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Nobody Knows Where the Word ‘Religion’ Comes From 0
- History
- January 12, 2017
In English, “religion” is the most common, catch-all term to refer to any organized group that worships a higher power. It is at the center of some of modernity’s most-heated controversies on the subjects of freedom, reason, morality, culture, and violence, and is a word that often inspires polar reactions of both respect and scorn.
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The Problem With Defining Certain Speech and Crimes as ‘Hate’0
- Culture
- January 12, 2017
We would all like to live in a world without hate. Indeed, most of us would like to live in a life without hate. But I would like to make another, and more modest, proposal regarding “Hate-“. By this, I mean the use of the word “hate” to add extra zing to some public policy
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Yearning for Good, Old-Fashioned Paganism 0
- Culture
- January 12, 2017
Although I confess that I’m a Christian, I pine sometimes for some good old fashioned paganism. Not the nonsense of the neo-pagans who have about as much in common with the real McCoy as a divorcee has with a virgin (to employ C. S. Lewis’ slap-in-the-face analogy), or, to move from the shockingly sublime to
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Why are Conservative Politicians so Good-looking?0
- Culture
- January 11, 2017
If you are one of those perplexed by the swing to the Right in politics and suspect that dark forces are at work, relax. There is a simple explanation. As social scientists have noted for some time, voters tend to prefer good-looking candidates. And a team of European researchers now suggests that there are more
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CIA Claims Russia Has Pervy Dirt on Trump. But Did They Get Trolled?0
- Culture
- January 11, 2017
We’ve officially entered the Twilight Zone. Tuesday night, several media outlets opted to run with the details surrounding unsubstantiated claims that Russia has (gross) dirt on president-elect Donald Trump. The claims, which come from an addendum to a CIA report compiled by a former British intelligence officer, assert that Moscow has been supporting Trump for
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Why George Washington’s Farewell Address Still Matters 0
- Entertainment
- January 11, 2017
Read aloud in the Senate every year since 1862, George Washington’s Farewell Address is nothing less than a talismanic document. That’s John Avlon’s message in his new book Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations. I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of our first president. Why? He doesn’t strike
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