Happy Feast of the Annunciation! I hope you’re all taking advantage of the solemnity to have some bacon with your breakfast. And now for a few links: The four New York Times reporters who went missing in Libya tell the story of their capture by Qaddafi’s forces, and their ultimate release. “Annulment Nation”: Jeff Ziegler … Read more
Following up on yesterday’s post about Catholic opinion on homosexuality: A Vatican representative to the UN Human Rights council has said that people who oppose gay marriage sometimes have their rights violated because of those beliefs: “People are being attacked for taking positions that do not support sexual behavior between people of the same sex,” … Read more
An article in The Independent discusses some recent studies in neuroscience which disprove the idea that consciousness is unified. In other words, there’s no central place in the brain where the sense of “self” can be located. The scientific evidence shatters Rene Descartes’ “I think therefore I am,” which holds that “a coherent, structured experience … Read more
Tom Jacobs at Miller-McCune writes about a study out of Oxford University that shows that, while breast-fed babies fare better at school, the number of American women who choose to breastfeed is “stagnant and low.” The reason? Apparently, breastfeeding women are judged more harshly: Research just published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin … Read more
*Facepalm*: Catholics are more supportive of gay and lesbian rights than the general public and other Christians, according to a new report released today. The new report, which is the most comprehensive portrait of Catholic attitudes on gay and lesbian issues assembled to date, also finds that seven-in-ten Catholics say that messages from America’s places of … Read more
Often, the problem of deciding what to do depends on how an action is described. For example, people are against killing when it is called “murder,” but they may have other thoughts about it when words such as “just war” or “self-defense” are used. So what controls the way we describe our actions? To clearly … Read more
Micro cap NeoStem, Inc (NBS) has been working in the area of adult stem cells, making notable discoveries and picking up acquisitions along the way. Its business model may have them in the red as of today, but there’s something about the company that has attracted the Vatican’s attention. And money. The Vatican has placed … Read more
By now, you all have probably seen the video of Casey Heynes, the bullied Australian boy who put the smackdown on his tormentor. If not, here it is: [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KakZkh9Iu7U&sns=fb 635×355] I still get a thrill watching Casey defend himself and body-slam the twerp. Justice is so sweet! Both boys have since been on news shows, talking … Read more
Can mathematical models predict whether religion is heading for extinction? Researchers used census data from nine countries — Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland — and noted that religious affiliation was on the decline in all of them: “In a large number of modern secular democracies, there’s … Read more
Over at the Wall Street Journal, Jennifer Moses writes on the worrisome trend for younger and younger girls to dress and act provocatively. Of course, that’s been the constant lament of parents for generations — but in Moses’ case, she recognizes that her own generation was the first to come of age in the sexual … Read more
In a recent speech to the Royal Society of Arts in London, Sir David Attenborough said there’s a “strange silence” about overpopulation. Journalist Bonnie Erbe apparently believes Attenborough statements should be shouted from the rooftops, so she wrote an opinion piece for Scripps Howard News Service about it: Sir David said there needed to be … Read more
A new translation of the Bible is causing a stir is some evangelical circles, according to the Associated Press. While the 2011 translation of the New International Version Bible (NIV) still uses masculine pronouns to refer to God, such as “he” and “Father,” it uses inclusive language when referring to an “unspecified person.” In … Read more
Good morning! For anyone nursing green beer hangovers this morning, here are a few links to ease you into the day: Archbishop Timothy Dolan on the sex abuse scandal to 60 Minutes: “This was such a crisis in the Catholic Church that in a way, we don’t want to get over it too easily. This … Read more
Two “kill all the dumb people” posts in one week? What are the odds? Human embryos should be screened for their potential intelligence and only the smartest allowed to live, an Oxford University ethicist has argued. In shocking remarks, Prof Julian Savulescu says embryos that do not pass the intelligence test should be destroyed for … Read more
Germain Grisez, professor emeritus of philosophy and moral theology at Mount St. Mary’s College in Maryland, has released some documents that few in the Church have seen before. According to the Catholic News Agency, Grisez wants to set the record straight about the 1963-1966 commission about birth control which took place before the encyclical Humane … Read more
The Catholic News Agency reports that the Archbishop of Edinburgh has criticized the U.K.’s “anti-Christian foreign policy” after the government announced it would double aid to Pakistan without conditions. Cardinal Keith O’Brien said: Foreign Secretary William Hague should “obtain guarantees from foreign governments before they are given aid,” ensuring that Christians and other religious minorities … Read more
President Barack Obama will be interrupting a day filled with closed-to-the-press meetings to receive an award for his “deep commitment to an open and transparent government.” Matt Negrin of Politico wonders what the president will say when he accepts: [H]e probably won’t mention that his administration acted on fewer requests for information last year even … Read more
The New York Times gives readers a glimpse of what lies in store for the 50 anonymous men who have stayed behind at the Fukushima nuclear power station in Japan to help contain the damage from the reactor shutdowns: They crawl through labyrinths of equipment in utter darkness pierced only by their flashlights, listening for … Read more
Over at the Daily Caller, Mark Judge looks at NPR’s recent federal funding problems and offers a solution: It’s time for affirmative action at NPR. The beleaguered liberal organization, which is on the verge of losing its federal funding, can begin to get up off the canvas if it does one simple thing: hire a few conservatives. … Read more
The human-animal bond is an ancient thing, and psychologists confirmed long ago that a bond with an animal can be just as strong, if not stronger, than with a person. Certainly, it can be a lot less complicated: A dog never argues, talks back, or withholds anything to make a point. (And cats may be independent … Read more