Liberal Rabbi David Wolpe, who with fellow rabbi Bradley Artson was roundly trounced in a debate with Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens over the existence of an afterlife, is butthurt at Prospect Magazine‘s naming of Richard Dawkins as the “world’ leading intellectual.” To redress his grievance, Wolpe has a piece in this week’s PuffHo questioning […]
It’s Friday afternoon, and I’m worn out from reading about duck genitals and the pheromones of corn borers all day (required reading for my graduate course on speciation). As a treat (NOT), I’m going to tell you the only three jokes I’ve made up in my life. In return, you’ll tell me any jokes you’ve […]
Two days ago I posted this picture of an Orthodox Jew in an airplane, wrapped up in a plastic bag. The picture came from The Gothamist, which explained that the man was a “kohen,” or a member of the priestly tribe of Jews, and kohens are forbidden from flying over cemeteries. The bag was apparently […]
I’ve never seen this before, but maybe the readers can determine if the explanation is true (see the link below). This photo appeared on Gothamist, and I reproduce the caption in its entirety: We don’t often see the classic Twin Peaks phrase “wrapped in plastic” taken so literally—but a Redditor posted the above photo of an Orthodox Jewish […]
The Chief Rabbi of the UK, Lord Sacks, has a piece at at HuffPo: “Worship at the atheist altar,” whose title is just a wee bit misleading. Yes, he does urge atheists to worship at churches, and describes one of them in London, but his real point is that even “church”-going atheists are doing it […]
UPDATE: I’ve heard from Dr. Randall, who objected to my characterization of her as an “atheist.” I apologize for that and add the correction she wishes to make: “. . . I rarely say I’m an atheist–I say I’m a nonbeliever. I actually think it’s a stupid word. (Do we have a word for non-most […]
Several readers sent me this op-ed piece from yesterday’s New York Times. It’s by Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, and is called “The moral animal.” And it pains me terribly for two reasons. The first is my prejudice that religious Jews are not supposed to be as loony as, say, religious Christians or Muslims. […]
I’m not sure what the “War on Christmas” really is, nor do I bother myself much with the celebrations of a nonexistent Jebus. But what I do object to is using the excuse of the holiday to breach the American wall of church and state by putting religious symbols on public land. Nativity scenes crop […]
A lot of people dislike Sarah Silverman for her potty mouth or Lenny Bruce-ian form of throwing light on prejudice. I happen to like her a lot, find her comedy whip-smart; and of course she’s many Jewish boys’ dream girl. Like all good cultural Jews, she’s also a liberal. In the following video she pulls […]
This is one of the funner religion-related posts we’ve had in a while. Two days ago Richard Dawkins debated Britain’s chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks (why on earth is he a Lord?) at the BBC’s “Re:Think” religion festival in Salford, England. I’ve put a video of the debate at the bottom, which includes a hilarious exchange. […]
