On the prayer subtopic - this is one of those questions that encourages me in my view that God is a spirit, in the sense of "the spirit of Liberty" or "dis-spirited". If more people are praying, then more people are participating in the social network. And that means God is more ...

Lady -
No problem. I wasn't trying to interest you, and if I did, it wouldn't be on the Intro thread. Just sayin where I am coming from.

Redemption can be interpreted in purely evolutionary terms, as the set of behaviors that will sustain a steady increase in universal wellbeing. Still learning how the software works. Forgive me if this makes no sense. A case can be made that evolution is moving us toward greater care of our progeny...

Lady of Shallot - Do you know Tillich? Niebuhr (either one)? Kierkegaard? Lots of people know something about these and still choose atheism, but I find that many atheists are unable to think of religion except as bad science, like Mr. Dawkins does. My starting point is basically "Habits of the...

Sounds great. Hope the books do well.

If you had kids, would you feel comfortable raising them in this unconventional life? I had a friend whose parents took him out of school for one year in high school to sail round the world. He loved it, of course.

I am an economics teacher in Geneva, Switzerland, 50s male, very interested in public policy but more interested in posting about religion. In the wake of the Dawkins fuss, I have made an effort to expose people to mainstream theology. It looks and feels very different from the fundamentalist ideolo...

Hey Randall, I am not responding so vehemently, in part because I don't think I could verify the surmises that are so frustrating you, but on my first day in, this looks like an ok substitute or complement. Certainly I would confirm, as Randall suggests, that the recent deletion or suspension of par...

I thought one of his main points was the idea that wanting to pass on our values in some sense makes them real for us. If the man had no son, he probably would have given up, as it is implied the wife did, long ago. Biological continuation may have less ability to bring us to life than continuation ...