If God is bigger than us, then so is “God’s image”
One source of controversy in modern religion concerns the amount of deference given to the discoveries of science. (Note to self: cross “write world’s most profound understatement in one sentence” off bucket list.) While such differences split along liberal/conservative lines within religions, I also see a gradient scale between religions: In revealed religions such as [...]
The Tennessee “Monkey Bill:” Why We Need Better Education About Religion in Public Schools
Recently, the Tennessee legislature passed the controversial HB 368, dubbed “The Monkey Bill” by its critics as a reference to the famous 1925 Scopes Trial. The bill starts off with a sound argument—that science education should “inform students about scientific evidence” and “help students develop critical thinking skills necessary to becoming intelligent, productive, and scientifically [...]
Dawkins vs. Williams: A View from Inside the Sheldonian
On 23 February 2012, I attended the debate at Oxford University’s Sheldonian Theatre between Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Arch-New Atheist, Richard Dawkins. The topic up for discussion was the “The Nature of Human Beings and the Question of their Ultimate Origin.” Fifty tickets were made available to non-Oxford students and I made [...]
Contributing Scholars
Sai KolluruSenior, majoring in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. Founder of a Hindu organization on campus that works to practice and preserve Sanatana Dharmic principles and values with the final goal of Seva, Selfless Service, through interfaith collaboration.
Ben SchewelBen Schewel, 24, is a Bahá'í and doctoral student in philosophy at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, studying process philosophy, focusing in particular on questions of history, science, and religion. Ben is very involved in the Bahá’í community’s projects of social and economic development (http://www.ruhi.org/).
Mani RaoMani Rao (b.1965 India) is the author of eight poetry books and a translation of the Bhagavad Gita published by Autumn Hill Books (2010) and Penguin India (2011). Her poems and essays are published in journals including Tinfish, Wasafiri, Meanjin, Washington Square, Fulcrum, West Coast Line, and Interim, and in anthologies including Zoland Poetry, W.W.Norton’s Language for a New Century, and the BloodAxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets. She was a Visiting Fellow at the Iowa International Writing Program in 2005 and 2009, and the 2006 University of Iowa International Programs writer-in-residence. Mani has an MFA in poetry, and is a phD student of Religious Studies at Duke University. Her website is www.manirao.com