American Freethought

I drink your milkshake!  Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece is now on DVD.

Review by John C. Snider © 2008

As I reported back in January, There Will Be Blood is a movie that every thinking person should see.  In a cinematic world dominated by remakes, rip-offs and path-of-least-resistance filmmaking, Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece is both refreshing and challenging.

There Will Be Blood only saw limited release; therefore, a great many cinephiles did not have an opportunity to see it.  But now Paramount has released this film on DVD.

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Review by John C. Snider © 2008

Walter Isaacson’s celebrated biography Einstein: His Life and Universe proves one thing: while Albert Einstein was not the greatest scientist who ever lived, but he’s one of the greatest thinkers who ever lived.  He wasn’t a scientist in the sense we might think, overseeing experiments and pouring meticulously over data; rather, Einstein was a master of creative thought, his preternatural intuition opening doorways into realms that the experimenters could exploit.
 
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Pi Day - March 14 is Pi Day, a celebration of that irrational and transcendental number.  Pi Day has grown to become a celebration of all things mathematical.  For more check out Mike Keith’s cool page, including a mnemonic poem which captures nearly 4,000 digits of pi.  March 14 also happens to be Albert Einstein’s birthday. 

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 American Freethought Podcast #14: Download (1781)

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-dfba24b72f4ddac1fca55570ac0486b2}

American Freethought podcast co-host David Driscoll has made his opinions known regarding Georgia’s antiquated blue law prohibiting Sunday alcohol sales by liquor stores or groceries.  This is a perennial issue in Georgia, and every time there’s talk of repealing it, fundamentalist forces in the state become shrill and alarmist, and the politicians kowtow to this conservative voting bloc.

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The Grassley Hearings - We look at the six megaministries under investigation by Senator Charles Grassley, including Atlanta’s Creflo Dollar (hear an interview with “Doctor” Dollar here).  This story is still in its early stages, so we will keep you posted as things develop.  Plus - people say the strangest things when God smites them with a tornado.

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 American Freethought Podcast #13: Download (1617)

Allison and I were lucky enough to attend a lecture by the Hon. Celia Sandys (pronounced “Sands”), granddaughter of Winston Churchill and an expert on his life, having written several books about her “grandpapa”.  Her talk was part of a larger celebration of the 75th anniversary of Churchill’s visit to Atlanta in February 1932.  The event was hosted by the Winston Churchill Society of Georgia (yes, there is such a thing, and no one was more surprised than me), and took place on the beautiful campus of Oglethorpe University.  Thanks to organizer Bill Fisher of Churchill Georgia for the photo. 

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Real Stories of American Muslims

by John C. Snider © 2008

If there’s one point author Melody Moezzi drives home in her new book War on Error, it’s that American Muslims have their work cut out for them these days.  They are, to coin a phrase, caught between two worlds.  The English name “Melody” combined with the Iranian “Moezzi” is in itself a summary of the situation in which many young American Muslims find themselves.  Those who are first or second generation Americans (what Moezzi humorously labels Children of Fresh-Off-the-Boats, or COFOBs) struggle to find a day-by-day middle ground between mainstream American culture, which is largely and often willfully ignorant of any faith other than Protestant Christianity, and the deep-seated Islamic traditions of their forefathers.  They are often called upon by their non-Muslim fellow citizens to account for the actions of the extremists within their faith (”…this mistaken minority of hate-mongers and power-seekers who fraudulently claim to be acting in the name of Islam.”).  The Western world is very much in conflict with this highly vocal and decidedly violent minority, regardless of how much we might wish it to be otherwise.  Fortunately, the United States has so far been spared the variety of home-grown extremists that have caused so much trouble in Spain, France and the United Kingdom.

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A thoughtful documentary explores the rift between mainstream Christianity and Mormonism

by John C. Snider © 2008

Article VI of the Constitution states, in part, “…no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”  It is generally agreed that this means no law or regulation may be implemented that would bar public servants on the basis of their faith - but it does leave individuals and private entities (like political parties) with the ability to discriminate on theological grounds.

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