1 Comment »

In The Brother’s Karmazov, Rebellion is right before the famous chapter, The Grand Inquisitor. It is the atheist brother, Ivan, who knows too much about religion to believe in God; berating Aloysha, the priest. Ivan’s main problem is,

“All I know is that there is suffering and none are guilty”

He goes on to say,

I must have justice, or I will destroy myself. And not justice in some remote, infinite time and space, but here on earth so I can see it myself….
All the religions of the world are built on this longing and I am a believer…”

He collects stories about the terrible suffering of the most innocent, children. Their sufferings undeniably showcase the injustice of this world. He then gives them to Aloysha and asks them how his God can allow these things to pass.

|inline

No Comments »

I came across a very interesting article on Physics Web:”Physics Web”:http://physicsweb.org/ today. It was entitled Subtle are Einstein’s Thoughts:”Physics Web(Subtle are Einstein’s Thoughts)”:http://physicsweb.org/articles/world/18/9/2/1?rss=2.0 and it was on the personal religion of Einstein. Yes, that was a pun and read on to find out why.

There are many quotes on religion from Einstein. Here is a sampling:”Stanford.edu(Einstein Quotes)”:http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~cheshire/EinsteinQuotes.html :

|inline

No Comments »

The following is my writing sample submitted for my application to the Religious Studies Master’s Program at the University of Missouri Here is the link to the PDF file: The Structural Analysis of Christianity.

Introduction, the conflict between Christianity and Science

In 1615 C.E. the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany received a letter from a friend of hers. The letter sparked off one of the great confrontations between the thinkers of Christianity and those of science. It was one of the major battles between two ideologies that had been diametrically opposed since their respective conceptions. At least that was the way it was seen for many years afterward. Such a view is called the Conflict Theory:”(Wilson, David. The Historiography of Science and Religion. Science and Religion. 2002. John Hopkins University Press. p.14)”:. It states that religion and science have always been opposed to each other’s ideas and are in a state of perpetual conflict. Was the Trial of Galileo only a flash point in an old, unending war between two veins of thought? It is the purpose of this paper to argue that the conflict theory is wrong and to put forth an alternate structure to the conflicts between science and Christianity. The two most famous conflicts between Christianity and science, Heliocentrism and evolution, will be examined and compared to see what patterns emerge.

(more…)