An Interesting Trip
What an interesting week for a Sinophile to be in DC: Vice Premier Wu Yi and Commerce Secretary Paulson's second meeting in the follow-up to last year's visit from Hu Jintao, the Senate Banking Committee's hearing on China's currency manipulation, and the USCC hearings Thursday and Friday. More on this later. Traveling to DC is such a pleasure - the city is a blend of genteel southern manners with the energy and opportunities of much larger metropolis like New York. The highlight of the culinary adventures on this trip was Zaytinya, an authentic Greek mezze (think the Greek version of Spanish Tapas). Also worth mentioning was the Brickskeller and their selection of 1,000 ...7 Rules for Believing
Again from Chet Raymos' beautiful blog Science Musings. 1. Respect what your parents and teachers tell you, but keep an open mind. 2. Be skeptical of anything told you by people who are themselves not a little bit skeptical. Be especially skeptical of anything told you by people who believe they know the mind of God. 3. Trust science as a reliable guide to truth, but attend to poets too. Every "fact" is an open door to mystery. 4. Be willing to say "I don't know." 5. Don't be afraid to say "I was wrong." 6. Keep a sense of humor. 7. Respect the beliefs of others, in so far as they are willing to respect your beliefs. The balance of ...Modernity’s Challenge
Something about seeing an event with our own eyes pulls a concept out of vagaries and makes duplicitous arguments seem obvious. The horrible passages in the Old Testament, which call for stoning for any number of offenses (apostasy, adultery, homosexuality and planting two different types of crops in the same field) should make every Christian seriously investigate how literally anyone can afford to take the Bible. Not very seriously and certainly not literally. The recent stoning death of Dua Khalil was captured on video tape. Ask yourself this: was this ever right? Ever moral? For being gay? For getting a divorce? For blasphemy? This book is of man, at his ...Faux News On a Blind Date
Hannity & Colmes had Ralph Reed and Christopher Hitchens on to discuss Falwell's death. Hannity is his usual blathering self and Hitchens his traditional polemic personality. What Hitchens has always been willing to say is what is unconventional (here his tract on Mother Teresa is one recent example) and what many of us would like to say, but don't have the courage to. Hitchens treatment of Falwell and Reed as "religious businessman" and "religious entrepreneurs" is on-point. As Andrew Sullivan said, maybe the Christianists are finally on the run.Falwell Passes On
The progenitor of modern-day Christian fundamentalism, Jerry Falwell, passed away today. He was a complex man, driven by beliefs to preach, teach and advocate for the issues and changes to the American way of life that he believed were essential. He is hated for many things, and his mind-numbing distrust of extra-Biblical insights into modernity is the classic representation of what it means to be a fundamentalist. But he is also hated because he was successful - because he built a movement and touched on deeper frustrations and distrusts which others from opposing perspectives have struggled to as poignantly tap into. Jerry was many things - a bigot, hatemonger and racist; but his success was in ...Al Sharpton @ the New York Public Library
Al Sharpton now finds himself in the lime light for what others consider a prejudicial statement - about Romney and his apparently not being counted among the people of God - during a debate over the existence of God with Christopher Hitchens. The whole debate can be heard on-line here. Both employ some of the more heavily worn arguments, but both are actually quite entertaining and worth the time to hear. Sharpton forces Hitchens to differentiate between the idea of God and religion. It's an interesting argument, which Hitchens is able to turn around and essentially get Sharpton to admit his own agnosticism. With Sharpton, you know it will be entertaining; with Hitchens you ...Chet Raymo & Rational Thinking
From Chet Raymo's blog: Brownie, dwarf, elf, Zeus, enchantress, crop circles, genie, gnome, goblin, gremlin, hob, imp, leprechaun, UFO, mermaid, seraphim, unicorn, nymph, puck, siren, angel, sprite, demon, phantom, Osiris, poltergeist, virgin birth, spoon bending, Bigfoot, revenant, shade, shadow, Leviathan, levitation, soul, specter, spirit, ghoul, vampire, wraith, zombie, astrologer, seventy-two virgins, Athena, streets of gold, banshee, augur, auspex, miracle, clairvoyant, diviner, limbo, druid, dowser, fortuneteller, Beelzebub, dryad, haruspex, pyramid power, horoscopist, magus, medium, Thor, tarot, oracle, palmist, card reader, seer, sibyl, griffin, soothsayer, sorcerer, tea-leaf reader, witch, wizard, astrologer, augurer, answered prayer, Eros, clairvoyant, werewolf, transubstantiation, conjurer, diviner, enchanter, dragon, god, goddess, fortune teller, alien abduction, magician, ESP, magus, Cupid, alchemy, necromancer, Grendel, fairy, thaumaturge, warlock, witch, Elysium, Shangri-la, Holy Trinity, ...Joshua Kurlantzick & China’s Soft Power
My review of Joshua Kurlantzick's new book, Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power is Transforming the World, has been published at Asia Times and can be read here. A quote from the review: Loitering throughout Kurlantzick's analysis of China's ability to employ soft power is the painful realization that the US has squandered much of its own accumulated soft power. This strength, the product of a country that has embodied some of the greatest insights into human governance and which chose to interject itself successfully into two World Wars in the last century, has been severely damaged through policy missteps that Kurlantzick traces back to the administration of president Bill Clinton. The "flat world" of globalization, so stridently ...China, US in Search of a Level Playing Field
My most recent article at Asia Times covers the re-introduction of the Fair Currency Act of 2007 (FCA) and what it suggests about changes to the US-Sino trade relationship. A quote from it: The questions circling around China's accountability to international standards have gradually become increasingly specific and built momentum as a number of congressional panels have publicly begun to question Beijing's commitment to conformance with World Trade Organization (WTO) standards. With the introduction of a Democrat-controlled Congress, legislation like the recently reintroduced Fair Currency Act (FCA) of 2007 attest to a subtly changing position on the broad topic of globalization, and the more specific set of assertions that have supported China's entry to the marketplace for the past 15-plus years. ...The Wrap-Up
Sullivan and Harris exchanged the final chapters of their dialogue on the question of faith and religion last week. Like many such conversations, few were probably converted on the basis of either's argument; however, Harris was able to emphasize his assertion that spirituality has a place in atheism and Sullivan was able to forcefully articulate that his view of liberal democracy was a better way to safeguard against militant fundamentalism (of its religious & secular forms) than Harris' rejection of religion all-together. In trying to address the global crisis we agree upon, I have two responses. The first is classical liberalism, as expressed in the American constitution, and constructed by Hobbes, Locke and their Enlightenment successors. That ... « Previous EntriesAbout MysteriousFaith
“If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance which does harm.”
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