Many religious people deny any conflict between religion and science, but nevertheless report less trust in science than non-religious people. We addr... [more]
As an indirect response to Galen Watts and Sharday Mosurinjohn's Can Critical Religion Play by Its Own Rules? this article aims to explicate what 'c... [more]
Two ways of self-interpretation merged in Western thought: the Hebrew and the Greek. What is unique, if anything, about the human species? The reinterpretation of this problem has been a constant process; here I am referring to Philip Hefner and the term
Suppose there comes a day when Homo sapiens has evolved into or been overtaken by techno sapiens. Will it then still make sense to speak of human beings as created in the image of God? What is the relevance of asking such a question today? I offer a sketc
There is remarkable convergence between twentieth-century interpretations of the image of God (imago Dei), what it means for human beings to be created in God's image, and approaches toward creating in our own image in the field of artificial intelligenc
Though early ideas of evolution saw it as progressive, most modern theories see it as a random walk. The theories of Richard Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould, Edward O. Wilson, Stuart Kauffman, Steven Rose, and Robert Wesson are surveyed, showing their agreemen
Michael Ruse's forthcoming book gives an enjoyable history of teleology in biology, philosophy, and theology. It argues that concepts of cause, final cause, purpose, teleology, function, design, adaptation, contrivance, progress, ends, and value have all
It is not uncommon for Darwinists and memeticists to speculate not only that god-memes (cultural units for belief in a god) evolved as maladaptive traits but also that these memes do not correspond to anything real. However, a counter-Darwinian argument e
Using the bench trial of Colorado's Amendment 2 as an example, this article focuses on the more general question of expert testimony in moral philosophy. It argues that there is indeed expertise in moral philosophy but argues against admitting such exper
Consideration of the amazing organized intricacy of human cortical anatomy entails a deeper appreciation of nature that is fully consistent with a mature religious spirit. A brain seems at First glance to be a mere lump of grayish claylike stuff, but fact
The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a spiritually-based intervention in the alleviation of subsyndromal anxiety and minor depression in an elderly population. Twenty-two residents of six continuing care communities diagnosed with mi
Over the past twenty years, US conservatism has achieved a dominance by symbolically reconciling two historical strains that are, in reality, marked by contradictions: the social gospel of traditional values and the economic gospel of the free market. Whi
I hypothesize that people engage in religious practices, in part, because such practices activate the frontal lobes. Activation of the frontal lobes is both intrinsically rewarding and necessary for acquisition of many of the behaviors that religions seek
This article is 'the adventure of an idea' (Virginia Woolf) rather than a focused piece of argumentation. A drive out of contemporary Galway raises the question of the disappearance of vernacular architecture and local customs in globalized Ireland. The
A philosopher-poet-theologian ponders the implication of the multimillion-year biogenetic process that produced Homo sapiens and is beginning to reveal itself ever more clearly as evolution of the mind and consciousness. As meaning trappers and makers, ca
Buddhist teachings and modern science are analogous both in their approach to the search for truth and in some of the discoveries of contemporary physics, biology, and psychology. However, despite these congruencies and the recognized benefits of science,
The purpose of this study was to identify demographic, disease, health care, and psychosocial-spiritual factors associated with death distress (death-related depression and anxiety). Cross-sectional baseline data from a randomized controlled trial were us