| | | | | |

Who Lost American Jobs?

ByDigestThis

The flood of election year distortion eventually recedes. When your mind’s made up, and you’re ready to tolerate any distortion as long as your side wins, recall Noah. Strive for truth and righteousness. Resist partisan oversimplification. Shun divisive distortion. Remember that the healthiest patriotism is grounded in facts, not partisan politics.

| | | | | |

Cherry-Picking the Hippocratic Oath

ByDigestThis

Cherry-picking refers to people’s practice of selecting information to justify their points of view, even as they ignore perspectives and data from the same or similar legitimate sources that contradict their positions.

For example, the Hippocratic Oath is sometimes quoted to justify a stance against abortion rights by the same people who are certain that faith in female divinity as expressed in this document is heretical. Indeed, this oath, from which anti-abortion advocates draw support, was created by people who worshiped goddesses. It states, “I swear by Apollo the healer, Asclepius, Hygieia and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and judgment, the following oath and agreement.”

| | | | |

Everybody Talkin’ ‘Bout Heaven Ain't Goin’ There

ByDigestThis

An overwhelming majority of people living on Earth believe their god offers them an afterlife. The accuracy of this statement is based on the number of people who belong to a religion that claims life after death is a certainty. Among the many existing religions featuring some form of afterlife are Christianity (2.5 billion adherents),…

| | | |

Pascal’s Wager and Climate Change

ByDigestThis

Industrialists, politicians and propagandists in their employ dismiss reports of destructive climate change caused by human activity as mere speculation. If you can’t conclusively prove your claims, they say, your theories are worthless and should be ignored. In order to protect their own commercial and political advantages, they reject suggestions that civilization may be severely…

| | | |

Redux: Scary Halloween

ByDigestThis

Fear comes alive on Halloween. Halloween costumes are practical technology designed to simplify our joking about frightening subjects. The ghosts and the goblins are the outside joke. The inside joke is death. Halloween is the night when death walks around our neighborhoods dressed like a common Joe as if to remind us of its inevitability….

| | | | |

Wetbacks All

ByDigestThis

In 1875 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the federal government is responsible for regulating immigration. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower urgently empowered the Immigration and Naturalization Service to “remove illegal immigrants, mostly Mexican nationals, from the southwestern United States.” The expulsion program’s official name was Operation Wetback. Border patrol, state and local…

|

Whatcha Doin Next Week

ByDigestThis

The doomsday prophet Harold Camping recently revised his prediction.  Camping now predicts October 21 2011 will be humanity’s last day.  What’s comforting about this update is that “The end is going to come very quietly, probably within the next month….Probably… there will be no pain suffered by anyone because of their rebellion against God.   Unbelievers might just…

|

The Use of Religion to Achieve Earthly Power

ByDigestThis

Human Leadership The Swiss Protestant theologian Karl Barth (May 10, 1886 – December 10, 1968) is described as one of the most important religious thinkers of the 20th century. Barth personally mailed a public stance against Nazism (Barmen Declaration) to Adolf Hitler in 1934. He left Germany to avoid a required loyalty oath to the Nazi leader. Quests…