Neil deGrasse Tyson Sets the Record Straight

I’m so happy about this video, I can’t really express it.   This is precisely what I have been saying for a while now.  I’m glad to see someone held in such high esteem saying the exact same thing.    Watch the video and then scroll down. Now here is what is happening.  In response to [...]

Honor and Cheating Students

The American Scholar has an interesting article published on the increase of students cheating in their classes in order to get ahead.  Here is a snippet: One of the gloomiest recent reports about the nation’s colleges and universities reinforces the suspicion that students are studying less, reading less, and learning less all the time: “American [...]

New Header Image and Updated ‘Mystery’

Because of my love for the Gnostics (and ancient mystery religions in general) I have thought it useful to update my blog header image and the ‘Of the Muses’ (upper-left column) information. I will not give out the passage of the Greek text (though many of you students of intertextuality and mimesis will pick up [...]

Well Done Rhode Island!

I have to say I’m a confused by the contradiction between two posts by Jim West who, only a day or two ago, scolded a school for having a song which praises Allah and who just today threw on the mask of persecution because a school had to take down a Christian prayer banner.   And [...]

‘Secularism is a Humanism’ and Other Important Information

Jim West has recently agitated a few people in his post about Dawkins (here).   One scholar, Professor Avalos, has made it clear that he will expose Jim’s hypocrisy; this would not be the first time Jim and Avalos have exchanged blows.  But I wonder about the value of this back and forth between them and [...]

An Explanation of Religious Freedom

Listen, people of Earth: religious freedom does not mean you get to take rights away from, or continually deny rights to, other people so you can continue to freely subjugate, oppress, or objectify them because your religious beliefs say you must.  In other words, if you think ‘religious freedom’ means that you have the freedom [...]

Memes: Killers of ‘Fiction’ and ‘History’

The title of this post may be a little tongue-in-cheek.  But the truth is, memes can carry a fictional story to the point where people believe they are true.  The best example ever came over my Facebook wall not too long ago and I had to share it, if only to make a point I’ve [...]

Calvin and Hobbes on Death

Calvin, as usual, raises an interesting point about death.  Hobbes, in his own subtle manner, offers his own philosophical perspective–not on death–on life.    Some of us walk through life without a desire to engage it, to interact with it.  For those people, the point of living is as meaningless as Calvin’s understanding of death.  [...]

South Park on the History Channel, Ancient Aliens, and the Public Understanding of History

South Park spoofed the History Channel’s series Ancient Aliens and I have to say, it was both hilarious and scary.  South Park has always been on the front lines (so to speak) of social commentary and satire.  Spoofing silly beliefs is nothing new for the show.  A few years ago it spoofed Scientology and before [...]

‘The Umbrella Man’ – A Cautionary Tale About History

What a fantastic example of the underlying nuances of the past.  For those who question why I stress such caution when investigating figures in the past, say the figure of Jesus, this is why.  There are so many nuances to the investigation, that to stress anything with a black-and-white mentality or a hard certainty is, [...]