Do You Really Think About Your Spiritual Positions?

It seems way too many people just accept Dogma, not only without really thinking through the consequences of Dogma, but also without even knowing exactly what they believe in. This is an interesting example.

Did you know you can stump anti-abortionists with one simple question?

Just ask them this:

If abortion was illegal, what should be done with the women who have illegal abortions?

Now watch their faces as the cognitive dissonance sets in. They believe abortion to be murder. Murder deserves severe punishment. Thus, women who have illegal abortions should receive severe punishment — like life in prison or the death penalty. That’s the logical conclusion.

But they can’t accept this conclusion. They know it’s absurd and unfair — which means they know abortion is not really murder.

I'm probably often as guilty as anyone else of letting assumptions get the best of me. So it's a good reminder.

Via Unreasonable Faith.

Brother Guy Consolmagno: God's Mechanics

Very interesting talk about Religion and Science. Worth watching, from fora.tv. This is someone who actually is both religious and understands science. For example "science is not about knowing, it's about describing".

With wry humor, Brother Guy Consolmagno shows how he not only believes in God but gives religion an honored place alongside science in his life. His book God's Mechanics: How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion offers an engaging look at how - and why - scientists and those with technological leanings can hold profound, "unprovable" religious beliefs while working in highly empirical fields.

Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno is a Jesuit brother with advanced degrees from MIT and the University of Arizona. A highly respected planetary scientist whose research focuses on meteorites, asteroids, and dwarf planets, Consolmagno is the author or co-author of numerous books and publications, including Brother Astronomer and Turn Left at Orion. He even has an asteroid named in his honor (4597 Consolmagno, known to its friends as "Little Guy").

He has served as chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society and is a past president of Commission 16 (Planets and Moons) of the International Astronomical