Reading List – On Faith and Religion

“science is caught up in a much larger disillusionment with the traditional foundations of how we decide what’s true.”

A Critique of U.G. Krishnamurti

U.G. Krishnamurti — intriguing, irritating, inspirational

Instead of being what you are — unkind — you pursue the fictitious opposite put before you — kindness. To emphasize what we should be, only causes strain, giving momentum to what we already in fact are.

Doubt (United States, 2008). A movie review by James Berardinelli

It’s one of life’s bitter ironies that one of the first things lost to moral certainty is the capacity for compassion. Righteousness is a cold, hard position, and an unshakeable one. It allows no room for one of the most basic tenants of human existence: doubt. Faith exists not in counterpoint to certainty but to doubt. And those in religious institutions who wish to commune with their fellows must never lose sight of the fact that doubt defines and binds us. Few of us have the capacity to defend a position of uncompromising certainty.

Blessed Are the Meek

My Love Language Is Silent Condescension

When it comes to loving and being loved, even the most jaded and worldly often feel deep insecurity. That’s true even when we’re in happy relationships. If we can find some comfort and direction in a mega-best-seller with a tacky cover, so be it. For those of us who hope to grow merrily old and saggy and gray with our beloveds, it’s a reminder that packaging isn’t everything.

In Search of the Apolitical Church

This must be heaven

Ian Stevenson’s case for the afterlife: Are we ‘Skeptics’ really just Cynics?

The Prophet

A critique of wellness culture

A mindful way to approach the Buddhist message.

Thoughtfully considering authenticity

The comments are the most gratifying part of this. They effectively address concerns about the metaphysical commitments of faith, and how ideology can become a prison

I don’t agree with it, but this is a very useful critique of the essential Buddhist stance

Buddhism Basics

In the comments section is a very helpful debate about what happens to spirituality when it intersects with institutionalization

On different kinds of religious believers

On restoring the original essence of things – philosophy, religion etc.

Why you can’t just dismiss religion, because it doesn’t ‘check out’

Escape from Jesus Land: On Recognizing Evangelical Abuse and Finding the Strength to Reject the Faith of Our Fathers

Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God?

Graham was at times better than his religious ideology. The theocratic evangelical movement he helped build and legitimize, however, is not.

On the canonification of Billy Graham

Authoritarian Christianity, or, what Franklin Graham Really Means when he Equates Progressivism with Godlessness

Truth is a perspective, not an objective reality: making sense of the Bible

China’s billionaire real estate maven says it needs a spiritual revolution

On confession and forgiveness

How Protestantism gave Northern Europe freedom

Religion itself is not sacred

The classic fundamentalist error

The days of religion hiding the truth are over

Religion is not the problem, it appears

On how to cover religion and the experiences of others

What if religious violence really isn’t the culprit?

Again, the research is a yay for the positive effects of personal religion

Is religion good for you?

Billy Graham, considered without

He went on to conceive the idea of the Omega point (a maximum level of complexity and consciousness toward which he believed the universe was evolving, and which he identified with Christ as the Logos, or “Word” of God)

Who died and made you chief theologian of the universe?