Lately, there has been talk of secular studies coming into view at Pitzer College in Claremont, California. Sociologist Phil Zuckerman will head the new secular studies department. While it’s coming into view more lately, it’s nothing new. Nearly 50 years ago, Time magazine, in a report about Jewish opposition to “religious practices” in public schools, described [...]
When I die, I don’t want to be buried; it’s just a waste of space. I’d rather it be a playground for children or research facility. When I die, I will become one with the Earth. Dirt and star stuff. When I die, it won’t be any different to me than before I was born. [...]
I always had issues with the phrase “the chosen people”. It wreaks of bigotry to me, stating that we are better for no other reason than we are us. I understand where this comes from but I cannot embrace it, by any means. I don’t think any group is better than any other group by [...]
It’s weird. A very strange concept. I was raised with the notion that being Jewish doesn’t mean you take the idea of god literally. My dad was basically an atheist but wouldn’t admit it. He was also an apologist and didn’t understand why I was an “atheist”. He once said something along the lines of [...]
One more wallpaper I created: The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. it is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more [...]
Using the same quote from a previous Carl Sagan image, I made this wallpaper. Also 2880 x 1800 pixels. The world is so exquisite, with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better, it seems to me, in [...]
I also made this one. The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every [...]
