“On no account should the church allow infidels to have power over the faithful or to be set above them in any way. … The church is above the state … kings must be subject to priests.” (Thomas Aquinas)
Monthly Archives: November 2010
November 29: Religious Toleration
Tagged with: Amenophis IV, Aten, Catholic Encyclopedia, Christianity and Religious Toleration, civil status, colonial Maryland, cult of Jahveh, Edict of Nantes, edict of tolerance, Egypt, George Herbert Walker H W Bush, Henry IV, Huguenots, Jewish priests, Louis XIV, Louis XVI, Persian priests, Protestants, religioustolerance.org, Taoist priests, toleration continuum, Wars of Religion
Posted in History, Politics, Religion
Posted in History, Politics, Religion
November 28: Sir Leslie Stephen
Stephen said he never lost his faith because he never had any and helped to bring Thomas Henry Huxley’s newly coined word, “agnostic,” into vogue.
Tagged with: agnostic, Agnostic's Apology, David Hume, Dictionary of National Biography, Essays on Free Thinking and Plain Speaking, Frederick William Maitland, History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, Life and Letters of Leslie Stephen, Religion of Sir Leslie Stephen, Thomas Henry Huxley, Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf
Posted in Famous Freethinkers, Writer
Posted in Famous Freethinkers, Writer
November 28: Randy Newman
And the Lord said: I burn down your cities — how blind you must be I take from you your children and you say how blessed are we You all must be crazy to put your faith in me That’s why I love mankind… —”God’s Song”
Tagged with: Al Newman, Babe Pig in the City, Baltimore, Burn On, Falling in Love, Forrest Gump, Full Monty, God's Song, Guilty, Her Alibi, I Love L.A., I Love to See You Smile, If I Didn't Have You, Jim Coan, Joe Cocker, Lonely At The Top, Major League, Mama Told me Not to Come, Monsters Inc, Mr. President Have Pity on the Working Man, Old Man, Oscar, Overboard, Parenthood, Randall Stuart Newman, Religion of Randy Newman, Short People, Something Special, That'll Do, That's why I love mankind, Three Dog Night, Tom Jones, You Can Leave Your Hat On, You've Got Mail
Posted in Entertainer, Film, Musician
Posted in Entertainer, Film, Musician
November 27: The First Crusade
Rude-but-obvious questions are not encouraged, such as: Why did God allow the Muslim Turks to take control of Palestine in the first place? And: Why couldn’t the Pope ask God, rather than soldiers, to liberate the holy lands?
Tagged with: Alexius I Komnenos, Council of Clermont, Dark Ages, Holy Lands, Islam, Jerusalem, Muslims, Palestine, Religion and the First Crusade, Seljuk Turks, Urban II
Posted in History, Religion
Posted in History, Religion
Jeremy’s Opinionated Introduction to Freethought part 2
Does being an atheist make you a Freethinker? Does believing in a God keep you from being a freethinker?
November 26: The First Thanksgiving
The three days of feasting, dancing, singing and game-playing at the first Thanksgiving would not have fit the decorum dictated by Pilgrim piety.
Tagged with: Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, George Washington, harvest festival, Massasoit, Mayflower, Myles Standish, Pilgrims, Plymouth colony, Religion and Thanksgiving, religious proclamation, Squanto, Thanksgiving Day, Tisquantum, United States, Wampanoag Indians
Posted in History, Religion
Posted in History, Religion
Spanish Orgasm
I’m not sure what the demeaning part was. The fact that women have orgasms, too? Or would the ad have been more effective if the main character was a man getting excited?
November 25: Andrew Carnegie
“[O]nly in popular education can man erect the structure of an enduring civilization.”
Tagged with: B.J. Hendrick, Gospel of Wealth, J.P. Morgan, Life of James Watt, Moncure Daniel Conway, philanthropy, Religion of Andrew Carnegie, Truthseeker
Posted in Business, Famous Freethinkers
Posted in Business, Famous Freethinkers
November 23: Blaise Pascal’s Conversion
The evening of his “definite conversion” (November 23)… was the occasion of what Pascal remembered as a two-hour mystical vision, but what might just have been a misinterpretation of the aura and shimmering lights that occasionally precede a migraine headache. Some of the common triggers for migraines are being tired, stressed or depressed and the let-down after a stressful event — like nearly falling off a bridge.
Tagged with: Caravaggio, Conversion of Blaise Pascal, falling horseman, Michelangelo, migraine headache, night of fire, Pascals Wager, Pensees, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Saint Paul, Saul, Thoughts
Posted in Philosopher, Religion, Writer
Posted in Philosopher, Religion, Writer
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