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Archive: June 8, 2008 - June 14, 2008
You Want Facts or Feelings?
This question should not be seen as a matter of personal conviction or opinion at all. People’s hunches, anecdotal recollections, or personal convictions are of no more weight here than they would be about the causes of global warming.
By Daniel C. Dennett | June 13, 2008; 10:14 AM ET | Comments (123)
Can Religion Effect or Affect Health?
To claim to "effect" good health," to bring into being such cures, however, is an invitation to false advertising, to license false hopes (acknowledging that there can be "true" hopes), and even guilt or worse health among the hyper-religious for whom their prayer disciplines were ineffective.
By Martin Marty | June 13, 2008; 9:54 AM ET | Comments (4)
Faith is not a New Age Belief
In sum, faith is something that clearly has a connection with the soul and with the inner workings of man's mentality, and therefore has some influence on health too.
By Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz | June 13, 2008; 7:35 AM ET | Comments (11)
Car Tag Evangelism
Welton Gaddy | As a minister, I have to question the benefit of placing a cross or any other religious symbol on a motor vehicle tag.
By Welton Gaddy | June 12, 2008; 8:47 AM ET | Comments (116)
A Real To-Do List for the Church
Does the Church do enough for the world?
By Eboo Patel | June 11, 2008; 11:09 PM ET | Comments (66)
Your Church Can Help You Get Well (or Make You Sick!)
Even as we can sin against one another in body, mind and spirit, so too can we grace one another in body, mind and spirit and help each other become more whole.
By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 11, 2008; 3:52 PM ET | Comments (56)
Christianity Produces a Sound Soul and Sound Body
There is more to understanding God’s creation and how we should relate to it than the nutrition label on the back of your “food product” can tell you.
By John Mark Reynolds | June 11, 2008; 2:30 PM ET | Comments (19)
Religious Devotion Can Bring Tangible Health Benefits
There’s considerable evidence that a religious life delivers significant health dividends in faiths that integrate a health code into their religious observance – like Seventh Day Adventists and Mormons (Latter-day Saints)
By Michael Otterson | June 11, 2008; 1:03 PM ET | Comments (31)
Faith as Oxygen
Life is a precious gift that gives the human being the joy of learning to create a greater world beyond the confinement of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Faith is an important part in the life and activities of the human...
By Sulayman Nyang | June 10, 2008; 3:46 PM ET | Comments (0)
The Mind-Body Connection
I date the origins of my atheism from a visit to the hospital, at age seven, to see a playmate in an iron lung, a boy who had been running and playing ball with the rest of us. That made a permanent impression on me. I began questioning all of the nonsense I had already been taught about the existence of a loving God.
By Susan Jacoby | June 10, 2008; 8:24 AM ET | Comments (1017)
Tending our Earthly Vessels
We read the manual for the proper care and maintenance of our cars. We can also read the "manual" for the proper care of our bodies.
By Cal Thomas | June 10, 2008; 7:55 AM ET | Comments (27)
Retreat, Hillary
The best thing Hillary Clinton could do now for herself would be to go on a silent retreat. She needs time to find herself.
By Sally Quinn | June 10, 2008; 6:58 AM ET | Comments (244)
Faith Healing, from Jesus to Neurotransmitters
At the very least faith induces subjective well-being with about as much reliability as pharmaceuticals, minus damaging side effects. Which is not to imply that anyone should place absolute faith in faith.
By Deepak Chopra | June 10, 2008; 6:42 AM ET | Comments (12)
Faith Is Real, And So Is Science
This issue is not whether or not “one believes” that faith affects our health, because it is a scientific fact that it does. The issue is what we mean by faith and how we understand the effect.
By Brad Hirschfield | June 10, 2008; 5:16 AM ET | Comments (9)
Senator Obama and His Religious Affiliation
Mr. Obama had every practical reason to leave Trinity United Church of Christ, but his spiritual reason for leaving remains in doubt.
By Gardner Calvin Taylor | June 9, 2008; 11:02 PM ET | Comments (1)
Faith and Mental Health
If our Faith is centered around a personality or in a set of rituals defined by someone then we are opening the door to dogmatic practices which can lead to a deterioration in mental health.
By Arun Gandhi | June 9, 2008; 4:20 AM ET | Comments (1)
God and Man at Dartmouth
What would William F. Buckley have thought of the Multi Faith Baccalaureate Service Ceremony at Dartmouth?
By Eboo Patel | June 9, 2008; 12:03 AM ET | Comments (43)
Choose "Humbly" Next Church
Can anyone remember knowing nearly as much about the congregation of a presidential candidate—or even of an actual president--as we know about the church from which the Obamas have now resigned?
By Richard Mouw | June 8, 2008; 11:54 PM ET | Comments (10)
No Place Like a Spiritual Home
It is difficult to understand how Senator Obama could attend a church for twenty years, defend it in one of the most eloquent speeches I have heard, and then suddenly have an epiphany about the nature of the place where he trusted his own and his children’s spiritual well being.
By John Mark Reynolds | June 8, 2008; 11:51 PM ET | Comments (22)
Christians and Church; Muslims and Mosque
The debates surrounding Barack Obama “leaving” his home church, Trinity United Church of Christ, is admittedly puzzling to many Muslims.
By Daisy Khan | June 8, 2008; 10:15 PM ET | Comments (28)
Motivation, Expectations Matter in Church Dilemma
In the spirit of the no religious test clause in Article VI of the Constitution, we should give our candidates for president (and other offices) a lot of leeway in determining where they worship and who their spiritual leaders will be.
By J. Brent Walker | June 8, 2008; 10:06 PM ET | Comments (10)
Preaching is an Extended Conversation
Ideally, preaching is an extended conversation, and without a frame of reference, quotes and YouTube excerpts are bound to distort that conversation. These days there’s no such thing as a word between only preacher and pew. In digital times, the world is our parish.
By William Tully | June 8, 2008; 9:54 PM ET | Comments (14)
Obama's pastor would have kept our troops out of Iraq
If we had listened to Jeremiah Wright instead of George Bush, we wouldn’t have made the tragic mess we’ve made in Iraq. America needs more preachers like Jeremiah Wright and more politicians like Barack Obama.
By Willis E. Elliott | June 8, 2008; 8:06 PM ET | Comments (12)
Fool Me Once
If resignation is what it takes to get the stumbling block that is Trinity United Church of Christ out of Senator Obama's path, that is what he should do as a political necessity.
By Kathleen Flake | June 8, 2008; 7:11 PM ET | Comments (18)
