Whether conquering the unexplored, beating the competition, subduing nature, overpowering bad guys, conquering disease, converting “backward” peoples, having a war on drugs or winning at football, Western man makes war on everything. Competition is the Western way. The military modality of powerful leaders marshaling their forces into campaigns with battle plans and strategies, foot soldiers and heroes, andRead more
Societal Issues
The Rise of Rational Thought
Begun by men of compassion and gentility like Erasmus, Manetti and Mirandola, Humanism was to suffer the fate of all movements as its initial inroads were corrupted and perverted by more radical elements. The intellectual discourse of the Humanists was replaced by empirical science. Men like Descartes, Malebranche, Bacon and Newton carried the flag of emerging scientific rationalityRead more
God and Money
Concern for the effect of money on people has been a subject of considerable interest by every major religion. There are over 2,000 Biblical references to wealth, and half of the parables Jesus taught from involved money or possessions. The Bible, the Jewish Tanakh, The Koran, the Buddha’s Sutras and the Hindu Vedas are consistent in the viewRead more
Finding Peace
John Dominic Crossan has written a most interesting book entitled, God and Empire. In the book he premises that although individuals may not always be violent, societies almost always are. Countries have land and resources to guard and the welfare of the people to protect. Then too, there is always the issue of territorial expansion. Look at history –Read more