Nietzsche's dad

Preacher's kid https://t.co/1iUrLbdVr8

— Phil Oliver (@OSOPHER) July 19, 2021

Can Silicon Valley Find God?

Artificial intelligence promises to remake the world. These believers are fighting to make sure thousands of years of text and tradition find a place among the algorithms.

Spirituality, whether pursued via faithfulness, tradition or sheer exploration, is a way of connecting with something larger than oneself. It is perhaps no surprise that tech companies have discovered that they can be that "something" for their employees. Who needs God when we've got Google?

...

nyt

Humanist of the Year

BIG NEWS: Dr. Anthony Fauci is our 2021 Humanist of the Year! We'll be honoring him at our 80th Annual Conference later this month. Be sure to register now (before it's too late!) to take advantage of everything the conference has to offer. https://t.co/ExPUvvqCAY pic.twitter.com/glcL6p1kv8

— American Humanist Association (@americnhumanist) July 1, 2021

Good without gods

What do David Hume and Jane Austen have in common? Both are picked by British philosopher Mary Warnock as among the five best books on morality without a God. Read more: https://t.co/hnGzeyq95y
(https://twitter.com/five_books/status/1403608066751451137?s=02)

Godless grifters: How the New Atheists merged with the far right | Salon.com

Hmm...
https://www.salon.com/2021/06/05/how-the-new-atheists-merged-with-the-far-right-a-story-of-intellectual-grift-and-abject-surrender/

Phil.Oliver@mtsu.edu

👣Solvitur ambulando

💭Sapere aude

Best books on godless morality

Five Books (@five_books) tweeted at 7:45 AM on Mon, May 31, 2021:
What do David Hume and Jane Austen have in common? Both are picked by British philosopher Mary Warnock as among the five best books on morality without a God. Read more: https://t.co/hnGzeyq95y
(https://twitter.com/five_books/status/1399346213875499011?s=02)

A tangled web

I've become an atheist, but most of my family is Catholic. I love my sister very much, but we're not in the habit of sharing our views on things like religion or politics. So far as she knows, I'm still Catholic.

She recently had a child, and I was very honored to be named the baby's godmother. However, my sister's very strict Catholic parish allows only "practicing" Catholics to be godparents. There's a form you must submit from your parish (signed by your priest) as proof of your participation. I probably should have come clean then, but I didn't want to have my godmother status revoked. So I figured I would sign up with a new parish, become a member and do whatever I needed to do (go to church a few times, whatever) to get it done. 

Because of Covid, the parish waived all the things they normally do when bringing in a new member: tours of the parish, meeting with the priest, etc. Everyone I talked to was extremely nice. After a few days, they made me a member and signed the godparent form from the other church.

So I was able to be godmother at my niece's baptism. I figured all was well, and I could just forget about it. But now an individual from the church I signed up with has reached out wanting to talk about my faith needs and about how I want to get involved when things open up again. I feel bad. Catholicism is just not part of my life anymore, and I feel bad lying to them. Should I just tell them the truth and thank them for their time? Ignore it and hope they forget? Or go to church a few times and do whatever else to make amends? Name Withheld

—Oh, dear. The amount of weaving that went into this tangled web of well-meaning deception...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/magazine/abortion-rights-donations.html?referringSource=articleShare

Phil.Oliver@mtsu.edu

👣Solvitur ambulando

💭Sapere aude