Dave's Mormon Inquiry WeblogCommentary and links to news, events, books, and articles.Gay Marriage in Scandanavia- March 3, 2004 Interesting post with this title at Christus Victor, linking to an article of that name by Stanley Kurtz. It suggests a link between the decline of conventional marriage in Scandanavia and liberalized marriage laws there, including same-sex marriage. Sample: The lesson of the Scandanavian experience is that even de facto same-sex marriage undermines marriage. Interesting reading, appealing to a natural (or unnatural, depending on your point...http://radio.weblogs.com/0128987/2004/03/02.html#a184 They Came Here in Boats- March 3, 2004 Cronaca has a short post entitled Early California Seafarers. Based on evidence from the Channel Islands (off the California coast), people in North America were voyaging by sea some 8,000 years ago, boosting a theory that some of the continent's first settlers arrived there by boat. Too early for Nephites, though, even Jaredites (besides, these early Californians travelled on top of the water). Ancient people knew boats and water travel, but navigation was...http://radio.weblogs.com/0128987/2004/03/02.html#a183 Creation Science Comics- March 3, 2004 Yes, it's even worse with pictures--go see Apes, Lies, and Ms. Henn, a little comic strip trying to teach grade school kids they know more than their science teachers (thanks to Pharyngula, a biology blog, for the link). Okay, I'll admit the cream of the science class doesn't end up teaching fifth graders and some of the kids probably DO know more than their teachers, but it's a nice showcase for the Creation Science mentality that fights its real battles contaminating high school...http://radio.weblogs.com/0128987/2004/03/02.html#a182 Poisoned Waters- March 3, 2004 An interesting post with this title at Movable Theoblogical (link on my sidebar), talking about how right-wing Evangelical and fundamentalist religion, which has come to define Christianity in America, has alienated the Democratic half of the country, at least to the extent of avoiding Christian associations in public discourse. Environmentally minded Dems especially seem to feel no connection.http://radio.weblogs.com/0128987/2004/03/02.html#a181 Mormons and The Passion of The Christ- March 2, 2004 There are some detailed comments and samples of several reviews of the movie in this story at Christianity Today. The Christian world is abuzz over the movie; perhaps it's a sign of the times that this generation's cinematic treatment of Jesus is steeped in violent scenes. Comment on Mormon blogs touches on the problematic fact that the film is rated R, and Latter-day Saints have been counseled to avoid R-rated movies. This blog...http://radio.weblogs.com/0128987/2004/03/01.html#a180 Locke v. Davey: Two Surprises- March 2, 2004 The US Supreme Court issued its opinion in Locke v. Davey, a Free Exercise Clause (FEC) case, on February 25; for a shorter summary, see the synopsis here. The path of Religious Clause jurisprudence has taken lots of zigs and zags the last fifty years, but Locke v. Davey seemed like a fairly straightforward case of facial discrimination (in the distribution of state scholarship grants to Washington State college students) on the basis of religious belief (expressed by a decision.http://radio.weblogs.com/0128987/2004/03/01.html#a179 The Ghost in the Machine- March 1, 2004 A short article entitled The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach is online at Scientific American. Three recent books examining the best present scientific understanding of consciousness are reviewed. The article is also a short introduction to the field of evolutionary psychology, a young field that merges brain science and psychology in a firmly evolutionary approach to consciousness. When the researchers in this field iron out the wrinkles in their.http://radio.weblogs.com/0128987/2004/03/01.html#a178 |