YRE Lesson Plans for April and May

YRE Lesson Plans for April and May

Dice and Determinism

“God does not play dice with the universe.          –Albert Einstein

On Interdependence

From my weekly comments for Honors Colloquium:

“The first [interpretation] is "this arises because that is," which comes down to saying that things do exist in some way, but nothing exists on its own. The second is "this, having been produced, produces that," which means that nothing can be its own cause. Or we could say that everything is in some way interdependent with the world..” –Matthieu Ricard, The Quantum and the Lotus

The postulate of interdependence in Universe in a Grain of Sand strikes me as sort of the ultimate religious syllogism; if a then b. It is, then, a logical idea; and one of words and language. It is also a religious idea, present in Christianity, in Buddhism, in Unitarian Universalism, and others. It is an economic idea and a scientific one, because all of our actions affect the world, as a butterfly might cause a hurricane vis-à-vis chaos theory. The idea of interdependence, then, is interdependent. I find this idea delightful.

Honors Comp Final Exam Essay: Paths to Salvation

Paths to Salvation

Jonathan Edwards and Billy Sunday were not born of the same time, place, or circumstance, but both men were deeply concerned with the concept of salvation. They each seemed to feel as though they walked through a world of unsaved souls, with false assurances of spiritual safety leading men astray. They each seemed to believe that salvation was of great concern, yet advocated different paths to their selfsame goal.

On Abortion

So here's the deal. Thousands of children die each year because they can't find organ donors. You can donate lobes of your liver with almost no problems. Kidneys are a little more problematic, but neither even comes close to having a child, much less raising one. So, if you haven't signed up to donate one, the other or both, then you have no business voting for a law that would force someone else to donate their organs to a child without consent. This seems like simple logic to me. Again, to recap:

If you think that unborn children have a right to my organs, then actual, live children surely have a right to your organs. So put up or shut up.

Yo, Christians.

Malachi.

“Is there not one Father of us all? Did not one God create us? Why, then, does each one of us despise his brother, violating the covenant of our fathers?” -Malachi 2:10

Why do so many modern Christians despise gay people, people of color, poor people, etc.? Love them. Feed them. Heal them. LOVE THEM.

Checks and Balances

The Lovings

It always irks me when people speak as though voting were the e-all, end-all of our government. Today, I spied this gem on Facebook and had to respond:

"where as i personally have no problem with same sex marriage..unless i am mistaken wasn't this shot down in north carolina by a public vote? if so then the only people to blame is the supporters of same sex marriage for not getting enough votes...giving someone shit for voting their beliefs is WRONG no matter what side of the issue you are on in my opinion."

Dude. Dude, this kid has it right. (Randomly found in the Interwebs.)

"The world is pretty and everyone should be quiet and enjoy it."

A timely reminder...

A timely reminder about the importance of separating your religion from your government:

"I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

Random Thoughts.

I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really want to convene a Civics 101 & Source Vetting course on my Facebook feed. Really. The President is not magic and a jpeg with some text and Obama's face is not a reliable source. Really. I promise.

Random Thoughts

"The Fukushima situation has exposed a grave danger to our world. But the danger isn't radiation, it's the poor state of science education."

and

An Austrian atheist will be allowed to wear a colander on his head in his driver's license photo after successfully arguing that it counts as "religious headgear" for Pastafarians.

As a contrast, more people are upset about the Austrian atheist than the sad state of American education.

About the Pledge of Allegience

I originally wrote this on Friday, October 15, 2010.  I am posting it here with minor edits, mainly for grammar.

Kevin is publicly shamed for his refusal to take an oath.

Yeah, that cartoon is cute. It shows someone who simply doesn't care in contrast to someone who cares so much that they gave their health, and was willing to give their life. It makes a point, and makes us feel good about being better than the lazy guy. It makes us feel proud of our veterans. (Although that pride doesn't seem to extend to caring for them, but that's a an entirely different post...) and it makes us feel patriotic. Yay!