“Mad Libs”-style comparison of the Dhu-l-Qarnayn story in the Quran (18:83-102) and the Syriac Alexander Legend. The Alexander Legend which was crafted in 629-630 CE as propaganda for the victorious Eastern Roman Empire at the conclusion of its 30-year war with the Sassanian Empire. (This is a preview of one chapter in my next book… Read More Apocalypse at the Caspian Gates
The electronic house music thumps underneath, in the basement. Five of us partygoers are sitting in the front parlor, away from the fray. An elliptical wooden coffee table separates us, a too-small rectangular piece of cardboard mostly covering it. One of the parlor people has been entrusted with staffing the front door (keep out the… Read More An evening in the life of a thinking person among the masses
(2-minute read) On a recent road trip exploring around the beautiful State of Kansas, I passed through Topeka. There, I stopped to see a house, defiantly painted rainbow colors, situated across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church hate group. My impromptu visit felt timely [around the 20th anniversary of 9/11], given that the Westboro… Read More Misreading Scrpiture: Non-Biblical Homophobia from the Westboro Baptist Church
(7-minute read) Through one lens, the Bible essentially amounts to an anthology of foreskin stories and penis parables. The mythical pre-history of Israel begins in the book of Genesis with Abraham, the legendary patriarch of patriarchs, born in a city on the Persian Gulf in what is now Iraq. While living in what is now… Read More Foreskin: A 3000-Year Epic
(3-minute read) On Thanksgiving Day, Americans of diverse spiritual affiliations follow the tradition of saying grace: atheists who have never ascribed to supernaturalism, atheists who deconverted from a religion they are now pushing against, post-theists who reject the theist-atheist dichotomy, and theists of Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and other faiths. According to household… Read More Atheist Grace
(5-minute read) Food for Life Baking Company makes sprouted, whole-grain “Ezekiel 4:9 Bread”. The southern California-based company characterizes its product as “crafted in the likeness of the Holy Scripture verse Ezekiel 4:9 to ensure unrivaled honest nutrition and pure, delicious flavors”. Who is Ezekiel? According to the Hebrew Bible, Ezekiel was an ecstatic prophet of… Read More Ezekiel Bread Debunked
(16-minute read) Canonization of written law creates three problems over time: social realities and ethical norms naturally evolve to be incongruous with a static legal code, new behaviors and technologies arise that weren’t contemplated by the original authors, and internal inconsistencies in the text come to light. The Hebrew Torah (“law”) exemplifies these problems: Evolution… Read More Legal Originalism
(5-minute read) Question: Does a Bible quote belong in a TEDx talk pitching a new technology? Answer: Read below how my opinion evolved from “no” to “yes” and then back to a final “no”, after being asked for advice from an upcoming TEDx speaker My friend is crafting his speech for a TEDx lecture. His… Read More Quoting the Bible in a technology pitch?