Why suffering?
AUDIO/VIDEO OF DISCUSSION ON SUFFERING. “Christian thinker Vince Vitale and atheist thinker Julian Baggini debate suffering with Justin Brierley.” On Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable.
ReadTag: Religion
What is comfort?
Comfort is often lacking when there is no hope of a life to come. If tragedy on stage is cathartic, in brutal reality it is simply demoralising.
ReadThings Unseen
A GOD-SHAPED HOLE? Podcast hosted by Mark Dowd, with Peter Stanford, Mark Vernon and myself.
ReadIs it OK not to have an opinion?
There is a kind of agnostic who genuinely has no opinion and so doesn’t criticise those who do. But many agnostics have a very clear opinion indeed: that the balance of probability is too fine to call. This is not suspension of belief in the face of uncertainty but the certain belief that the matter is especially uncertain.
ReadStop, think, chew
Rather than looking for secular surrogates, we should look for other ways to cultivate the virtues that ritual promotes. Such practices need to be at least as embedded in our daily routines as prayers are for believers.
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