4 books found
In Science and the Religious Right, biophysicist John Jagger discusses false scientific and social positions of the Religious Right, including the ideas that the earth is only six thousand years old, evolution never occurred, and the United States was founded as a Christian nation. At best, such stances of the Religious Right have produced extensive political turmoil; they undermine true understanding of ourselves and the world we live in. Many Americans know little science and are thus easily confused by such positions of religious fundamentalists. Jagger begins with a scientific primer for the intelligent and curious nonscientist, with simple explanations of such highly successful theories as relativity and evolution. He then discusses religion, explaining why many scientists become freethinkers after the models of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, who did not believe in a personal God. He shows that, while mainstream religion largely accepts modern science, the Religious Right holds anti-science and anti-intellectual ideas that have great social and political consequence they want to replace teaching of evolution in our public schools with creationist ideas that are totally unsupported by science. Science and the Religious Right shows why knowledge of some basic science, as well as of correct religious history, is essential for understanding false stances of the Religious Right that threaten American values and scientific truth.
by John Doody, Kim Paffenroth, Mark Smillie
2016 · Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
This volume brings into dialogue the ancient wisdom of Augustine of Hippo, a bishop of the early Christian Church of the fourth and fifth centuries, with contemporary theologians and ethicists on the topic of the environment and humanity’s place in and responsibility to it. The contributors vary widely in their estimation of how sustained and useful such a dialogue might be, from outright dismissal of the church father to extended speculation with him and in his spirit. Their conclusions impact our views of God and both human and non-human creation. Such engagement should influence any future discussion of how Christianity and environmentalism can interact or influence one another.
This book examines two moral theories of rights justification and applies them to four social issues: redistributive taxation, affirmative action, pornography, and abortion. It assesses the ethical status of several candidate social policies that continue to be debated in the public arenas.
A True Story of sex and death on the internet.