DIGEST: Playing God, Inspiration for Qur’an, Down with Nativity!

Detail from a Neapolitan 'presepe' (Nativity scnene), Rome.

No Nativity Scenes = No Atheist Signs = OK By Me
Rev. Barry W. Lynn
December 10, 2008

In my view, there is an inherent flaw in all of these religious holiday display cases ever since the Supreme Court allowed the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island to put up as part of its “official” display a Nativity scene along with secular symbols including Santa, reindeer, and the ever popular Yuletide “blue bears”.  According to a majority of the court this mix did not give passerbys the impression that the city was officially embracing religion.

Is Religion a Game?
S. Brent Plate
December 3, 2008

Playing Gods, a new board game making headlines, is more than just a playful riff on religion. If we want to understand religions, we have to understand their game-like qualities, and that religion might, at the heart of it all, be a game. Which does not make it trivial.

Abdulkarim Soroush and Islam beyond a verbally inspired Qur’an
Tad DeLay
December 9, 2008

Now it goes without saying that for most religious people, the more certain you can be about something, the more comforted you can feel in your belief.  Granted, with time and maturity, the opposite effect should become the norm, but many never get there.  And so we construct theologies to support other theologies to support yet other theologies still.  At debate in Islam now (Christianity has been dealing with this intensesly for many decades, if not centuries) is how/whether scripture is inspired or merely the work of it’s originator.