The Great Dialogue

Of the Hereafter [Modified from the Writer's Almanac for 11-29] After the death of his wife, Joy, in 1960, CS Lewis was devastated. He wrote a book, A Grief Observed (1961), which contained his thoughts, questions, and observations. It was so raw and personal that he published it under a pseudonym. Friends actually recommended the book to him, to help with his grief, unaware that he'd written it. His authorship wasn't made known until after his death in 1963. In the book, he writes that he doesn't believe people are reunited with their loved ones in the next life.  ~What do you think? Will we see our departed loved ones in heaven?

Martin Luther's advice to a friend who was depressed:  "Be strong and cheerful and cast out these monstrous thoughts. Whenever the devil harasses you thus, seek the company of men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other merry thing. Sometimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves, aye, and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him no place for troubling our consciences with trifles. We are conquered if we try too conscientiously not to sin at all. So when the devil says to you: 'Do not drink,' answer him: 'I will drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to.' One must always do what Satan forbids. What other cause do you think that I have for drinking so much strong drink, talking so freely and making merry so often, except that I wish to mock and harass the devil who is wont to mock and harass me. Would that I could contrive some great sin to spite the devil, that he might understand that I would not eve...

U.S. Stands Alone In Its Embrace of Religion Among Wealthy Nations … OVERVIEW Religion is much more important to Americans than to people living in other wealthy nations. Six-in-ten (59%) people in the U.S. say religion plays a very important role in their lives. This is roughly twice the percentage of self-avowed religious people in Canada (30%), and an even higher proportion when compared with Japan and Western Europe. Americans' views are closer to people in developing nations than to the publics of developed nations. The 44-nation survey of the Pew Global Attitudes Project shows stark global regional divides over the personal importance of religion.[1] In Africa, no fewer than eight-in-ten in any country see religion as very important personally. Majorities in every Latin American country also subscribe to that view, with the exception of Argentina. More than nine-in-ten respondents in the predominantly Muslim nations of Indonesia, Pakistan, Mali and Senegal rate rel...

This all seems pretty obvious to me--not sure there's much to say. Yes, I think these things are pretty universal, though I think the last one about protecting the environment is not so well understood. Too many of us humans aren't farsighted enough to pay much attention to this one. Jim

Hello...see link below to the World Moral Code: http://www.universalmoralcode.com/code.html -- I would like to know what you each think...Thanx, Wayne

Hello,   Long time no see! :)   Below is from the Writer's Almanac today...Quite relevant to how the Dialogue operates! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was on this day  in 1838 that Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered 'The Divinity School  Address' at Harvard. There were about 100 people in the audience,  including six of the seven graduates of Harvard Divinity School, as well as  faculty, ministers, and former graduates. Emerson had graduated from Harvard  Divinity in 1826, and the graduating students had chosen him as the speaker for  this event. The year before, he had given a lecture called 'The American  Scholar' to the Harvard Phi Beta Kappa society. It was controversial but  popular, and the students were eager to have him back.  Emerson had been a Unitarian minister, but he had resigned a few years earlier. He was skeptical  of the Communion ritual, and of the whole concept of public prayer —  he felt it should be a private, individual expression. Emerso...

Today I read "When the King Saved God" in the latest issue of Vanity Fair in which Christopher Hitchens, himself an unbeliever, argues that the King James translation of the Bible is essential to our American cultural literacy. Beyond this, he even asserts that this translation must surge ahead of the ever-burgeoning tide of lesser, more trendy texts to come along due to its timeless poetry and authoritative interpretations. While he highlights some of the infamously biased word choices of the great English translation, he maintains that it should still be considered the essential version of the Christian Bible. This begs the question of the Dialogue: Do you think there can or should be an essential translation of the Christian (or other religious) text, by which all others are measured?

Good Morning    I have been reading about Pastor Rob Bell - Pastor Bell has written a book in which he asserts that there IS NO HELL - while quoting scriptures out of context [and very fluidly] to make his point - Below is a link to a NY TIMES article about him [TIME magazine made it the cover story a week ago].    This stands out for me as one of the greatest problems for the Dialogue, and society; how to approach examples in which a newer "form" of Christianity becomes popular but in total disregard for traditional and even explicit, foundational, Church teaching...there appear to be, in the mind of many, no Essentials to anything...Will science be next? See: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/us/05bell.html

See Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13153536 - for an article from BBC regarding the death of Indian Guru, Sai Baba...Somehow I had missed hearing much about him until now...I was wondering as I read what the members of the Dialogue would think--mainly of him as a Syncretist?

from the Writer's Almanac [4/22] "It's the birthday of Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant (books by this author), born in Konigsberg, Prussia, in 1724. His father was a saddle maker. He studied theology, physics, mathematics, and philosophy at university, and worked for a time as a private tutor; he made very little money, but it gave him plenty of time for his own work. He lectured at the University of Konigsberg for 15 years, until he was eventually given a tenured position as professor of logic and metaphysics in 1770. Though he enjoyed hearing travel stories, he never ventured more than 50 miles from his hometown, believing that travel was not necessary to solve the problems of philosophy. In his most influential work, The Critique of Pure Reason (1781), he argued against Empiricism, which held that the mind was a blank slate to be filled with observations of the physical world, and Rationalism, which held that it was possible to experience the world o...

Sometime ago, Psychology--as a field--moved in the direction of including spirituality as an important dimension of peoples' lives, and away from the longstanding position that God [and religion] was an unimportant concept...Now there are trainings, books, college courses on addressing the spiritual concerns of clients in therapy. As I was attending one lecture on this subject It got me to reflecting on the Essentials concept...it would be foolish to reject out of hand "any good thing," such as the concept of energy meridians or recent scientific discoveries about how the  body [and brain] process pain signals, or the nuances of someone's culture and how it affects their viewpoint--that having been said, I propose that holding to a set of Essential beliefs and behaviors, while helping to define a spiritual position, should not be allowed to create an unassailable, Monolithic viewpoint...there is always diversity in religion [even within denominations]...this is probab...

Supposedly, today is Buddha's Birthday. There is a "belief" that when he was born dragons flew down from heaven and poured out water and "all the flowers on land and water bloomed simultaneously" [writer's almanac]. As a consequence, people celebrate this day by decorating with flowers, carrying flowers to temples ceremonially, and in Japan children pour tea over the heads of statues of Buddha... It makes me think: maybe we DO need to canonize scriptures--this is likely not an Essential Buddhist belief, is it?  Besides, wouldn't he have been born TOO LATE for Dragons? I suspect that is also why some books were excluded from the Christian canon, e.g., because they held accounts of Jesus' acts or teachings that were markedly inconsistent with what was already accepted and known to have happened...odd, divergent accounts needed to be excluded on the basis they could not be credited...So here we see something in Buddhist lore that [and I realize this ...

Caste-based discrimination and a birth-based hierarchy are not an intrinsic part of Hinduism and represent a failure to uphold Hinduism's essential, spiritual teaching of divinity inherent in all beings.In a recent report the Hindu American Foundation (HAF)asserted that the caste-based system in Hindu society is NOT part of essential Hindu belief,even though some ancient texts appear to support caste and birth-based hierarchies. They further note that NONE require labeling some persons as "untouchable." Many of the Hindu scriptures state that divinity is part of ALL people. Caste does not fit with the belief that we should respect the divinity in all persons. SEE: http://www.hafsite.org/media/pr/not-cast-caste-big-picture-and-executive-summary?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MEMBER+ALERT+-+HAF+clarifies+purpose+of+...&utm_source=YMLP&utm_term=Hinduism%3A+Not+Caste+in

Hello,   For context, See article, "Beginning the Journey" by Judith Lasater at: http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/462?utm_source=Wisdom&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=Wisdom The first yama is perhaps the most famous one: ahimsa, usually translated as "nonviolence." This refers not only to physical violence, but also to the violence of words or thoughts. What we think about ourselves or others can be as powerful as any physical attempt to harm. To practice ahimsa is to be constantly vigilant, to observe ourselves in interaction with others and to notice our thoughts and intentions. Try practicing ahimsa by observing your thoughts when a smoker sits next to you. Your thoughts may be just as damaging to you as his cigarette is to him. It is often said that if one can perfect the practice of ahimsa, one need learn no other practice of yoga, for all the other practices are subsumed in it. Whatever practices we do after the yamas must include ...

From the Writer's Almanac: "It's the birthday of science fiction  writer and Church of Scientology founder L.  Ron Hubbard, born in Tilden, Nebraska  (1911). He enrolled in George Washington University in 1930 to study civil engineering but was placed on academic probation because  of poor grades, and he left after two semesters. In 1950, he wrote Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental  Health, which formed the basis of the Church of Scientology's  teaching. The book explains that humans have 'engrams,' recordings of  painful events experienced in the past, stored in their subconscious and that  these are the basis of physical and emotional problems. In order to be cleared  of these engrams and unwanted spiritual conditions, a person takes part in an  'auditing' session, where a counselor uses an Electropsychometer, or  E-Meter, to measure the mental state of a person, helping to locate areas of  spiritual distre...

Steve - I agree that there is a need for ongoing dialogue about this - in almost every case when the state has a endorsed a "State religion" problems arise...and even in America, where there is a lot of freedom to choose one's religious practice and to carry it out unimpeded, we still see many trying to use courts and legislative actions to limit or remove one or another group's rights [sometimes even private citizens rights] to practice their own religion peaceably.       I certainly do not have any easy answers: this country was designed to allow tolerance of diverse ideas and views, but our international policies and actions seem to me, at times, to belie that. and internally, many of us are very intolerant of other's worldviews...I hope the Dalai Lama's decision plays out as he hopes... As for the USA, If Christians would take the lead in promoting religious tolerance it might help...I find it hardest to be that person when it comes to my closest associa...

Dalai Lama plans to quit as Tibet political leader http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7290UK20110310

Please Pray with me for the People of Japan! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709598

Today is  International Women's Day, which has been celebrated in the United States, Russia,  and parts of Europe since the turn of the 20th  century. It was during this holiday in 1917 that women workers in Russia left  factories and took to the streets to protest food shortages. When Czar Nicholas  II ordered the military to intervene, they did not. Shortly afterward, he  abdicated, and shortly after that, women in Russia  were given the right to vote, three years before women in the U.S.  International Women's Day is celebrated in 28 countries and  recognized by the United Nations.

Good Morning! The link below is an article you may find of interest - I found it while thinking about some photos I saw awhile back on the Internet that disturbed me...friends [yes, actually] of mine posted photos of themselves dressed as Jesus [various "forms" of Jesus] in what was certainly meant to be a mockery of Him...it often seems to me that we are getting farther away from religious tolerance in the USA, not closer...in some ways I salute the spirit of the persons in the article linked below because they are using their freedom of speech to assert their views...I welcome that...but inflammatory things [like the photos I mentioned] seem pointed in the wrong direction...what to do about religious tolerance? http://www.peoplesworld.org/as-americans-turn-away-from-religion-atheists-plan-ads/