at the outset. “Respect for it has diminished in almost every corner of modern life — not just among atheists and intellectuals, but among the wider public, too.” Polls for the last decade confirm Asma’s remarks, and, of course, I have no argument with his main premise, that religion gives people what science, and no other practice or system, can. And, that as a society, we need it. I disagree, however, with Asma’s notion that religion is “irrational” and useful only for its emotional rewards. Encounter with a Student Asma, who teaches at Columbia Col...

  Google Image Due to time restraints caused by my moving out-of-state, Skeptical Faith blogs are, as they say in show biz, "encore presentations." This one was published in 2018. Archie Bunker, the character masterfully played by the late Carroll O’Conner in the 1970s TV comedy “All in the Family,” had his own take on the traditional Christian doctrine of the inerrancy of the Bible. “God don’t make no mistakes,” declared Archie. “That’s how he got to be God.” For those too young to remember Archie, who in 2005 was listed as number 1 on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters, Wikipedia says Bunker was characterized by his bigotry towards “… blacks, Hispanics, "Commies," gays, hippies, Jews, Asians, Catholics, "women's libbers," and Polish-Americans….” Bunker was presented as a Christian, however, and “… often misquotes the Bible. He takes pride in being religious, although he rarely attends church services ….” Recent Newspaper Column I imagine ...