Quote of the day: It's astonishing in this world how things don't turn out at all the way you expect them to.—Agatha Christie Dr. Kenneth Miller is that rarity, a scientist who is also a devout Catholic. I actually started to write “practicing Catholic” but I think he’s past the practice stage. Anyway, I … Continue reading Dr. Kenneth Miller
Religion
April Ajoy
Quote of the day: Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read. —Groucho Marx April Ajoy is a woman who gives Christians a good name. Seriously. I mean, if all Christians were like April Ajoy, I wouldn’t be railing against the Christian religion … Continue reading April Ajoy
Jim Garner
Quote of the day: If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.—Mark Twain That third year at Penn State, our neighbors in 518 Mifflin Hall were still Tom and Ken from the previous year. Ken was one of the three guys from the second year who wore their Jesus on their sleeves. … Continue reading Jim Garner
Piano and Movies and the Bible
I guessed the composer on this week’s Piano Puzzler after the first few measures, and if you want to know how I did it, just listen to Bruce Adophe’s explanation when the answer is reveled. That’s how. But I’m embarrassed to admit I couldn’t get the hidden tune. Normally when I have difficulty with the … Continue reading Piano and Movies and the Bible
Medical Science and Religion
Quote of the day: Religion is based...mainly upon fear...fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand. My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born … Continue reading Medical Science and Religion
Barry
I’ve written several times about how I supported Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election. Goldwater was so conservative at the time that many Republicans fled the party and voted for LBJ giving him a huge win. It goes without saying that I don’t support many of the positions that Goldwater took in 1964, but … Continue reading Barry
Are you an enemy of religion?
In 1988 Isaac Asimov sat down for a lengthy interview with Bill Moyers. Inevitably, the subject got around to religion. Read the transcript or watch the video clip. Or read along as you watch. The transcript has been lightly edited. Bill Moyers: Are you an enemy of religion? Isaac Asimov: No, I'm not. I feel, … Continue reading Are you an enemy of religion?
A Bad Jew?
In 1979 James Gunn interviewed Isaac Asimov in preparation for a book Gunn was writing on Asimov’s work. At one point the conversation turned to Asimov’e views on Judaism. I don't consider myself a particularly virtuous person, but I like to think I have some virtues, of which loyalty is one. But possibly it is … Continue reading A Bad Jew?
Unto the Fourth Generation
It was difficult choosing a story by Asimov where he incorporated religion because he really didn’t do it very much, but I wanted to do a trilogy of the Big Three and contrast the way they approached religion in their stories. So even though “The Last Question” can only tangentially be considered to deal with … Continue reading Unto the Fourth Generation
The Last Question
And so we come to the third of the Big Three, but of course, Isaac Asimov is always number one in my book. In the 1950s when Isaac Asimov began writing a series of stories about a computer that he called Multivac, a sort of super-computer descended from Univac, he wrote what could very well … Continue reading The Last Question