The Philosopher's Stone

The Heterosexist Agenda

2013-05-07T18:45:00.003-07:00

Source: Flickr (Creative Commons) I have really grown to hate the term "homophobe," because it just really doesn't seem particularly descriptive of many people it's applied to. For one thing, just because a person opposes gay marriage doesn't necessarily mean that they're afraid of gay people. When you apply that term to someone, you can't actually know whether or not it's true. Whether it's

The Philosophical Christian: Understanding Easter as Survival of Love

2013-04-03T06:09:00.000-07:00

Buddy Christ icon from Kevin Smith's film Dogma Despite having been raised Christian and celebrating Easter throughout my youth, I'll confess that this holiday never made any sense whatsoever to me. Christmas makes sense. You don't have to believe in the Virgin Birth as a literal event to understand the wonder inherent in the story of the nativity for those who believe it. My Easter Confusion

What does the internet think ... and does it matter?

2013-02-15T11:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the science fiction author John Scalzi, I stumbled upon an intriguing website called "What Does the Internet Think?" The site uses some methodology (who knows what) it comes up with a rating of the percentage of positive and negative postings on a topic across the internet. I couldn't pass up the chance to see what sort of fun data I could get out of this. For now, I'll post the

Open Letter to the Boy Scouts of America

2013-02-07T20:30:00.000-08:00

Photo from Instructables I sent the following e-mail to the Boy Scouts of America last week, when they announced that they were reconsidering the ban on homosexuals in the organization. They have since delayed the decision until their National Annual Meeting in May. I don't expect this message to change anyone's view on the issue, of course, but it is the view of someone who profoundly

Books Read in 2012

2012-12-31T13:00:00.000-08:00

Here are the books I read in 2012. Even when you take into account that many of these were slim Kindle Singles, given how busy I've been over the last year, I'm impressed by the numbers... The Books Read This Before Our Next Meeting by Al Pittampalli A Feast of Crows by George R. R. Martin Dreadnought by Cherie Priest The Quantum Universe (Or Why Anything That Can Happen, Does) by Brian Cox &

The Philosophical Christian: 5 Reasons Not to "Fear God"

2012-12-17T18:48:00.001-08:00

Today I finally got back on Facebook for the first time since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I've been intentionally avoiding it. It's made my wife cry multiple times already and, since we don't have television, I was able to have a nice weekend without being confronted with the tragedy continuously. When I finally did log on to Facebook, I was prepared for the assorted pro- and

Election Day 2012 - Final Thoughts

2012-11-06T05:36:00.001-08:00

Today is the final day in an election cycle that has gone on far too long. I began following things back in fall of 2011, when I was curious what the various Republican primary candidates had to say for themselves. I offered an open mind that perhaps they could sway me to vote for them. Now that we're on election day - and I genuinely have no idea who is going to win, with close polls on pretty

I Am the 47%

2012-09-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't been on Facebook yet today, but I can only imagine that the subject line of this blog post has become cliched even moments after I thought of it. Alas, there's nothing new under the sun. And that includes Mitt Romney sticking his foot in it, which seems to be a pretty regular event. The latest kerfuffle is over his comments back at a spring fundraiser with wealthy donors, where he

Corporations: People, Entities, or a Hybrid of Both?

2012-07-14T09:36:00.002-07:00

Many liberals have made a lot out of the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court, which they describe as saying "corporations are people." However, the Supreme Court ruling doesn't actually use this terminology, even if the spirit of the ruling does imply that . Still, one of the major elements of the campaign is the degree to which corporations deserve special considerations and what

The Mutual Pledge of the Declaration of Independence

2012-07-04T08:56:00.005-07:00

The most often-quoted part of the Declaration of Independence is, of course, the introductory part, up until the famous lines: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Many people rightly recognize this as a declaration of

5 Patriotic Videos for Independence Day

2012-07-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

For the past several years, my Fourth of July tradition has been to watch the 1972 musical 1776 (Amazon, BN), which recounts the events surrounding the writing and passage of the Declaration of Independence. This isn't the only film appropriate for this day, of course - GeekDad has a nice list (linked below). In that vein, I consider a handful of other films and videos that I've begun working

15 Religion Quotes from George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire

2012-06-26T06:10:00.001-07:00

Today is the launch date of Smart Pop Books' Beyond the Wall (Amazon, BN), a collection of essays from a diverse set of authors and fans about George R. R. Martin's modern classic, the Song of Ice and Fire series ... known to most people from the HBO series Game of Thrones (Amazon, BN). Authors from the anthology have joined together to create a sort of "Extras" sampling on their various

5 Lessons From Disney/Pixar's Brave

2012-06-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

The new Disney/Pixar film Brave is a powerful film. The overall plotline has been masterfully unspoiled from the previews, though I was able to deduce much of it from the general marketing push (specifically some of the Subway restaurant tie-in materials), but the title alone indicates at least one theme that will be prevalent in the film. I've done a more comprehensive (though still

Why Conservatives Should Support Marital Equality

2012-05-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

Social conservatives are absolutely right when they claim that marriage is a central institution in our society and deserves to be protected. Marriage is important. In fact, I argue that the decision of who to spend your life with is too important to be left to religions. The case for marital equality is not about "legitimizing" a homosexual lifestyle, any more than accepting a Jewish marriage

National Day of Reason: 5 Reasonable Books to Read

2012-05-02T22:07:00.002-07:00

With two young children, I don't get a ton of time to read. My library (both the Kindle library and the physical one) is growing much faster than I have any hope of keeping track of. Listening to the occasional TED talk or podcast helps keep me up to speed but, often as not, it just makes me ache for time to get into the meaty topics that I'm not able. So, in honor of today, the National Day of

Science Fiction, Science, and Inspiration

2012-04-27T15:33:00.003-07:00

In the sixth grade, I read my first science fiction novel: Isaac Asimov's Foundation. From that moment, I was hooked. These days, I make a decent chunk of my living writing about science and a less decent chunk of it writing about science fiction and related popular culture topics. In that regard, consider my most recent publication, an essay in the collection The Big Bang Theory and

Philosophical Avengers Assemble!

2012-04-04T19:09:00.005-07:00

This spring, The Avengers finally hits theaters ... and bookstores ... bringing the top heroes of the Marvel Universe together to fight forces that threaten to destroy the world. Among the plethora of media tie-ins rests one that might of particular interest to you if you're reading this blog: The Avengers and Philosophy: Earth's Mightiest Thinkers (Amazon, B&N). My contribution to this

My Hunger for The Hunger Games

2012-03-23T02:50:00.002-07:00

I heard my wife's friends express their fanatic appreciation of The Hunger Games for well over a year before I got around to reading it. From the first moment I heard about the concept, I was reminded of the Stephen King novel (and subsequent Schwarzenegger film) The Running Man. It seemed interesting, but I didn't anticipate that I'd get so engrossed in the books. Then I read the first novel

It Is About Contraception (and Healthcare)

2012-02-20T08:31:00.000-08:00

In a recent post over at The Freeman, there's an eloquent argument that the recent healthcare debate is not about contraception. The article is even entitled "It's Not about Contraception." The argument, as the author frames it, is about "freedom versus compulsion." (I mentioned this in my post on this subject yesterday, though linked to a copy of the article at Reason.) However, there's a major

Ham Sandwiches for Jews and Religious Liberty

2012-02-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

Unless you've lived under a rock the last couple of weeks, you've heard about President Obama's latest maneuver in his "War on Religion." In case you missed it, here are the particulars: Obamacare includes a mandate that all employers provide health insurance. Part of this is a provision that the health insurance provide free access to contraception. Certain religious organizations, most

Do Guns Make You Safe?

2012-01-30T09:45:00.000-08:00

Over on Facebook, a friend shared a story about an elderly woman who was pulled over. The officer discovered that she had a variety of guns in the car. (She had a permit.) The story ends with the woman saying that she's not scared of "a f***ing thing," the implication clearly being that it's because she has firepower at her disposal. A friend chimed in that there's "nothing for one's piece of

Sam Harris on Lying

2012-01-16T23:02:00.000-08:00

I'm not much for lying. For one thing, I tend to suck at it. Very badly, in fact. I giggle a lot when lying, which doesn't help carry off the subterfuge. So I avoid lying, mostly. At times, I probably go out of my way, blurting out my thoughts on issues where it would be better to keep silent. I actually love debating and, as any readers of this blog know, I love being a devil's advocate, so

Unintended Consequences: Religious Freedom, Unless You're a Minister

2012-01-15T11:06:00.000-08:00

This week, the Supreme Court unanimously decided in favor of religious institutions being able to make decisions about who they hire and fire, without government interference. While this is certainly a strong decision in favor of religious freedom, I think that those who are heralding this as a resounding success for religion as a whole are missing the point. While this decision does protect the

Books Read in 2011

2012-01-02T11:25:00.000-08:00

Every year, I like to look back at all of the books I've read in the previous year. In the days to come, I'll no doubt be putting together a more comprehensive retrospective of my other 2011 activities, but this is a good starting point. So, on to the list (with links to my reviews, when I got around to actually reviewing them): The Books Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld (audiobook) Mockingjay

Spider-Man Comes to iPad

2011-12-03T09:45:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite modern myths is Spider-Man. Let's tick off all of the great things about Spider-Man's origin: Peter Parker starts out as a teenage science geek Peter Parker is bullied by other, more powerful kids Though he gets enhanced powers, these powers are also augmented by his own innovation (in the comic, he doesn't naturally shoot webs, but instead designs and builds "webslingers"