A Thinking Reed

  • A reluctant universalist

    That’s how Richard Hall from Connexions describes himself in this thought-provoking post.

  • Collier on Singer

    Paul Collier, who wrote the book The Bottom Billion about global poverty, reviews Singer’s The Life You Can Save and has some interesting criticisms. Though, I think our obligations to the world’s poorest people aren’t simply a matter of altruism; it can be well argued, I think, that we owe them, given some of our…

  • A boy and his robot

    From the AV Club: an appreciation of one of my very favorite movies.

  • God and the multiverse

    An interesting article dealing with how some religious believers are dealing with the idea, suggested from some of the more speculative corners of contemporary physics, that our universe is simply one part of a vast “multiverse” (via the First Things blog, I think). Among other things, the multiverse hypothesis seems to pose a challenge for…

  • Faith and reason: a follow up

    Jeremy and Jonathan both provided some good comments and helpful pushback on this post. Here are some follow-up thoughts: I don’t think I was very successful at doing this, but it’s important to avoid positing a simplistic dichotomy between a monolithic reason and an equally homogeneous “faith” or “revelation.” I don’t assume that we can…

  • Jesus Prayer rosary

    As usual, my high aspirations for improving my practice of prayer during Lent haven’t lived up to expectations. Still, I recently picked up a small book called The Jesus Prayer Rosary by the late Fr. Michael Cleary that I’ve found helpful. Although I’m wary of mix ‘n’ match approaches to spirituality, I love the Rosary…

  • Sen. Jim Webb tackles prison reform

    Good for him. I hope something substantive comes of this.

  • Do crustaceans feel pain?

    Two new studies suggest they do (via).

  • The bar of reason

    Marvin reproduced an interesting quote from Gary Dorrien, who Google tells me is the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Religion at Columbia University. Dorrien offers this definition of a “liberal approach” to theology: theology should be based on reason and critically interpreted religious experience, not external authority.…

  • Foie gras revisited

    A writer for the Village Voice investigates the “Is foie gras torture?” question by traveling to Hudson Valley Foie Gras in New York, the nation’s largest producer. What she concludes after observing the birds is that it’s not nearly as bad as some of the images from animal rights and welfare groups suggest. (Many of…