Monday Is A New Day....

....or something.


No one wants to admit it but Christianity really did usher in an age of science:

After all, modern science arose in one place and one time only: It arose out of medieval Europe, during a period when its intellectual life was thoroughly permeated with a Christian worldview.  Other great cultures, such as the Chinese and the Indian, often developed a higher level of technology and engineering.  But their expertise tended to consist of practical know-how and rules of thumb.  They did not develop what we know as experimental science–testable theories organized into coherent systems.  Science in this sense has appeared only once in history.  As historian Edward Grant writes, “It is indisputable that modern science emerged in the seventeenth century in Western Europe and nowhere else.”


This fact is certainly suggestive, and it has prompted scholars to ask why it is that modern science emerged only out of medieval Europe.  Sociologist of religion Rodney Stark identified the 52 figures who made the most significant contributions to the scientific revolution, then researched biographical sources to discover their religious views.  He found that among the top contributors to science, surprisingly only two were skeptics (Paracelsus and Edmund Halley).

Stark then subdivided his subjects once again into those who were “conventional” in their religious views (that is, their writings exhibit the conventional religious views of the time), and those who were “devout” (their writings express a strong personal investment).  The resulting numbers show that more than 60 percent of those who jumpstarted the scientific revolution were religiously “devout.” Clearly, holding a Christian worldview posed no barrier to doing excellent scientific work, and even seems to have provided a positive inspiration.

Read the whole thing.


Saying with some wobbly certitude that nothing exists beyond the physical and that organised religion hates science just makes you look stupid.


(hat tip: WK)



Just when you thought buying things made in China was bad. It gets worse:

The North Korean authorities are reportedly reacting more strictly than normal to overt sales of products from South Korea in the country’s domestic markets.

One Korean-Chinese man engaged in business in Pyongan and Hwanghae Provinces told The Daily NK on June 11th, “They’re cracking down hard on products from the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the jangmadang, and are reacting more strongly than before to South Korean products, too. There are no South Korean goods on sale openly.”

Sources say that in many cases this means that traders are being told to remove tags indicating South Korean origin.

The same trader explained, “Community watch guards come to the jangmadang and tell us to remove tags written in Chosun then sell them. They are thoroughly cracking down on things saying ‘Made in Korea’. Even though the clothes are of good quality, and therefore clearly South Korean, if there is no tag, then they are not prohibited.”

Currently, used clothes are said to be selling better than new ones, however. This is partly because people have little cash and are gravitating towards the cheaper prices, and partly because they don’t trust new products.

The trader explained, “The image of South Korean clothes is good as far as used clothes selling better than new ones goes. People think that new clothes are of poor quality and really expensive.”
He explained the reason for the low quality, saying, “Currently, producers are buying fabric in China to bring back and manufacture clothes in Chosun, and then they put ‘Made in China’ tags on them.” 

Not that a tag reading "Made in China" was ever a selling point for me but one that read "Made in North Korea" would be abysmal.


(hat tip: OFK)


Related: communism and craven greed are creating civil unrest in China and nothing says "Made in China" like counterfeit products.



One might think it's hard to top the stupidity of Slut Walkers or Vancouver rioters but this guy certainly does try:

Trevor Phillips warned that "an old time religion incompatible with modern society" is driving the revival in the Anglican and Catholic Churches and clashing with mainstream views, especially on homosexuality. 

He accused Christians, particularly evangelicals, of being more militant than Muslims in complaining about discrimination, arguing that many of the claims are motivated by a desire for greater political influence....

In a wide-ranging intervention into the debate over the role of religion in modern Britain, Mr Phillips: 


* warned it had become "fashionable" to attack and mock religion, singling out atheist polemicist Richard Dawkins for his views; 

* said faith groups should be free from interference in their own affairs, meaning churches should be allowed to block women and homosexuals from being priests and bishops; 

* attacked hardline Christian groups which he said were picking fights - particularly on the issue of homosexuality - for their own political ends; 

* told churches and religious institutions they had to comply with equality legislation when they delivered services to the public as a whole. 

The report, published by the Commission tomorrow, says that some religious groups have been the victims of rising discrimination over the last decade. ...

While the equalities boss promised to fight for the rights of Christians, he expressed concern that many cases were driven by fundamentalist Christians who are holding increasing sway over the mainstream churches because of the influence of African and Caribbean immigrants with "intolerant" views. 

In contrast, Muslims are less vociferous because they are trying to integrate into British "liberal democracy", he said. 

"I think there's an awful lot of noise about the Church being persecuted but there is a more real issue that the conventional churches face that the people who are really driving their revival and success believe in an old time religion which in my view is incompatible with a modern, multi-ethnic, multicultural society," Phillips said.


"Muslim communities in this country are doing their damnedest to try to come to terms with their neighbours to try to integrate and they're doing their best to try to develop an idea of Islam that is compatible with living in a modern liberal democracy. 

"The most likely victim of actual religious discrimination in British society is a Muslim but the person who is most likely to feel slighted because of their religion is an evangelical Christian."

Oh really?


It's one thing to completely ignore the militant strain of secularism and its role in reducing the United Kingdom to an even bigger cesspool; it's quite another to say outright that Muslims are victims who just want to get along and not hurt anyone. That's not what the news tells me everyday.



Cowardly British cops Cover Up Muslim Crime

Pakistan: Punjab: enslaved Christian domestic worker quits job only to be accused of theft by employer

Pakistan: Christian Families Forced To Flee Homes After 8-Year-Old Boy Refuses To Convert To Islam, Accused Of Blasphemy…

 

Ramping Up to Another Jihad Genocide in The Sudan?

Mr. Philips could try asking secular Muslims what they think but they are probably too scared for some reason.


There is no deliberate wage disparity. Feminism is a failed experiment just like communism:

• Men go into technology and hard sciences more than women.
• Men tend to take more stressful jobs that are not “nine-to-five.”
• Men are more likely to work longer hours, and the pay gap widens for every hour past 40 per week.
• Women are nine times more likely than men to drop out of work for “family reasons.” Less seniority leads to lower pay.
• Men work more weeks per year than women.
• Women place greater value on flexibility, a humane work environment, and having time for children and family than men do. (6)

But... Wolverine is on OUR side:

It doesn't help that the Alpha Flight members appear to have been created by some dreadful, politically correct parliamentary subcommittee of the federal heritage department and not, as the comic book claims, by Department H, a fictitious arm of Canada's Department of National Defence, which may as well be.

Stand guard for THIS, evil!

Why Celebrity Week matters:

Scarlett Johansson wasn't smart enough for Sean Penn, according to the fantasy world that Sean Penn lives in....


Is this guy actually telling someone else they should study more about politics? Pot meet kettle. That's like Kirstie Alley telling someone they should go on a diet or Lindsay Lohan preaching about AA. Sean Penn's views on politics are so out of whack, Scarlett should consider herself lucky she got out when she did.

Two idiots, one big belly laugh.