So, I’ve been doing even more thinking, which is probably a bad sign. But it occurs to me that one of the reasons US  politics may be as rancorous as it is at the moment is that people in the US share an underlying assumption they may not be aware of, and that they might…

Star Trek. I meant Star Trek. Okay.  I’ll admit it.  I’m not a science fiction person.  I sometimes get the two of them confused. And I wanted to point out to Robert that I hadn’t meant to simplify his point, I was just looking for a simple way to refer to it.  I do know…

As I write these blog entries, there is a situation occuring in the United States that I think may be unprecedented in our history.  I have no idea how this is being reported abroad, although I do get a couple of European news channels and check a few web sites every day.  As far as…

Every once in a while, something happens that makes me realize that this discussion is not academic, that the ramifications of what I’m talking about here are both stark and dangerous.  This morning, I received an e-mail from a friend of mine about theproposed health care reform bill now in front of Congress.   It wasn’t…

A couple of people have e-mailed me to tell me they really, really, really want to know how I see the Trekkies developing into an alternative religion.  And  I do mean to get to that a bit towards the end of all this. But right now,  I’d like to take note of Roger’s comment that…

Well, I definitely think that new religions will arise to take the place of old ones, and that there are a number of movements today that function like religions for the people who adopt them.  But if I had to opt for a popular movement capable of resulting in a new actual religion, it wouldn’t…

For Cheryl–if I knew where I was going with this, I wouldn’t be wriiting it.  That’s what the blog’s for. Okay, I’m being facetious.  And I do want to point out, for John’s sake, that the existence of God is not a question in philosophy.  It’s a question in theology if you’re arguing in favor. …

Okay, let me say a couple of things up front, just to make sure everybody knows where I’m coming from. First,  I’m an atheist–and always have been one, as far as I know.  I came from a family with little or no religious belief and never found the religious position plausible since. Second, I am…

I’m going to start this post with something of a warning. I am, today, in a very odd frame of mind.  My husband died, some years ago, of a very rare form of cancer–so rare that the cases of it in the US in any one year are in single digits, and there are no…

This is going to be just a little thing today, because I’m gearing up for something.  For those of you who like to read up, part of what I’m gearing up to concerns two poems, “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold, and “Sunday Morning” by Wallace Stevens. Actually, what I’m gearing up to is a thing…