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Posts Tagged ‘Science’
Monday, March 20th, 2023
In preparing to come to Antarctica, I had been told this was the most secular continent in the world, filled with scientists on a mission for discovery. But for those who are looking for spirituality, there is a lot to be discovered here too. I have spent three weeks at the South Pole Station with Read more
Tags: Community, Elaine Krebs, Faith, Mass, Religion, Science, Science and faith, Scientists, Secular society
Posted in Analysis and Comment | Comments Off on Antarctica: Science and Faith – part 2
Monday, December 5th, 2022
In his Pensées, published posthumously in 1670, the French philosopher Blaise Pascal appeared to establish a foolproof argument for religious commitment, which he saw as a kind of bet. If the existence of God was even minutely possible, he claimed, then the potential gain was so huge – an “eternity of life and happiness” – Read more
Tags: Happy life, Healthy life, Life expectancy, Religion, religious faith, Science, Scientists
Posted in Analysis and Comment | Comments Off on Beyond beliefs: does religious faith lead to a happier, healthier life?
Thursday, November 10th, 2022
Growing secularism among younger people is no secret. A 2019 Pew Research Center Survey of Americans aged 13 to 17 found that only 50 per cent believed religion was an important part of their lives, as opposed to 73 percent of their parents. This trend has caught the attention of the United States Conference of Read more
Tags: Agnostic, Bigotry, Church, God, Greed, Logic, Materialism, Paedophilia, Science, Teenage, Teenagers
Posted in Analysis and Comment, Palmerston | Comments Off on What my teenage friends think about the church
Thursday, November 3rd, 2022
Forgiveness is an age-old practice central to the teaching of many of the world’s religions. In Islam, forgiveness suggests alignment with Allah. In Judaism, acts of atonement — or Teshuva — are expected for wrongdoing. In Christianity, forgiveness is unconditional, by loving one’s enemies as oneself. Throughout human history, religion and science have often been framed as conflicting Read more
Tags: Forgiveness, Justice, Science
Posted in Analysis and Comment | Comments Off on Science and faith agree on the benefits of forgiveness
Thursday, March 31st, 2022
US secular universities will benefit from a US$3.6m grant to create a national network of independent institutes of Catholic thought. Several secular universities are already home to many of these institutes. The aim of the plan is to help make Catholicism’s intellectual tradition a vital aspect of academic life, foccusing on the theology, arts, politics Read more
Tags: Faith, Lumen Christi Institute, Science
Posted in World | Comments Off on Secular universities funded to create institutes of Catholic thought
Thursday, November 11th, 2021
Was anyone surprised when New Zealand’s self-made Apostle Brian Tamaki courted controversy and arrest by participating in two anti-lockdown protests in Auckland recently? Or that during one of these events he declared he would rather live in “dangerous freedom than peaceful slavery” and likened the director-general of health to Hitler? This was, after all, the Read more
Tags: Covid vaccinations, COVID-19 lockdown, Deliverance, Destiny Church, faith and science, Healing, Pentecostalism, Science, The Kingdom, Tribulation, Triumphalism
Posted in Analysis and Comment, Palmerston | Comments Off on Spirit of resistance: why Destiny Church and other New Zealand Pentecostalists oppose lockdowns and vaccination
Thursday, October 28th, 2021
In the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, the scientific evidence in favour of vaccination is overwhelming. With this in mind, there are many people who see universal vaccination as the only way to bring the pandemic to an end, often invoking the mantra of “follow the science.” As a slogan it would seem to have Read more
Tags: Br Guy Consolmagno, Covid vaccinations, Religion, Science, SJ, Vaccines
Posted in Analysis and Comment | Comments Off on Vatican Astronomer: I am a Jesuit scientist, I’m all for vaccines, but we have to do more than just ‘follow the science’
Thursday, August 26th, 2021
Scientists spent years looking for the ‘God Spot’ in the brain before concluding it didn’t exist. Early candidates like the temporal or parietal lobes never panned out. And differences in how researchers define spirituality has also complicated things, because different areas of the brain light up when we use moral reasoning vs when we experience Read more
Tags: Science, Spirituality
Posted in Analysis and Comment | Comments Off on Scientists think they have found the brain’s spirituality network
Thursday, June 24th, 2021
In the Carafa Chapel in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, there is a statue of the revered Catholic figure St Thomas Aquinas with the Latin inscription, Sapientiam sapientum perdam. The inscription translates as “I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise”. Who were the wise? The wise were scientists and philosophers Read more
Tags: Cancel Culture, De-platforming, free speech, John Bishop, right, Science, Sir Karl Popper, St Thomas Aquinas, wisdom, wrong
Posted in Analysis and Comment | Comments Off on We must have the right to be wrong