May 8, 2018

Something to keep in mind when considering the infallibility of science.

Source: Patheos, by Timothy Rowe

*****

The fact is that God is not any one, single idea, but a family of different hypotheses connected by a common theme. This is not a unique property of the idea of God. For example, there are literally hundreds of different versions of the theory of cosmological inflation—the idea that the early universe underwent an extremely brief moment of exponentially accelerating expansion. Discovering that one of these models is false doesn’t necessarily tell you anything about the truth or falsehood of the many others.

The idea of God is similar. There are many different ways in which to model the divine, and having reasons to doubt one version does not negate the possibility that truth sits somewhere among the remaining ones.

Religions have historically had the loudest voices over what God is, so it’s not surprising that religious accounts have predominated human thought.

*****

Happily, just as with the failure of a particular scientific model for cosmological inflation, the failure of a religion to provide a plausible and coherent account of God does not indicate that doing so is impossible.

This is why the increasing tendency of people in the United States to avoid identifying as religious may be the start of something positive, for it opens the door to new and interesting collective explorations of the idea of God.

Read it at: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/religionnow/2018/04/the-idea-of-god-beyond-religion/


Many versions of Big Bang - including Hawking's last and latest suggesting our universe is a holographic projection!

A Smooth Exit From Eternal Inflation?

May 3, 2018

NBC Shows The Difference Between Responsible Journalism And Fake News With Cohen Correction

Source: PoliticusUSA, by Jason 'Keepin' It Real' Easley


Before Trump and his allies jump on NBC News for correcting their report about Michael Cohen being wiretapped, ask yourself when has Donald Trump ever corrected any of his intentionally false statements? (Hint: The answer is he never has).

Responsible journalism isn’t making a false statement and repeating it, as Trump and his conservative media allies often do. Responsible journalism means putting the facts first so that corrections can be explained and people come away better informed.

Trump and his friends will use this correction to discredit the Cohen investigation, but the original point still stands. The President Of The United States was caught in surveillance related to a criminal investigation. The fact that NBC News had to correct a detail doesn’t change the big picture.

Trump and Cohen are in real trouble, and instead of raking NBC News over the coals people should be learning from their example of what responsible journalism is supposed to be.

Read it all at: https://www.politicususa.com/2018/05/03/nbc-michael-cohen-wiretap-correction.html

May 3, 2018

GOP Senate candidate doctors picture of opponent, replaces Trump with Clinton

We really do live in the Putin's puppet world now.

Source: The Hill, by Jacqueline Thomsen



Read it all at: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/385908-gop-senate-candidate-doctors-picture-of-opponent-replaces-trump-with


We've been given our wake up call! Stay woke!

May 2, 2018

Here's 4 reasons why Donald Trump faking a doctor's note actually matters

Source: CNN, by Chris Cillizza

*****

1. The President of the United States, as a candidate, faked a letter from his doctor to settle health and age questions.

Trump's willingness to bend the truth is, by now, de rigeur. But, consider what he did here. At 70, Trump is the oldest person ever to be elected to a first term as president. His diet and exercise regimen are not what anyone would describe as particularly healthy.

*****

2. Trump repeatedly attacked Hillary Clinton as not being healthy enough to be president.

From the start, Trump sought to make Clinton's stamina and endurance -- both code words for her overall health -- an issue in the campaign. That effort ramped up bigly in the wake of video capturing a decidedly wobbly Clinton leaving a September 11 memorial in New York City.

*****

3. Trump will say or do absolutely anything to win.

In Trump's mind, everything -- and I mean everything -- is justified if you win. The means are always justified by a successful end. Saying that Ted Cruz's father might have been involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy? Yup. Claiming there were Muslims celebrating on New Jersey roofs on the night of September 11, 2001? Yup. Suggesting that Mexico was purposely sending criminals and rapists to the US? Yup. Casting white nationalist violence through the lens of both-sides-ism? Yes.

*****

4. Trump eventually turns on everyone.

Bornstein should have never allowed Trump to dictate a letter about his own fitness. But, he did so because he had a long relationship with Trump and wanted to stay in the presidential candidate's good graces. Trump routinely rewards total loyalty -- see Cohen, Michael -- and Bornstein undoubtedly thought he would reap some sort of gains from his willingness to put aside medical ethics in order to please Mr. Trump.

*****

Read it all at: https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/02/politics/harold-bornstein-donald-trump-health/index.html

May 2, 2018

Support for same-sex marriage grows sharply in U.S., survey finds

The American Values Atlas finds a big increase in support for LGBTQ issues across all races and ethnicities and almost all faiths.

Source: NBC News, by Alex Johnson

*****

The survey — one of the most extensive of its kind, questioning more than 40,000 Americans in weekly installments for eight months last year — focused on issues of importance to the LGBTQ community, including same-sex marriage and protections against discrimination in housing, public accommodations and employment.

*****

The Public Religion Research Institute found that supporters of same-sex marriage now make up majorities among Democrats and Republicans; blacks, whites and Latinos; Catholics; and most white mainline Protestant denominations.

*****

Perhaps not surprisingly, only two groups significantly aligned with conservative Republicanism statistically — Mormons and white evangelicals — continue to support allowing merchants to refuse to provide goods and services to same-sex couples, both at 53 percent. Black Protestants, by contrast, oppose refusing such service by almost two-thirds, the institute reported.

"The country has reached a milestone moment in the debate over LGBT rights," said Dan Cox, the institute's research director. "At a time when Americans are more divided than ever, the sea change in support for LGBT rights that now crosses lines of race, ethnicity, religion and geography means that LGBT rights are becoming one of the few areas of public agreement."

*****

Regarding "refusal of service" on religious grounds:

"While religious liberty is a widely held value, most believe that small businesses that are open to the public should serve all customers and that personal religious objections of the owners should not be allowable grounds for refusing service to gay and lesbian customers," said the institute's chief executive, Robert P. Jones, co-chairman of religion and politics for the American Academy of Religion.

Majorities of white evangelicals and Mormons may remain opposed to refusing service, Jones said, but "combined, they represent less than 1 in 5 Americans today."

Read it all at: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/support-same-sex-marriage-grows-sharply-u-s-survey-finds-n870586


This cake is baked!

May 1, 2018

Same-sex marriage has support among most American religious groups, study shows

Source: Religious News Service, by Jana Riess


Most religious groups now support same-sex marriage being legal, according to a study released today from PRRI, the Public Religion Research Institute. The survey, which was based on more than 40,000 survey responses collected throughout 2017, finds that twice as many Americans now support same-sex marriage as oppose it, 61% to 30%.

Not surprisingly, support is strongest among members of religious groups that tend to be politically liberal, such as Jews (77%), the unaffiliated (80%), and Unitarians (an overwhelming 97%).

What is more surprising is how quickly support for same-sex marriage has grown among religious groups that are more politically diverse. Two-thirds of Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and white mainline Protestants now say they are in favor.

What’s more, majority support now includes African Americans, whose support for same-sex marriage has increased from 41% in 2013 to 52% today. Hispanic Americans also saw double-digit increases, with support rising from 51% in 2013 to 61% today.


As support has grown, outright opposition has declined, the study shows.




Read it all at: https://religionnews.com/2018/05/01/same-sex-marriage-has-support-among-most-american-religious-groups-study-shows/

May 1, 2018

May Premieres and Returning Favorites

Be sure and add YOUR favorites!


Colony USA, May 2, Wednesday, 10-9CT Season 3, mysterious ET "colonizers" disrupt West Coast tranquility


2 new 1/2 hour series on Starz, May 6, Sundays

Sweetbitter 8-7CT Early foodie culture of NYC circa a decade ago




Vida 8:30-7:30CT Two Latina sisters and mother's death

Patrick Melrose Showtime, May 12, Saturday, 9-8CT 5 episode mini-series




Little Women PBS, May 13, Sunday, 8-7CT Masterpiece 3-part mini-series




Fahrenheit 451 HBO, May 19, Saturday, 8-7CT




The Tale HBO, May 26, Saturday, 10-9CT Stunning movie




100 Code WGN, May 29, Tuesday, 10-9CT




Reverie NBC, May 30, Wednesday, 10-9CT

May 1, 2018

Yang 2020. Let's put humanity first. It's time for Universal Basic Income.

Let's get paid for the wages they're taking from us and putting in THEIR pockets!






https://www.yang2020.com/

April 30, 2018

It's Time for Technology to Serve all Humankind with Unconditional Basic Income

Source: Medium, by Scott Santens





Imagine a year where what we’ve long taken for granted, that technology destroys jobs but also creates new and better jobs, is discovered to no longer be true. Instead, machines permanently displace human labor, and what new jobs are created, are mostly worse jobs.

An ever decreasing percentage of the population is employed, and for a majority of those left in the labor market, incomes decrease, hours worked increase, monthly income variance grows more extreme, time between jobs grows, jobs themselves become more akin to tasks, employer-provided benefits become more rare, and the bonds that hold society together begin to fray as inequality grows ever more extreme.

What year do you predict such a future comes to pass? 2030? 2040? 2050 and beyond if even then?

The answer will vary nation by nation, but in the US, the answer is right around 1990. Yes, it already happened. It’s not in the future. It’s in the past.

*****

Read the rest at: https://medium.com/basic-income/its-time-for-technology-to-serve-all-humankind-with-unconditional-basic-income-e46329764d28

April 30, 2018

Study: Clinton Voters Twice as Likely to Leave Evangelicalism as Trump Voters

Source: Christianity Today, by Paul A. Djupe and Ryan P. Burge

*****

One in six Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton (16%) had self-identified as evangelical or born again at the beginning of the survey period but had dropped the labels (which overlap) by 2017. Clinton voters were almost twice as likely as Trump voters (9%) to stop identifying as evangelical or born-again Christians.







This trend indicates that Clinton voters did not see their choice as welcome among the evangelical community. Perhaps they felt marginalized among evangelicals to begin with, and the election provided additional motivation to find a new church home or none at all. In fact, among those who stopped identifying as evangelical or born again, 22 percent left religion altogether.

*****

The long-term fallout is not clear, but the consequences of the divide over Trump are bound to linger in America’s religious landscape. The continued rise of the religious nones has run in parallel to the involvement of the Christian Right in American politics. Marginal evangelicals, especially younger ones, have seen increasing numbers of their peers become unaffiliated in recent years, and their reasons to stay aligned with evangelicalism may be getting less and less persuasive.

*****

The study results also indicate that American churches could benefit from being a place that welcomes, tolerates, or charitably engages voters of either party. As research has shown again and again, churches tend to be diverse places where people have the chance to work with others around a shared mission and shared faith. There are clearly Democrats in evangelical churches, given that Donald Trump did not win all the evangelical vote.

*****

Read it all at: https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2018/april/clinton-trump-voters-evangelical-identity-2016-election.html