Vatican Seems Unsure that God Alone Can Create Life

This article was originally published by Technorati on 21 May 2010 as a Simply Spirited feature. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

According to an AP report, scientists are one step closer to artificial life. At least that's what the headline would have us believe.

In reality, what J. Craig Venter and his team of gnome-mappers have done is to create a strand of synthetic DNA and place it inside one bacterium to change it to a different type of bacterium. No small accomplishment, I'm sure, but not the creation of life, per se. One might even say, "Not even close."

What I found most interesting about this article was not the content, but the comments attached to it. Particularly one by a woman named Jen, who said, "The religious nutjobs in this world will definitely be chiming in with their nonsense. They have to make all cool things seem evil."

Theology No Substitute for God's Presence

Theology is like gossip about God by people who haven't actually met God.

Theology isn't wrong. It's the seeking part of "Seek and you will find." But if we have an inordinate fascination with theology as an end in itself--if we make theology our "stairway to heaven," so to speak--we miss out on fulfilling our purpose in this life, here and now. Indeed, the human body is a finely tuned instrument, specifically designed for one purpose: knowing God (see The Joy of Being, Explained).

Theology is the study of the idea of God. It is at least one step removed from the actuality of God--God's presence. Ushering people into God's presence is the goal toward which religions aim. Once that's been achieved, theology becomes superfluous.

Theology is a description of the idea of God. When you know someone, to the extent you can know anyone--that is, when you've met a person, been in his or her presence--descriptions become unnecessary.

Author and former nun Karen Armstrong expresses the Buddha's view this way:

"Religion is like a raft. Once you get across the river, moor the raft and go on. Don't lug it with you if you don't need it anymore." (For a thorough account of the Buddha's view, see An Excerpt from Karen Armstrong's Book, Buddha)

[See Eckhart Tolle's view on theology here: Excerpt on Theology from Eckhart Tolle's Book, The Power of Now]

Theology is of man (humanity); spirituality is of God.

Vatican Makes Peace with The Beatles-Folly or Genius?

This article was originally published by Technorati on 12 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

"I read the news today, oh boy!"

The news seems to keep getting worse for the Vatican in terms of its PR posture. First and most important is the on-going child abuse scandal.

Adding to its woes, the editor of the Vatican's weekly newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has decided it's time to make peace with The Beatles.

From the weekend edition: "It's true, they took drugs; swept up by their success, they lived dissolute and uninhibited lives. They even said they were more famous than Jesus. But, listening to their songs, all of this seems distant and meaningless."

Fake Fake Things? Coffee Cup a Concession to Ugly Post-Modern World

This article was originally published by Technorati on 11 February 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Are you kidding me? Has the world fallen in on itself? Something's gone haywire here.

The Daily Grommet has come up with a to go cup . . . that isn't. Called the I'm Not a Paper Cup and produced by Decor Craft, the ladies in a video posted to Shine on Yahoo! are fawning over this double-insulated porcelain replica of something you throw away as if it's just darling.

Vatican Publicists Could Learn from Their Hollywood Peers

This article was originally published by Technorati on 6 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

The AP is reporting that the Vatican has launched a counter-offensive against what it sees as wrongful accusations alleging that Pope Benedict XVI was in some way complicit in cases of sex abuse by priests in Ireland, the United States and elsewhere.

Through Vatican Radio and surrogates, high-ranking members of the College of Cardinals, the Pontiff has decided to fight fire with fire, countering what he sees as an orchestrated media campaign with one of his own, linking the calls of cover up with the Catholic stance against abortion and same-sex marriage.

Are College Women Coming Around to Catholic View on Contraception?

This article was first published by Technorati on 11 March 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

New research suggests that the vast majority of Americans (82%) believe God helps them make personal decisions. Does that include decisions about sex?

At first blush, one might think that a heightened sense of spirituality in an individual would lead to less frequent sexual activity, but researchers at the University of Kentucky (my alma mater) say that isn't the case.

The study in question distinguished religiousness from spirituality and found that the latter was actually a predictor in the other direction.

Eckhart Tolle for Christians

Christianity--and probably most religions--can be broken down into two component parts. On the one side you have its mythos. This is the broad story on which it's based.

For Christianity, that's the story of redemption: how Jesus, before the world began was the Son of God, how He was born into the world, how He lead a blameless life and yet He was put to death, and how He rose again and ascended to heaven, and how one day He will return to judge the living and the dead. That's the mythos of Christianity.