The best introductory book on Science and Christianity

User's Guide to Science and Belief by Michael Poole

I think this is an excellent book and have used it for several courses I have taught.
It is easy to read and considers some basic and fundamental questions that are often a stumbling block:
the role of language, what is an explanation?, the nature of faith, rationality, and evidence; the Galileo affair, miracles, ...

However, a more powerful recommendation is not mine but several students in these courses who have emphasized to me how helpful it is to them.

One view of Indian identity

I enjoyed reading Being Indian: Inside the real India by Pavan Varma. I have visited India 5 times for a total period of about 15 weeks within the past 4 years. Given this I found this book fascinating and stimulating.

The reviews on goodreads are helpful, particularly as many appear to have been written by Indians. They seem to largely agree with Varma's portrayal. I found this surprising because a Western reader might consider that Varma was highly critical and negative about Indians. The only criticism of the book seems to be [understandably] that he presents to many generalisations. This is an understandable problem. Given the diversity of India [more than a billion people, more than 20 official languages, several major religions, incredible contrasts of poverty and wealth....] any analysis will struggle with over-simplification and the existence of counter examples.

Here are some of the claims that Varma makes. I am not qualified to say whether they are accurate or not. I merely point out that I think that some represent human nature, but perhaps become more focussed and/or public in India.

Wealth. 
Varma claims that contrary to some Western perceptions, Indians are not other-wordly and spiritual. They are materialistic and very concerned with both acquiring wealth and showing others that they have it. This is seen particularly in parents being most concerned with their children pursuing studies that will lead to the most financially lucrative careers. Furthermore, the willingness of Indians to pay large amounts on money for status Western brand names, from Levis to Luis Vutton testifies to this. Varma emphasizes the centrality of prosperity to Hinduism, particularly in the attention that the god Lakshmi receive.

Yet I wonder if this reflects the broader human tendency to want to use religion for ones own personal advantage. Within Christianity [defined as a social phenomenon] one sees this in the prosperity ["health and wealth"] "gospel" whose followers claim the Bible teaches that Christians are meant to be wealthy and the only thing stopping this is their lack of faith. [I personally think this is an abomination, but that is another story....]

Power and status.

"To an Indian the projection of power and the recognition of status are intimately related. When a person's entire worth is dependent on the position he occupies on a hierarchical scale, the assertion of status (and its recognition by others) becomes of crucial importance. .. There can be no ambivalence in these equations. Under the caste system transgression was impermissible. Old rigidities are blurring today, but the preoccupation with the notion of hierarchy very much persists, and in some respects has become even more frenetic..."

In the West, I think one sees somewhat similar traits, particularly in the USA. Status is defined by wealth and by professional or career standing. Some Americans are very keen to let you know where they are in the pecking order and find out where you are.

Democracy. 
India has an incredible pedigree. It is the largest democracy in the world. Furthermore, it is the only country that has kept a continuous democracy since the end of colonial rule. One might like to think that this is because Indians have a high commitment to the philosophical ideal of democracy. However, Varma considers that they are more pragmatic and even cynical. Democracy provides a possible means whereby election provides segments of society access to the "spoils" of government [jobs, contracts, perks, bribes, ...].

Moral flexibility. 
Varma claims Indians consider that the end justifies the means.

"Corruption is, of course, not unique to India. What is unique is its acceptance, and the "creative" ways in which it is sustained. Indians do not subscribe to antiseptic definitions of rectitude, as are common in the Scandinavian countries. Their understanding of right and wrong is far more related to efficacy than to absolutist notions of morality An act is right if it relies the desired end; it is wrong if it does not."

I think that in a post-Christian era in the West many people also think and act this way. Until recently they would not state it publicly, but now they do. In Australia one sees this in politicians actually saying that it is o.k. to make false promises in order to get elected.

Industriousness.
Only 3 per cent of the workforce is employed in the organised sector [government, registered companies and organisations] of the economy.
90 per cent are self-employed working "on the street".
This is in striking contrast to the West where the vast majority of employees work in the organised sector.
Later I will post how Varma considers this offers great hope for India's economic future.

What do you expect of a speaker?

This year my dear wife began to do some public speaking.
[Aside: I am very proud of her].
Robin was quite surprised to encounter something that I have become quite used to.
When some people attend an advertised talk they have definite expectations of what the speaker will say. Furthermore, when the speaker does not fulfil their expectations [of content and/or approach] they will not just be disappointed but sometimes complain, either to the speaker or the organisers.

This highlights to me how we have a human tendency to want our current views and beliefs affirmed, rather than being challenged. I think we should go to a talk with an open mind.

What do you think?

The paradox of weakness

“Christianity is never as weak as it appears, nor as strong as it appears.  And whether we look backward or forward in history, we can see that time and again, Christianity demonstrates a breathtaking ability to transform weakness into strength.”

These are the final words of the second edition of the book The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity by Philip Jenkins (Oxford University Press, 2002)

What influenced me the most in 2013?

Here is my Best of list for the year.
It is not so much what I liked, enjoyed, or was impresed by. But rather what had the greatest influence on me.

Blog
Vinoth Ramachandra

Talk
Engaging the University by Terry Halliday

Books
Poor Economics
Helping without Hurting: How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor and yourself

Movies
Les Miserable's

Personal experience
Visiting a Compassion Child Development Centre in India

Magazine
The Economist

Political events
USA drone attacks
Massive spying by intelligence agencies 

Bible passage
Matthew 25:31-46

Unexpected challenges to atheism

Chris Arnade has a Ph.D in physics and spent 20 years working as a trader on Wall Street [not an unusual career transition]. He lost faith in Wall Street and now photographs drug addicts in the poorest neighbourhood of Wall Street. He is an atheist and has an interesting article in the Guardian The people who challenged my atheism most were drug addicts and prostitutes. Here is the conclusion:

I want to go back to [my] 16-year-old self and tell him to shut up with the "see how clever I am attitude". I want to tell him to appreciate how easy he had it, with a path out. A path to riches.
I also see Richard Dawkins differently. I see him as a grown up version of that 16-year-old kid, proud of being smart, unable to understand why anyone would believe or think differently from himself. I see a person so removed from humanity and so removed from the ambiguity of life that he finds himself judging those who think differently.
I see someone doing what he claims to hate in others. Preaching from a selfish vantage point.

The give and take of the Old Testament

Reading through the Old Testament there is one word that keeps getting repeated "give".
The LORD gave Israel the land. A search reveals 170 times that "give" and "land" appears in the same verse in the Old Testament. Israel never earned the promised land.

Yet, today I noted a striking contrast in 1 Samuel 8:10-18. Israel demands a king to rule over them, just like the other nations. Samuel warns them:

“These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots.... ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. ¹⁶ He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. ¹⁷ He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. ¹⁸ And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves...

God is so different from earthly human rulers. The natural tendency of the latter is to use power and office to take from the people rather give to them. This is in contrast to the ultimate Servant King.