Christopher Hitchens vs. Tony Blair: the full transcript
You may need to set aside the rest of your Saturday to get through this, but here in full is the transcript of the long-anticipated Munk debate between Christopher Hitchens and former prime minister Tony Blair. The motion: “Be it resolved, religion is a force for good in the world”. No prizes for guessing who was arguing for and against.
The debate was hosted last night in Toronto, Canada before an audience of 2,600. Reports suggest that touts were selling tickets for up to five hundred Canadian dollars.
According to post-debate voting on the Munk debate website, Hitchens won the argument against the motion by 68 per cent to 32 per cent. A pre-debate poll showed that 57 per cent were against the motion and 22 per cent were for it — demonstrating, I guess, the impressive debating skills of both men. Red full story from newstatesman.com
My Take: How real interfaith dialogue works
I’ve thought for some time that if more Americans had personal contact, even friendships, with their fellow Americans who are Muslims there might be less mistrust and misunderstanding about the role Islam plays in their lives.
The years have convinced me that interfaith dialogue, particularly the one-on-one variety, is a more viable way to break down barriers between people than large-scale efforts. Read full story from cnn.com
“What Do You Ask a Shaman?” on November 30 “Why Shamanism Now?” Radio Show with Christina Pratt
(OPENPRESS) November 27, 2010 — Streaming live on the Co-Creator Radio Network (www.co-creatornetwork.com) on Tuesday, November 30, at 11 a.m. Pacific time/2 p.m. Eastern time, on her show “Why Shamanism Now?: A Practical Path to Authenticity,” shaman and founder of the Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing Christina Pratt reviews some of the questions posed to her – questions like: Can shamanism help with mental illness? What about my depression? Am I cheating myself out of healing by taking my pharmaceuticals? Can you heal my father’s dementia? Does shamanic healing work long distance? How do I “pay the rent” with powerful psychoactive plants and stay in good relationship with the spirit world? Why does gratitude matter? Read full story from theopenpress.com
Snapshot of a Civilization in the Making
The eastern desert of Jordan is unforgiving, a lunar landscape that races 500 lonely miles from Amman to the outskirts of Baghdad. Along the main road, there are few signs of life: a dusty army base, a desert grouse, the bleached bones of a dead animal. Yet through the sandy silence, the wind carries whispers of luxury. About 50 miles from Amman stands a small, richly decorated bathhouse called Qusayr Amra. It is among the strangest, most spectacular examples of early Islamic art, a solitary monument to la dolce vita in this sun-scorched earth. At Qusayr Amra, we can catch a glimpse of Islamic high culture in the making. The picture that forms is surprising, to say the least. Read full story from wsj.com
White house confirms support of ‘clean Carcieri fix’
WASHINGTON – The White House has reiterated its support for a “Carcieri fix” – legislation confirming the federal government’s authority to take Indian land into trust for general purposes, while the Interior Department has distanced itself from a senator’s proposal that would virtually eliminate off reservation trust land for gaming.
“I think everyone in the administration that’s talked about it has made it very clear that we support the clean Carcieri fix,” White House spokesman Shin Inouye told Indian Country Today Nov. 23. “The president has said that, the Secretary (of Interior) has said that, we’ve said that in all our letters and testimony to Congress. Is there some confusion out there about our position?” Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com
Loch Ness monster: new pictures and sighting of Nessie
The legend of Nessie has resurfaced with a new sighting and pictures of the Loch Ness monster.
Richard Preston, a landscape designer, has been the latest person to spot a mysterious shape that might be the Loch Ness monster and capture a series of images on camera. Read full story from stv.tv
There’s oxygen on Rhea, but aliens? Don’t hold your breath
On its journey around Saturn and its moons, the Cassini mission – jointly run by NASA and the European Space Agency – has made another breathtaking discovery. The findings, published in Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.1198366), show that Rhea, the second biggest moon of the giant planet, has an atmosphere that is 70 per cent oxygen and 30 per cent carbon dioxide. This adds to the picture of Rhea that Cassini has already provided by imaging its craters and discovering its rings. Read full story from newscientist.com
Fun “green” projects from Marc de Vinck
We’ve done a lot of projects on MAKE over the years that use largely recycled or scrounged materials. As we continue our MAKE Green Projects Contest, we thought it’d be fun to feature some of them here. We figured we’d tag some of our own green! Read full stor from makezine.com
Towards a Spiritual future with Celtic beliefs:
In Ancient times, the ancestral races of many European nations today were known as ‘Celtics’ as they shared Iron Age inherent roots and they had many mythological belief’s with a touch of spirituality.
Literary Druids were Celtic priests and legend says that they were possessed by many magical powers.
As the Druidism movement was originally inspired by 17th, 18th, and 19th century Romantic movements, neo druids also developed fraternal organizations modeled on Free-masonry that employed the romantic figure of the British Druids and Bards as symbols of indigenous British spirituality. Read full story from dailymirror.lk
Man not denied chauffeur’s permit because he was a pagan
The man who claimed Vancouver police discriminated against him and refused to give him a chauffeur’s permit because he was a pagan whose sexual practices included bondage, domination, sadism and masochism has lost his appeal to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.
Peter Hayes had filed a complaint against the Vancouver Police Board and Const. Kevin Barker after Barker refused to give him the permit needed for his employment as a limousine driver in May 2005. Read full story from vancouversun.com
Why is Cthulhu on this 300-year-old gravestone?
The Reverend Ichabod Wiswall (1637-1700) is a historical footnote. When he’s remembered, it’s for giving the first funeral sermon in America, in Duxbury, Massachusetts. So why is there a Lovecraftian cephalopod on his gravestone?
Wiswall was responsible, with the Reverend Increase Mather, for persuading Queen Mary to create the 1692 charter which united the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay into the Province of Massachusetts Bay, which became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Wiswall served the town of Duxbury as a minister for 24 years and is buried in Duxbury in the Myles Standish Burial Ground, supposedly the oldest continually maintained cemetery in the United States. Read full story from i09,com
Priest accused of hiring hitman (source cnn)
Sacred Spaces: Meet the mason at the Washington National Cathedral (source cnn)
