Monthly Archives: August 2012

August 29, 2012

From Buddhist Laughter to the Protestant Smile

Peter Berger

The Huffington Post website carries a blog with the title “Faith Shift” written by Jaweed Kaleem. Last year, the blog reported on a large conference in Garrison, New York, supported by major Buddhist centers and periodicals. The focus of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Buddhism |
Comments
August 22, 2012

Judaism and Christianity: Embracing the “Other”?

Peter Berger

There cannot be two other religious traditions whose historical relations have been as awful as those between Judaism and Christianity. For centuries Jews suffered discrimination and persecution in countries that defined themselves as Christian, culminating in the unspeakable horrors of … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Culture, Inter-faith Dialogue, Judaism |
Comments
August 15, 2012

Can you be a Catholic and have a questioning mind?

Peter Berger

There has been no shortage of recent media stories bound to embarrass the Roman Catholic Church. There has been no end of reports about priests abusing boys and girls under their care (more boys than girls, it seems), culminating in … Continue reading →

Posted in Catholicism |
Comments
August 8, 2012

Darwin’s Ghost

Peter Berger

Charles Darwin published his culture-shaking Origin of Species in 1859. It immediately provoked a passionate controversy. This is hardly surprising. The Darwinian culture shock can be compared to an earlier one: the Copernican one. Copernicus made people see the earth … Continue reading →

Posted in Evangelicalism, Secularism |
Comments
August 1, 2012

A Federal Court Disclaims Its Ability to Decide What is True and Not

Peter Berger

A while ago on this blog I commented on a judgment by a Texas court which ruled that so-called “imprecatory prayer” (that is, prayer that asks God to inflict harm) is protected speech under the first amendment of the US … Continue reading →

Posted in Pluralism, Religion, Secularism |
Comments