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Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Sunspots 111


Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:




Humor:
Beautiful wedding gowns made from . . . toilet paper. Really.

Science:
Mark Perakh has written a critique of Stephen M. Barr's Modern Physics and Ancient Faith, which I thought was a splendid book. I don't have Barr's book available, thus cannot closely examine Perakh's claims. He believes that Barr hasn't made a strong argument for Christianity, although he does acknowledge Barr's scientific credentials.


Politics:
Hilary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barak Obama, leading Democratic candidates for President of the US, appeared on CNN, for the purpose of discussing their faith. CNN has posted a report, with video excerpts. Here's the NPR report, with audio. Sojourners sponsored the event. CNN has posted a transcript. Paula Zahn Now had follow-up, with discussion of the previous event, and Zahn speaking with Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, and Bill Richardson about their faith.

Some of the Republican candidates for President have been asked about their beliefs on origins .

Sports:
The great majority of head coaches in the National Basketball Association are white (although most of the players are African-American). But, like last year, one of the two teams in the NBA finals is coached by an African-American , and its not the same one as last year. (The team coached by an African-American lost last year. This year's final series hasn't begun yet.)

Literature:
Article on the fiction of Gene Wolfe, in First Things.

Christianity:
Henry Neufeld on going on toward perfection (an examination of parts of Hebrews).

In a missionary prayer letter, I read that somebody or other has determined that the average Christian prays for 3 minutes a day, and the average pastor for 7. God helping me, I'm going to be above average.

This week's Christian Carnival is here. For information on these Carnivals, go here.


Thanks for reading! Keep clicking away.

Image source (public domain)

4 comments:

Pilgrim said...

I saw part of the CNN interviews. They were fascinating.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link to the critique of Barr's book. It is one of the books I will be reading this summer so the critique should be an interesting read as well.

Rob Rumfelt said...

Having read Barr's book, I was curious about Perakh's critique so I popped over to Talk Reason to check it out. Not having "Modern Physics & Ancient Faith" with me made it a bit difficult to follow. Of course, not being a trained scientist, it's ALL difficult for me to follow!

Anyway, I had two thoughts about the piece. First, I was pleased with the respectful tone of the author. All too uncommon for that sort of article.

Second, I was impressed with Perakh's learning. But I also know that Stephen Barr is no slouch and that, were the two of them to debate, it could go on for quite awhile and take detours into some pretty obscure and arcane areas. How many of us everyday people would be able to follow and understand?

And then Paul's words from 1 Corinthians 3:19 came to me: "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight." I believe this admonition applies to believers and non-believers alike.

Should we forego intellectual debate? Not at all. We just need to keep it in perspective.

There's my 2 cents worth. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find some ibuprofen!

Martin LaBar said...

Thanks, everyone.

I saw some of the CNN stuff, too -- actually just John Edwards, who came across very well.

Barr's book is good, Matt.

Ibuprofen is probably a good idea, Rob.