God
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By learning to fight, we can make a more peaceful world.
By building confidence, we become better able to choose nonviolence, since we’ll be that much more likely to feel safe.
Abdelfattah Kilito, aggression in animals, ahimsa, baboons, Babylonian mythology, Bible, biology, black belt test, black best essay, broadcast song, caretaking, Daddy Wake Up, death gods, Determined, divine aggression, dominance, dominance hierarchy, Dr. Strangelove, elephant seals, game theory, Gilgamesh, God, history, incarceration, jail poetry, John von Neumann, Joshua Rathkamp, Karate, kihap, Kilito, Korean mythology, linguistics, martial arts, mythology, nonviolence, observational biology, Origin Myth of the House God, peace, Popol Vuh, psychology, Ramayana, religion, Robert Sapolsky, Single Father, soft song, sparrow territory, sparrows, Taekwondo, tamarins, teaching in jail, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Tongue of Adam, Tower of Babel, Travis Combs, Vishnu, Whorf hypothesis, Xibalban, Yahweh, YHWH
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When your seven-year-old notices that some heroes are the pits.
Even when a character is clearly intended to be heroic by the author, you won’t always agree.
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On the case against God.
Before and after Dobbs, many pregnancies were terminated by God. Should we bring charges?
abortion, abortion access, access to abortion, choice, conception, Criminalizing a Constitutional Right, Dobbs, feminism, food access, genetic testing, God, health care access, healthcare, life, Madeleine Schwartz, miscarriage, murder charges, neglect, nutrition, personhood, politics, poverty, pregnancy, prenatal care, prenatal health, prenatal nutrition, pro-choice, pro-life, stillbirth, universal health care, universal healthcare, women's right, women's rights
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On explaining religion to my child, part two.
In which our little ones just barely avoid making a scene in church …
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On the value of religious misinterpretation.
We’re liable to misinterpret old stories when we look at them with modern eyes … but it’s worth knowing what myths might mean in a better world.
Abraham, anachronism, anachronistic crtique, Ants Among Elephants, Bible, can God save us, caste, caste system, Christ, Christian theology, colonialism, conquest, covenant, creation in Genesis, dalit, David Kishik, DK, Dravidar Kazhagam, forgiveness, forgiving god, Genesis, God, God saw that it was good, God’s insecurity, Goldman, grammar, hebrew, Hinduism, human sacrifice, human sacrifice for good harvest, imperialism, incarceration, incarceration crisis, incarceration in the U.S., incarceration in the United States, jail, Jesus, Jesus’s sacrifice, Job, John-Michael Bloomquist, mass incarceration, merciful god, mercy, Noah, Old Testament, oppression, poetry, poetry in jail, rainbow, Rama, Rama threatening ocean, Ravana, Ravana worship, religion, Rudyard Kipling, sacrifice, sacrifice of Jesus, suffering, Sujatha Gidla, Tamil, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, textual analysis, The Book of Shem, The Flood, The Iliad, The Prodigal’s Return, theology, Translation, untouchable, why did Christ have to die, why did Jesus suffer, why does Rama threaten the ocean, why is God jealous, Yahweh
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On food and willing sacrifice.
Perhaps nothing really wants to be eaten, but in our world, nothing can survive without sacrifice from its parts.
Agni, apoptosis, autotrophs, cancer, consumption, David Shulman, ejaculate, ejaculation, Fire, food, fruit, Ganges, Genesis, gestation, gift, gift economics, God, heterotrophs, Hindu mythology, Hinduism, immolation, King James, libertarian, libertarianism, masturbation, mythology, Onan, Onanism, paterogenesis, reproduction, Robert Goldman, sacrifice, Sally Sutherland Goldman, Sati, semen, sexuality, Shiva, Sita, suicide, tragedy of the commons, unilateral reproduction, Valmiki, Vedic mythology
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On prayer.
Czeslaw Milosz wrote that “if there is no other shore / We will walk that aerial bridge all the same.”
AA, addiction, Alcoholics Anonymous, Aphrodite, Czeslaw Milosz, deities, God, healing, higher power, impulse control, jail, jail poetry, mythology, myths, naloxone, Narcan, odinism, On Prayer, opiates, opiod epidemic, poetry, prayer, prison, recovery, rehab, rehabilitation, Robert Hass, teaching in jail, Thor, TMS, transcranial magnetic stimulation
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On prayer, diversity among deities, and ADHD.
Throughout the ages, humans have worshiped a wide variety of gods — tricksters, schemers, bullies, lovers — and could celebrate those same traits in themselves.
ADD, ADHD, Arturo Perez-Reverte, Atrahasis, attention deficit, Babylon, Bible, Christianity, computer games, deity, Enuma Elish, First Coming, flood, Gilgamesh, God, gods, Hebrews, history of religion, imaginary video games, intelligence, Jerusalem, Kings, Loki, Marduk, Maui, mythology, myths, Nebuchadnezzer, neurodiversity, Norse, Norse mythology, Octodad, Old Testament, ontological argument, origin of the cosmos, origin stories, pantheon, prayer, psalms, Rampage, real-time strategy, religion, Rick Riordan, Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve, Starcraft, Stephen Greenblat, The Club Dumas, The Lightning Thief, Tower of Babel, trickster gods, vengeance, Warcraft, worship, Yahweh, YHWH, Zedekiah, Zion
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On the Tower of Babel and beneficial curses.
Kind-hearted citizens of the United States needed to be saved from our own complacency.
45, Abdelfattah Kilito, attorney general, Avigdor Shinan, Babel, Babylon, Benjamin Lee Whorf, Bible, climate change, climate destabilization, complacency, congress, cooperation, Cugel the Clever, curse, democrat, Democratic Party, diversity, Donald Trump, education, Elif Batuman, English, Eyes of the Overworld, From Gods to God, Gate of the Gods, Gateway to Heaven, global warming, God, God’s Gate, health care, health care reform, Heisenberg, Ismael, Jack Vance, language, linguistics, mass incarceration, monoculture, Old Testament, personal responbility, perspective, politics, PotUS, President, Quran, republican, Robyn Creswell, sentencing reform, tax code, tax cut, Thai, The Idiot, The Tongue of Adam, tongue, Tower of Babel, Trump, Turkish, uncertainty principle, Valerie Zakovitch, Whorf hypothesis, Yahweh, Yair Zakovitch
Frank Brown Cloud 