Think Again: God - By Karen Armstrong | Foreign Policy - 1 views
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An inadequate understanding of God that reduces “him” to an idol in our own image who gives our likes and dislikes sacred sanction is the worst form of spiritual tyranny. Such arrogance has led to atrocities like the Crusades. The rise of secularism in government was meant to check this tendency, but secularism itself has created new demons now inflicting themselves on the world.
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In the West, secularism has been a success, essential to the modern economy and political system, but it was achieved gradually over the course of nearly 300 years, allowing new ideas of governance time to filter down to all levels of society. But in other parts of the world, secularization has occurred far too rapidly and has been resented by large sectors of the population,
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Shiism had for centuries separated religion from politics as a matter of sacred principle, and Khomeini’s insistence that a cleric should become head of state was an extraordinary innovation.
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Shake your fists, then get real | @Karoli on the "death" of healthcare reform, and my r... - 0 views
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Lots of good points, @Karoli; much to meditate on. Would love clarification on the following comment, though: "Can anyone familiar with history point to any time where a bill has made it this far, been pulled back by proponents, and lived as a stronger version of itself?" How is it a "stronger version of itself?" I don't follow Congressional maneuvers with the same background knowledge or attention to detail that you do; I'm probably missing some key information that would clarify your meaning. Really like your myth-busting data. It's refreshing to see a recap of details that can easily escape us. In some cases, your data gives me a point of departure for further research, so I can come to my own conclusions. Without your article, sorting out the key questions to investigate would be much harder for me. Also, I agree that waiting for a better bill, with so many "people hanging by a thread," is a luxury that only the well-heeled can afford. For many legislators, insulated from financial woes, much of this healthcare debate is about anything and everything except healthcare reform. All that said, I'm obviously an idealist who yearns for global, systemic change. I would want to change the fundamental nature of dance competition's culture, if my daughter were involved. It would be hard for me to keep my eye on the pragmatic truths: deep, systemic change of any cultural institution (socioeconomic, sociocultural, or sociopolitical) is a project for centuries, for eons. It's evolutionary. For today, how does your daughter keep following her passion in a system that's unfair? For today, how do we facilitate efforts to get as many health insurance benefits for the most people in a system that's unjust? I'm not sure I entirely buy your solution―but overall, it's a hell of a lot more practical than the one I was about to employ: sinking into helplessness, hopelessness, and depression... In fact, it's a hell of a lot more idealistic than sinking into despair, too! I fe
Twitter / Glenn Greenwald: Four minority Law Professo ... - 0 views
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"Four minority Law Professors call Kagan's diversity record "shocking" and "indefensible for the 21st Century": http://is.gd/bYHXV"
NATO: Global Military Bloc Finalizes 21st Century Strategic Doctrine « Stop NATO - 0 views
Obama didn't cave ... Presidential Power: A Middlebury College Professor's Blog - 0 views
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Maybe some of you can tell me why so many very smart people have, since the day Obama was inaugurated, deluded themselves into thinking that this admittedly very smart man, albeit one with limited political experience at the national level, was somehow going to step into office and proceed to rewrite the political laws that have governed presidential politics for the last two centuries? I'm listening.
Nature: Introduction - 0 views
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Our age is retrospective. It builds the sepulchres of the fathers. It writes biographies, histories, and criticism. The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes.
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This is the same argument that we have all been having for centuries. What is originality? Are we just reusing the same ideas as our forefathers? Honestly I think the society goes through these perpetual cycles of reuse, even as we progress. Its simply a part of human life. But perhaps that's why we need thinkers like the transcendentalists. To challenge our reliance on the ideas of the previous generation.
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He acts it as life, before he apprehends it as truth.
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But to a sound judgment, the most abstract truth is the most practical.
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Sotomayor Issues Challenge to a Century of Corporate Law | WSJ.com - 0 views
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Judges "created corporations as persons, gave birth to corporations as persons," she said. "There could be an argument made that that was the court's error to start with...[imbuing] a creature of state law with human characteristics." Heritage Foundation: it "doesn't give me a lot of confidence that she respects the corporate form and the type of rights that it should be afforded."
New American Century - 0 views
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