The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel: Sci, Space, Tech

The Great Koran Controversy: Will Muslim Martyrs Get 72 Raisins Instead of Virgins, & Other Speculations

According to an Islam tradition, Muslim martyrs will go to paradise and marry 72 black-eyed virgins. But some Koran scholars point to a less sexy paradise. While beautifully written, Islamic texts are often obscure. The Arabic language was born as a written language with the Koran, and growing evidence suggests that many of the words were Syriac or Aramaic.

Da Vinci Code Sequel? New Claim of Coded Images Hidden in The Last Supper

One of the most famous religious paintings of all time, da Vinci's The Last Supper, has been studied and scrutinized throughout the ages. Now a computer programmer says that he has found yet another secret code embedded in the painting. Slavisa Pesci claims he has found new images in the 15th mural in Milan's Santa Maria delle Grazie church by superimposing a reverse image on the original image.

The Copernican Legacy -Science & the Spiritual Quest

Let's imagine we're describing a conversation we overheard that took place in Paris over espresso at a Left Bank café among three world-famous scientists. Missing from our table is Oxford evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, whose atheist views have become part of the popular culture.

To provide a backdrop, a study published recently in the journal Social Problems indicates what many of us probably already suspect—scientists are less religious than the general populace.  52% of the scientists surveyed, as contrasted to 14% of the general populace, declare that they have no particular religious belief.

Becoming Buddha -a Video

Don't miss this brilliant video presentation by Robert Thurman, Uma Thurma's father, and Je Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University. Khapa,1357-1419, is widely regarded in Tibet as a second Buddha and the main teacher of the first Dalai Lama, Gendun Drub.

Thurman became the first American monk of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition at the age of 24, and is the co-founder and president of Tibet House New York and currently holds the first endowed chair in this field of study in the United States.

"Scientology -America's Most Secret Religion"

This month's Rolling Stone has an indepth investigative feature on the Church of Scientology: Inside Scientology Unlocking the complex code of America's most mysterious religion by Janet Reitman.

The Rolling Stone article is a fascinating prelude to today's post by Daily Galaxy contributing editor, Kiki Namikas, "Extraterrestrials or Scientologists?," which follows below...

Colbert Interviews Elaine Pagels "Gospel According to Judas"

Lord Stephen pontificates with Princeton's Elaine Pagels, the world's leading authority on the Gnostic Gospels. Both great fun (as always!) and highly educational. Eliane's a charmer! The Gospel of Judas has joined the other spectacular discoveries that are exploding the myth of a monolithic Christianity and showing how diverse and fascinating the early Christian movement really was.

For more than 2,000 years, Judas Iscariot has been reviled as Jesus' betrayer. But a newly authenticated and newly translated ancient document known as the Gospel of Judas tells a different story, one of Judas as Christ's favored disciple.

Colbert Report-Gospel According to Judas

National Geographic Special "Gospel According to Judas"

"The God Delusion" Richard Dawkins vs. Bishop of Oxford

To Richard Dawkins believing in God is like believing in a teapot orbiting Mars.This is a fascinating video interview with Richard Harries, the Bishop of Oxford by Richard Dawkins, the famed evolutionary biologist, atheist and popular science writer. Dawkins holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, a position created for him in 1995 by Charles Simonyi, the Microsoft millionaire featured in our post below, "Cruising the Solar System."

Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centered view of evolution and introduced the term meme into the lexicon.

Earlier this year, Dawkins signed an agreement with British television to make a documentary about the destructive role of religion in modern history, tentatively titled "The Root of All Evil." Posted by Casey Kazan.

Interview with Bishop of Oxford

The God Delusion

Darwin's God -Legacy of the HMS Beagle

Darwin's God -The Legacy of HMS 'Beagle'

In case you miss this, you've got to read Robin Henig's article, "Darwin's God," in Sunday's New York Times. "Darwin's God." It covers a lot of what we've been posting about the past month about the controversy surrounding religion, science,  and technology in the 21st century, especially the recent works of the radical neo-Darwinists, Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Daniel Dennett, and Sam  Harris. The key point Henig makes is not the hullabaloo over the neo-atheists, but a quieter and potentially more illuminating debate. "It is taking place," she writes, "not between science and religion but within science itself, specifically among the scientists studying the evolution of religion. These scholars tend to agree on one point: that religious belief is an outgrowth of brain architecture that evolved during early human history. What they disagree about is why a tendency to believe evolved, whether it was because belief itself was adaptive or because it was just an evolutionary byproduct, a mere consequence of some other adaptation in the evolution of the human brain."

On his voyage of the HMS Beagle, Darwin discovered the origins of the species; what he didn't discover was the origin of the man's belief in a god. Posted by Casey Kazan.

Read More See also The Big Picture

The Resurrection & James Cameron's 'Lost Tomb of Jesus'

With all the celebrity madness surrounding James Cameron's Lost Tomb of Christ, we thought it would make sense to provide a solid historical look at Christ, his life and resurrection in a conversation by Thomas Sheehan of Stanford University.

History provides facts and theology infuses facts with meaning. But theology ultimately depends on historical analysis. As both Mel Gibson's Passion of Christ and Cameron's Lost Tomb show, bad history will result in bad theology and anachronism.

Thomas Sheehan has been Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford since 1999. His books include: Becoming Heidegger (2006); The First Coming: How the Kingdom of God Became Christianity (1986); and Heidegger, the Man and the Thinker (1981).

Sheehan argues that Jesus thought of himself not as God or Christ but as God's eschatological prophet proclaiming God's kingdom, that the resurrection had nothing to do with Jesus coming back to life, and that the affirmation that Jesus was divine first arose among his followers long after his death. Employing the best of contemporary historical-critical scholarship, Sheehan paints a plausible picture of a very human Jesus who came to reform Judaism rather than to found Christianity, who met a tragic end at the hands of the Roman Empire, and who in a matter of decades was proclaimed by his followers to be Christ, Lord, and God. Posted by Casey Kazan (Get past the tacky intro and music, and it's clear sailing).

Audio Program

Illustrated Guide to Science vs. Faith

A tongue-in-cheek look at the ancient controversy between faith and science. Oh, where is our Voltaire!  While you're on the subject, you might want to checkout evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins on the Paula Zahn show on Darwin's birthday. Posted by Jason McManus.

Science vs Faith   

Richard Dawkins on Darwin's Birthday

The Great Koran Controversy: Will Muslim Martyrs Get 72 Raisins Instead of Virgins, & Other Speculations

According to an Islam tradition, Muslim martyrs will go to paradise and marry 72 black-eyed virgins. But some Koran scholars point to a less sexy paradise. While beautifully written, Islamic texts are often obscure. The Arabic language was born as a written language with the Koran, and growing evidence suggests that many of the words were Syriac or Aramaic.

Da Vinci Code Sequel? New Claim of Coded Images Hidden in The Last Supper

One of the most famous religious paintings of all time, da Vinci's The Last Supper, has been studied and scrutinized throughout the ages. Now a computer programmer says that he has found yet another secret code embedded in the painting. Slavisa Pesci claims he has found new images in the 15th mural in Milan's Santa Maria delle Grazie church by superimposing a reverse image on the original image.

The Copernican Legacy -Science & the Spiritual Quest

Let's imagine we're describing a conversation we overheard that took place in Paris over espresso at a Left Bank café among three world-famous scientists. Missing from our table is Oxford evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, whose atheist views have become part of the popular culture.

To provide a backdrop, a study published recently in the journal Social Problems indicates what many of us probably already suspect—scientists are less religious than the general populace.  52% of the scientists surveyed, as contrasted to 14% of the general populace, declare that they have no particular religious belief.

Becoming Buddha -a Video

Don't miss this brilliant video presentation by Robert Thurman, Uma Thurma's father, and Je Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University. Khapa,1357-1419, is widely regarded in Tibet as a second Buddha and the main teacher of the first Dalai Lama, Gendun Drub.

Thurman became the first American monk of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition at the age of 24, and is the co-founder and president of Tibet House New York and currently holds the first endowed chair in this field of study in the United States.

"Scientology -America's Most Secret Religion"

This month's Rolling Stone has an indepth investigative feature on the Church of Scientology: Inside Scientology Unlocking the complex code of America's most mysterious religion by Janet Reitman.

The Rolling Stone article is a fascinating prelude to today's post by Daily Galaxy contributing editor, Kiki Namikas, "Extraterrestrials or Scientologists?," which follows below...

Colbert Interviews Elaine Pagels "Gospel According to Judas"

Lord Stephen pontificates with Princeton's Elaine Pagels, the world's leading authority on the Gnostic Gospels. Both great fun (as always!) and highly educational. Eliane's a charmer! The Gospel of Judas has joined the other spectacular discoveries that are exploding the myth of a monolithic Christianity and showing how diverse and fascinating the early Christian movement really was.

For more than 2,000 years, Judas Iscariot has been reviled as Jesus' betrayer. But a newly authenticated and newly translated ancient document known as the Gospel of Judas tells a different story, one of Judas as Christ's favored disciple.

Colbert Report-Gospel According to Judas

National Geographic Special "Gospel According to Judas"

"The God Delusion" Richard Dawkins vs. Bishop of Oxford

To Richard Dawkins believing in God is like believing in a teapot orbiting Mars.This is a fascinating video interview with Richard Harries, the Bishop of Oxford by Richard Dawkins, the famed evolutionary biologist, atheist and popular science writer. Dawkins holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, a position created for him in 1995 by Charles Simonyi, the Microsoft millionaire featured in our post below, "Cruising the Solar System."

Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centered view of evolution and introduced the term meme into the lexicon.

Earlier this year, Dawkins signed an agreement with British television to make a documentary about the destructive role of religion in modern history, tentatively titled "The Root of All Evil." Posted by Casey Kazan.

Interview with Bishop of Oxford

The God Delusion

Darwin's God -Legacy of the HMS Beagle

Darwin's God -The Legacy of HMS 'Beagle'

In case you miss this, you've got to read Robin Henig's article, "Darwin's God," in Sunday's New York Times. "Darwin's God." It covers a lot of what we've been posting about the past month about the controversy surrounding religion, science,  and technology in the 21st century, especially the recent works of the radical neo-Darwinists, Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Daniel Dennett, and Sam  Harris. The key point Henig makes is not the hullabaloo over the neo-atheists, but a quieter and potentially more illuminating debate. "It is taking place," she writes, "not between science and religion but within science itself, specifically among the scientists studying the evolution of religion. These scholars tend to agree on one point: that religious belief is an outgrowth of brain architecture that evolved during early human history. What they disagree about is why a tendency to believe evolved, whether it was because belief itself was adaptive or because it was just an evolutionary byproduct, a mere consequence of some other adaptation in the evolution of the human brain."

On his voyage of the HMS Beagle, Darwin discovered the origins of the species; what he didn't discover was the origin of the man's belief in a god. Posted by Casey Kazan.

Read More See also The Big Picture

The Resurrection & James Cameron's 'Lost Tomb of Jesus'

With all the celebrity madness surrounding James Cameron's Lost Tomb of Christ, we thought it would make sense to provide a solid historical look at Christ, his life and resurrection in a conversation by Thomas Sheehan of Stanford University.

History provides facts and theology infuses facts with meaning. But theology ultimately depends on historical analysis. As both Mel Gibson's Passion of Christ and Cameron's Lost Tomb show, bad history will result in bad theology and anachronism.

Thomas Sheehan has been Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford since 1999. His books include: Becoming Heidegger (2006); The First Coming: How the Kingdom of God Became Christianity (1986); and Heidegger, the Man and the Thinker (1981).

Sheehan argues that Jesus thought of himself not as God or Christ but as God's eschatological prophet proclaiming God's kingdom, that the resurrection had nothing to do with Jesus coming back to life, and that the affirmation that Jesus was divine first arose among his followers long after his death. Employing the best of contemporary historical-critical scholarship, Sheehan paints a plausible picture of a very human Jesus who came to reform Judaism rather than to found Christianity, who met a tragic end at the hands of the Roman Empire, and who in a matter of decades was proclaimed by his followers to be Christ, Lord, and God. Posted by Casey Kazan (Get past the tacky intro and music, and it's clear sailing).

Audio Program

Illustrated Guide to Science vs. Faith

A tongue-in-cheek look at the ancient controversy between faith and science. Oh, where is our Voltaire!  While you're on the subject, you might want to checkout evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins on the Paula Zahn show on Darwin's birthday. Posted by Jason McManus.

Science vs Faith   

Richard Dawkins on Darwin's Birthday