tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64171972011-12-19T21:31:40.743-08:00Pragmatic Implications of Religious Like Group Dynamicschris gnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1711100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-42017382239816638092009-09-02T14:45:00.000-07:002009-09-02T14:53:09.216-07:00

There was a very good article over at wired about the "Good Enough Revolution". The basic premise is eventually we hit a turning point where quality is sufficiently high people suddenly start opting for cheapness or volume.In education this will be especially significant in terms of student access to computers. In Alberta, as in many other places, the ground work is being sown to prepare the

sigobnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-29665153959438091482009-03-07T06:30:00.000-08:002009-03-07T06:36:12.147-08:00

There is an interesting post over at one of the Wall Street Journal Blogs. It talks about a correlational study between SAT scores and favorite musicians. It also talks about the correlations between SAT scores and favorite books. It is kind of funny. Where does "Ender's Game" and Druss the Legend fit in? As for music, I would have to see where Johnny Cash and John Wort Hannam fit in. For

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-19689012338995834342009-02-18T14:36:00.000-08:002009-02-18T16:25:09.643-08:00

During my vacation this week I have been trying to jot down steps in my conception of systemic change design process. trying to pull in some psychological tools for group dynamics has ended up being more of a minor technical detail than I had originally thought. The piece that I am finding the most challenging is finding a way to include the dissolution of overly matured & top-heavy group

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-72787383538020721372009-02-16T10:32:00.000-08:002009-02-16T10:52:31.895-08:00

Educational reforms have tended to stall out over the last decade. One way of thinking about this is that older "transformational" reforms burned up a lot of human capital with little to show. Authors such as Andy Hargreaves point to the futility and counter-productiveness of standardized state-wide reforms. As systemic change procedures are becoming more formalized, I think deep questions

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-34962608519773335482009-02-15T08:45:00.000-08:002009-02-15T09:10:07.382-08:00

I was just typing up some annotations from a book I had read last year, and thought I would jot down a couple of ideas. One of the challenges of designing for systemic change is how to treat group dynamics? Do you assume that group dynamics have few causal factors that can be controlled? Or do you assume the environments that influence group dynamics can, generally, be perturbed positively or

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-35582055899070989952009-02-05T11:32:00.000-08:002009-02-05T11:34:17.943-08:00

Piccolinno has a good post up at Gene Expression. Let me grab a long quote.Heritability estimates are slippery animals, but this recent PNAS paper is a great illustration of how they can be used to discipline theories of social network formation. The authors start by showing that three building blocks of social networks are heritable, namely the number of friends you have, the number of people

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-47476383095931936862009-02-04T19:35:00.000-08:002009-02-05T11:42:22.796-08:00

It was nice hearing about a piece Scott Atran has up on the NYT talking about the role of religious or quasi-religious like dynamics play in the logic of peace negotiations. Hat-tip Science and Religious News.in general the greater the monetary incentive involved in the deal, the greater the disgust from respondents. Israelis and Palestinians alike often reacted as though we had asked them to

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-70975225870772302762009-02-03T11:30:00.000-08:002009-02-05T11:31:30.791-08:00

As of late I have been going through a number of articles and books on designing for systemic change in education. I think I’ll just spin off on some ideas raised by a foundational paper by Patrick M. Jenlink, Charles M. Reigeluth, Alison A. Carr and Laurie Miller Nelson. The paper is “Guidelines for facilitating systemic change in school districts” and it is found in the 1998 May- June edition

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-46249571773936065362009-01-30T19:48:00.000-08:002009-01-30T19:52:04.735-08:00

This is a follow up to my last post on Duffy's and Reigeluth's School Transformation ProtocolCircular-like Requirements for Concurrent ChangeDuffy does a nice job laying out three paradigm shifts necessary for systemic transformational change in education (see summary above). While the term “paradigm shift”, may stroke many philosophers the wrong way, it gets at complexity theory’s idea of

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-71571163909155912152009-01-17T13:28:00.000-08:002009-01-17T15:28:57.815-08:00

Systemic change is quite a beast to ride. Implementing coherent vision is a moral endeavor that requires confronting both individual and group-level dynamics. Aligning multiple levels simultaneously is a challenging. The spandrelled nature of value systems makes this doubly hard and highly complex. District level change often lacks the deep rooted intentionality inherit with strong

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-56332573372389321652008-12-22T07:27:00.000-08:002008-12-22T07:29:24.313-08:00

Part IIII get the sense that Fox (1994) and other theologically oriented academics try to protect spirit via sacredness. These arguments seem to say awe and mystery are necessary for spirit’s emergence. A collective repudiation of sacrilegious acts are required to maintain a sense of sacredness (Atran, 2002). In a pluralistic society such norms are hard to generate and enforce. Society,

sigobnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-51288771204916116322008-12-22T07:21:00.000-08:002008-12-22T07:26:51.286-08:00

Part IIWhen I look at community building initiatives that may take us in a good direction, but whose promises are usually practically unrealistic in wide implementation, Dufour’s professional learning community (PLC) comes to mind. The last thing the people at the PLC conference I attended wanted to hear was Andy Hargreaves (2008) warnings about the skeletons coming with “silver bullet” PLC

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-7554458286586043362008-12-13T14:00:00.000-08:002008-12-13T14:05:15.105-08:00

To care for the soul within us and outside in the world, we need to recognize that soul is not in our possession, but rather the points of overlap where interior experience and the outer world are joined. – Briskin, 2001, pp. 247I am not an autonomous person. Like all people, my environment affects me. The stimuli I receive, alters some of the weightings behind my thoughts. In turn this

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-77447904663399431312008-11-05T19:54:00.001-08:002008-11-05T19:56:10.898-08:00

A local art teacher showed me this power point presentation on food art. It was fascinating.

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-7694561396666126142008-10-13T20:37:00.000-07:002008-10-14T19:42:19.258-07:00

In their article "Institutions and the story of American religion", Stout and Cormode make a number of interesting points.  I'll limit myself to one for now.  They reference DiMaggio's idea that formal organization structure and informal cultural ties produce taken for granted social norms.  The premise of the article itself is that religious communities and movements need to be seen as 

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-17471712597569748072008-09-27T10:38:00.000-07:002008-09-27T10:47:04.002-07:00

Just a quick link to an interesting post over at Gene Expression.  The main idea is recent academic world views have fallen out of favor.  Fourth, the sudden decline of all the big-shot theories you'd study in a literary theory or critical theory class is certainly behind the recent angst of arts and humanities grad students. Without a big theory, you can't pretend you have specialized training

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-23800539011401492432008-09-23T18:49:00.001-07:002008-09-23T18:52:36.658-07:00

An interesting post over at The frontal cortex on magical thinking.   Clark has a brief commentary up at his blog.

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-36998517537559384592008-09-09T18:12:00.000-07:002008-09-09T18:45:20.651-07:00

I just downloaded quite a few podcasts from Point of Inquiry. I must have been lucky, because Michael Dowd was on the first program. The other 3 or 4 I have listened to haven't been nearly as understanding about their flip positions in the religion / science interface. I did, however, think Dowd captured a nice middle ground.Dowd's views are solidly naturalistic and evidentiary. He uses

sigobnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-90750431458712269392008-09-07T19:07:00.001-07:002008-09-07T19:32:09.452-07:00

A practical way to deal with circularity issues is through iteration.  J. Willis' popular R2D2 instructional design model  gets lots of attention for its rejection of linear solutions.  There are actually a number of standard conventions for diagraming such processes.As mentioned iteration is often a good way to work through circularities.  In educational technology for instance, hardware,

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-61786161318158991122008-09-07T19:05:00.000-07:002008-09-07T19:07:13.942-07:00

Any substantive educational change runs into tremendous roadblocks. Tyack & Cuban’s book Tinkering Toward Utopia is probably the standard text exploring this issue. Michael Fullan’s work is a justifiably popular series of handbooks on this topic. There are a couple of basic perspectives that emerge with substantive educational change. Here’s the range I view myself operating within.1.

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-30995338894563643232008-09-07T18:53:00.000-07:002008-09-07T18:59:30.458-07:00

Educational solutions often seem cyclical in nature. Chances are you aren’t imagining things if you think today’s focus on problem based learning looks a lot like the 50’s focus on lab work. A simple way to view this dynamic is in terms of essential tensions.Essential tension basically means there isn’t a single absolute solution to a problem. Instead there is a dynamical balance that needs to

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-36059388801096480052008-09-07T18:46:00.001-07:002008-09-07T18:46:44.832-07:00

Educational initiatives often seem cyclical. Many current initiatives resemble initiatives pushed 30 years ago, and later seen as inadequate. To many, it is ironic that the system has just gotten over those old failures. The problem is, in education, as in religion static solutions aren’t possible. Educators are generally trying to prepare people for some aspect of life. This is true even of

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-32121142114051871802008-09-07T18:38:00.000-07:002008-09-07T18:39:28.361-07:00

I’m still finishing the last few chapters of Kauffman’s reinventing the sacred. In his chapter “Living into Mystery”, Kauffman gives an interesting description of models that deal with overfitted and underfitted expectations. This tied in nicely with one of my all time favorite papers by Willis (2004) that uses the idea of entropy to model the evolution and degradagation cycles of organizations

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-89010014879216653082008-08-26T10:11:00.000-07:002008-08-26T10:13:50.148-07:00

Not being in a big city, I am not sure how useful this would be for me. However, the Kinder reading device actually seems to have broken most of the hurdles holding back electronic readers.

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-43247553577075358032008-08-25T10:36:00.000-07:002008-08-25T11:59:26.596-07:00

A lot of science deals with explanations.  Predictive power comes as a spin effect from this goal.  As expectations of forward precision increase social scientists are confronted with questions of accuracy.  Minimizing error propagation in practical venues often requires a human touch.  As Kauffman states (2008, pp 149);Our incapacity to predict Darwinian preadaptations, when their analogues

sigobnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-50837186887621591372008-08-22T18:42:00.000-07:002008-08-22T19:28:48.284-07:00

In "Reinventing the Sacred", Kauffman’s has chosen to take a fairly noble rode in the recent science-religion debates.  He critiques conventional science based positions as falling into a Galilean spell (pun to Dennett's work probably well intended).  Supernaturalistic religion is, for the most part, implicitly critiqued.  However this is done in a respectful manner that acknowledges the

sigobnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-90836455254438453392008-08-20T19:06:00.000-07:002008-08-20T19:37:34.896-07:00

I have all but finished my science & religion readings for the summer.  This involved quite a few journal articles, including Rational Choice literature.  It also included "Darwin's Cathedral", Kauffman's "Reinventing the Sacred", Givens' "A People of Paradox", and another attempt to force myself through the final chapters of Dennett's "Breaking the Spell".  Sometime I will have to add in Boyer's

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-68009571455436698162008-08-20T13:06:00.000-07:002008-08-22T19:29:13.646-07:00

I've been going through Stuart Kauffman's book "Reinventing the Sacred: A new view of science, reason and religion".  It is a somewhat technical read, that I think, should form part of a standard base for scientists wishing to study religion (I would also add in Atran's In God's we trust, Wilson's Darwin's Cathedral, some complexity theory readings including Willis 2004 paper, "A complexity and

sigobnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-68860307267846460862008-08-15T15:17:00.001-07:002008-08-22T19:32:28.691-07:00

Having just finished Darwin's Cathedral, I have returned to Charle's Ehin's book "Hidden Assets". The main idea is how self-organization, social capital and tacit knowledge affect an organization's absorptive capacity.  This is an interesting thesis, but I have to confess, I got quite bogged down in his evolutionary appeals.  Evolutionary psychologists are frequently critiqued for their loose

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-64862489145831185122008-08-11T15:04:00.000-07:002008-08-11T15:08:23.926-07:00

One of the advantages of experimenting with non-traditional assumptions is transformational leverage. In religion there is always a tension between internal reform and schism. Wilson views schism from the lens of the free-loader. Established religions that function as group adaptations enrich participants. Over time those that abuse the system get more benefits than those that sacrifice for

sigobnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-6953864288379914712008-08-10T08:41:00.000-07:002008-08-22T19:29:31.238-07:00

One question that must be asked with respect to Wilson's multi-level (group) selection approach to religion is how much of the religious experience do his tools explain?  Before answering this question, it is probably wise to follow Wilson's example and clean up the distinctions between proximate and ultimate causes.Religions are hard to pin down to a single function - whether this be community,

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-41312503248867015952008-08-08T12:15:00.000-07:002008-08-08T13:43:57.712-07:00

The downfall of many religious organizations is not that they fail to support core teachings,but rather that they treat all aspects of the organization as core ideology that cannot be changed. Roger Finke (2003, pp. 23)Balancing the essential tensions in religion is difficult.  The moral answers emerging from a belief structure are a vector.  They contain an individual's history with a problem

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-85551153097042324032008-08-08T09:44:00.000-07:002008-08-22T19:31:47.126-07:00

Can religion be considered a category of analysis in academic investigations?  The non-subjective sciences seem easy to excuse, while the arts seems easy to include.  The middle that interests me are the various branches of social sciences.Qualitative investigations have a number of different tools at their disposal.  One popular approach is to view knowledge as a multi-faceted crystal (

sigobnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-38845286630415878632008-08-01T09:26:00.000-07:002008-08-22T19:30:58.263-07:00

orWhy people sing "May the Circle be Unbroken"“Science works best when it tests among well-framed hypotheses that make different predictions about measurable aspects of the world,” - D.S. Wilson (2002, pp. 44)"Once the reasoning associated with scientific thought loses its status as the only adaptive way to think, other forms of thought associated with religion cease to be objects of scorn and

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-18237014775204568762008-07-28T08:00:00.000-07:002008-08-22T19:30:42.844-07:00

I have just been checking some references from Darwin’s Cathedral. A 2001 article by Stark caught my attention. It investigates the type of correlation religion has to moral order. The basic finding is that religion only sustains the moral order if it is based on a belief in morally concerned gods. Stating Stark’s (pp. 621) hypotheses may lessen the apparent tautology.“H1 In many societies,

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-70936763446652325742008-07-25T12:46:00.000-07:002008-08-22T19:30:13.086-07:00

After encountering numerous references for Rodney Stark's work, I thought I would just bring up a couple of short thoughts about approaching religion from the perspective of economics and rational choice theory. Wilson (2002, pp. 48) summarizes this approach nicely in his book Darwin's Cathedral;"Religion is envisioned as an economic exchange between people and imagined supernatural agents for

sigobnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-8331355401820587482008-07-20T10:18:00.000-07:002008-08-22T19:29:58.560-07:00

As I finish up chapter 1, Wilson mentions how genetic evolution does not only lead to closed ended processes. He references Plotkin`s (1994, as cited in Wilson 2002) concept of Darwin machines. As I understand it, these are processes which have evolved to certain levels of adaptability. The immune system and anti-body creation is cited as an example. Since Wilson`s book is about an

sigobnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-51687776975336523152008-07-18T10:52:00.001-07:002008-08-22T19:29:44.184-07:00

I have just started reading Darwin's Cathedral (Wilson, 2002).  I will pull out a few closely spaced quotes"The belief that group selection can be categorically rejected belongs on the rubbish heap of history, alongside the earlier belief that groups always function as adaptive units," (pp.17)."As we have seen, group selection can produce altruistic traits, but it must be exceptionally strong to

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-44871183691853238912008-07-18T10:34:00.000-07:002008-07-18T10:50:20.853-07:00

Well, it has been quite a while since I posted anything on this blog. In looking at my stat counter, a few random visitors still appear -surprisingThe LDS bloggernacle has changed quite a bit in the last two years. The volume of blogs has grown exponentially. My blog has tapered dramatically. Since I don’t read for content as much as for the opportunity to delve into new ways of thinking, I

sigobnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1149628905436511102006-06-06T14:20:00.000-07:002006-06-06T14:21:45.463-07:00

I was going to put this up on Bob & Logan's page, but thought it was too much of a threadjack. Like many I appreciate John Dehlin's podcasts. I think universalizing perspectives are much more pleasant to listen to than over zealous bias. Judging by the ex-mo, or post-mo boards it is just unfortunate that lots of people have to go through such a bitter stage before moving on. Indeed I don't

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1148487940803146102006-05-24T09:25:00.000-07:002006-05-24T09:25:40.806-07:00

Contrasting Religion and the non-denominational progressive PC movementPart IINormally we don't think of the PC movement as a formal religion. While the "faith based" label is getting applied more and more to certain segments, what is the real difference between politically correct progressivism and traditional religion?In the past I have talked about how zealotism is more defined by what is

chris gnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1148487899395828882006-05-24T09:24:00.000-07:002006-05-24T09:24:59.423-07:00

Contrasting Religion and the non-denominational progressive PC movementThis week at school we had a good inservice with one of the leaders of critical thinking in education. While she wasn't overly impressed with the small town charms of a religious community, after the presentation, and an exciting day guiding begginers down high water rivers I started thinking about the similarities and

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1147884928380449822006-05-17T09:54:00.000-07:002006-05-17T09:59:05.806-07:00

There have been few posts lately as the rivers come up and waterfalls seek my attention. However, I was given a copy of 1421 about how the Chinese likely mapped most of the world during this exploratory phase. I must say the whole idea has been fascinating on many levels. One, it is amazing how supposedly concrete ideas can get turned over quite quickly. I think a lot of historians or

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1144859968552462792006-04-12T09:39:00.000-07:002006-04-12T09:39:28.556-07:00

One of the problems of an unbalanced dependence on rationality is dissonance. Eventually, specific self justifying systems become more and more removed from actual events. In the start of the chapter "the rational courtesan", John Ralston Saul is highly critical concerning the difference between Robert McNamara's intended outcomes for the arms sales, world bank loans and the eventual outcomes

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1144859324752958062006-04-12T09:28:00.000-07:002006-04-13T14:17:32.266-07:00

orWhy plugging all your cracks with drywall mud may be the wrong kind of sealing ordinanceSitting down after spending a few hours mudding my drywall, I found a few minutes to again pick up Stages of Faith. While fairly tangential, a short passage got me thinking back to how as children we seem quite adept at accepting answers that can only be partially understood, and only partially comprehended

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1144859246260571152006-04-12T09:24:00.000-07:002006-04-12T09:27:26.286-07:00

Stages of Faith 2Concerning practical polytheism, Fowler had this to say from his book stages of faith Here I use this anthropological term to characterize a pattern of faith and identity that lacks any one center of value and power of sufficient transcendence to focus and order one's life. For the polytheist not even the self - one's myth of one's own worth and destiny-can lay a compelling

chris gnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1144855124917097132006-04-12T08:17:00.000-07:002006-04-12T08:47:57.096-07:00

I just listened to the good RSA symposium between Denkins and Alister McGrath about Dennet's book Breaking the spell of religion. I think one of the most interesting points demonstrated was the failure to admit to the prejudices of one's own belief system is the surest way to believe you have the winning argument. I think antagonism towards religion only proves this point. The degree to which

chris gnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1143486738388435812006-03-27T11:12:00.000-08:002006-03-27T11:12:18.393-08:00

eureka Originally uploaded by cgoblemoblo. An interesting podcast from Science Friday about great discoveries had this quote from Alan Lightman "I am writer as well as a physicist, and I know in my little corner of the world that when I have had a creative moment it has felt exactly the same in science and in art. There is a feeling as if your head is lifting off your shoulder and you

chris gnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1143486262118699332006-03-27T11:04:00.000-08:002006-03-27T11:04:22.166-08:00

exploration Originally uploaded by cgoblemoblo. Colin Blakemore and Grahame Cooper at the University of Cambridge published a paper in 1970. They raised kittens in pitch darkness, except for 5 hours each day during which they were put in pens painted with either vertical or horizontal stripes. After five months, the kittens were let loose in a normally lit room. Those that had been

chris gnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1143048736026758352006-03-22T09:32:00.000-08:002006-03-22T11:33:51.850-08:00

While there is a great degree of overlap in the way we sense the world, our individual experience with reality certainly can't be said to be universal. For instance deaf people experience a different type of reality from blind people. Those with down's syndrome experience a different reality from those with autism. While one can try and say reality is a singular entity, our interaction with it

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1141688173916761862006-03-06T15:36:00.000-08:002006-03-06T15:36:13.986-08:00

technocrat Originally uploaded by cgoblemoblo. VB3 - Rationalism vs. Religion : Optimization for chaotic agentsIn his book "Voltaire's Bastards", John Ralston Saul is critical of highly specialized bureaucrats. The complaint is that they have highly rationalized solutions that work well within their sphere of control but fail miserably when applied to external areas where they have no

chris gnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1141405743820360792006-03-03T09:08:00.000-08:002006-03-03T12:07:02.773-08:00

When one looks, at least superficially, at the legal systems of North American society, obfuscation appears an effective tool to avoid repercussion. Guilt beyond reasonable doubt encourages criminals to pursue methods that increase uncertainty. In the application of law, a strong resistance to arbitrariness favors complication over common sense conclusions. Now this certainly protects the

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1141147576457197222006-02-28T09:16:00.000-08:002006-02-28T09:26:50.373-08:00

Scientific RealityJeffrey at Issues In Mormon Doctrine has had a series of good posts on Dennet's "Breaking the Spell of Religion". While most of my comments never quite manage to be in sync with the subtleties required, the novel threads I end up thinking about after the face must mean I am at least adjusting my track, or perhaps just getting successively more off base.One issue that has taken

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1141146921955985422006-02-28T09:13:00.000-08:002006-02-28T09:15:21.970-08:00

From religion to scienceWhen religion tries to become scientific a couple of outcomes seem likely.1. Religion chooses which facts and studies to accept, becoming at most a pseudo science. Intelligent design defense seems to fit in here. Proponents use the science label to justify and proof text positions..2a. Rationalism is mistakenly presented as science. Thus people who say religion is

chris gnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1140622438397503962006-02-22T07:33:00.000-08:002006-02-22T07:33:58.410-08:00

Voltaire's BastardsCentral IdeologiesAs one looks closer at society, extreme positions tend towards functional similarity. According to Terror & Liberalism, the extreme left is increasingly finding itself supporting regimes, or at least states, that are every bit as genocidal as their professed epitome of evil - nazism. While few countries are able to match German efficiency, I wonder if we

chris gnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1140536589146269592006-02-21T07:42:00.000-08:002006-02-21T07:44:11.156-08:00

Voltaire's Bastards 2Rationality's communication problemsPeople like specific solutions. In societal terms we want to have a knowledge that the direction we are tending is the best possible course. We instinctively shy away from leaders who would answer with vagueness, indicating that the specifics we rely on really don't matter much in the end. This tendency seem analogous to religious

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1140536460255251712006-02-21T07:38:00.000-08:002006-02-21T09:21:35.683-08:00

Voltaire's BastardsThe religion of rationalityLet's face it, religion today has a bad name. What protestantism was to Catholicism, individual morality now is to organized religion. And yet the more one looks at our society the clearer one fundamentally ingrained religious tendencies appear. While this certainly doesn't imply people are out recreating pseudo synagogues, cathedrals and

chris gnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1139528483688557942006-02-09T15:41:00.000-08:002006-02-09T15:41:23.690-08:00

In Gods We TrustRitual 3.1 - Sin's LocusAccording to C. Ward and Beaubrun, possession exorcism affords positive advantages to the individual in such cases: direct escape for a conflict situation and diminution of stress and guilt feelings by projecting blame onto the intruding spirit. The critical advantage of the Pentecostal Church or the village holy man over doctors and folk healers is

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1139528443067160222006-02-09T15:40:00.000-08:002006-02-09T15:40:43.070-08:00

In Gods We TrustRitual 3.0 - Implicational logicBy tuning out the scripted routine and forgetting changing details, participants are able to turn their attention to the "logical" structure and implications of religious doctrine presented in exegesis, argumentation, and sermonizing. As the "inexorable implicational logic" of religious doctrine becomes transparent to participants, the "

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1139528411642866402006-02-09T15:39:00.001-08:002006-02-09T15:40:11.646-08:00

In Gods We TrustCommitment 2.6 - Big BrotherAccording to Jared Diamond, who relates a form of the "religion is oppression" argument: "Bands and tribes already had supernatural beliefs, just as do modern established religions. But the supernatural beliefs of bands and tribes did not serve to justify central authority, justify transfer of wealth, or maintain peace between unrelated individuals".

chris gnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1139528381206526712006-02-09T15:39:00.000-08:002006-02-10T09:10:10.220-08:00

In Gods We TrustCommitment 2.5 - Quasi-propostional beliefsFrom page 113 Religious doctrines, rites, and liturgies are only diversely connected sets of examples that serve as public entry points into the vast network of mostly unarticulated commonsense beliefs that nearly all human beings share or have ready inferential access to. In fact, the so-called norms and values of religious traditions

chris gnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1139528333680745642006-02-09T15:38:00.000-08:002006-02-09T15:38:53.683-08:00

In Gods We TrustCommitment 2.4 - The fallacy of convergenceMore often, religious prescriptions and commandments do not constitute social norms in the sense of shared rules or injunctions that determine behaviour. Instead, they stipulate only a bare, skeletal frame for collectively channeling thought and action....Their expression perfomatively signals and establish a cognitive and emotional

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1139528302660225052006-02-09T15:37:00.000-08:002006-02-09T15:38:22.663-08:00

In Gods We TrustCommitments 2.3 - Societal MoralsFrom page 112Simple consent between individuals seldom, if ever, successfully sustains cooperation among large numbers of people over long periods of time. Displays of commitment to supernatural agents signal sincere willingness to cooperate with the community of believers. Supernatural agents thus also function as moral Big Brothers who keep

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1139528269512133182006-02-09T15:32:00.000-08:002006-02-09T15:37:49.513-08:00

Since most comments on the book were covered some time ago, I stopped posting my responses. Having not posted anything for quite some time though, I though perhaps I might as well throw my responses online. They are still rough, and I haven't bothered cross linking things like I normally would, however since I doubt I will get around to correcting that, I am posting them nonetheless.

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1139527787509273982006-02-09T15:28:00.000-08:002006-02-09T15:29:47.526-08:00

I have really appreciated all the work John Dehlin has put into his podcasts. Specifically episodes on masonry, David O. Mckay and mormon assimilation have stood out. While it is certainly been a while since I have posted anything, after listening to the stages of faith casts, I thought I might try and pry myself away from renovations to post a few thoughts.The first time I was presented with

chris gnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1136563430360309682006-01-06T08:02:00.000-08:002006-01-09T07:25:40.546-08:00

In Gods We TrustCommitments 2.3 - Societal MoralsFrom page 112Simple consent between individuals seldom, if ever, successfully sustains cooperation among large numbers of people over long periods of time. Displays of commitment to supernatural agents signal sincere willingness to cooperate with the community of believers. Supernatural agents thus also function as moral Big Brothers who keep

chris gnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1136563281334120462006-01-06T07:56:00.000-08:002006-01-06T08:01:21.360-08:00

In Gods We TrustCommunication 2.2 - Supernatural expansionHumans have an ability and tendency to take small packets of infromation and assume large background stories. Put in Atran's words,A few fragmentary narrative descriptions or episodes suffice to mobilize an enormously rich network of implicit background beliefs.When this is applied to the malleability of abstract beliefs, we have the

chris gnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1136485473158350762006-01-05T10:24:00.000-08:002006-01-05T10:24:33.170-08:00

In Gods We TrustCommitments 2.1 - feedback loop errosAtran has a very interesting critique of religious thought in the start of his section on counterintuitive worlds. He starts off by discussing a feedback loop of inference and interpretation. If one understands what a speaker intends, there is a smooth flow of communication. Information is processed subconsciously (or at least non-overtly),

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1136396003863508752006-01-04T09:29:00.000-08:002006-01-04T09:34:03.560-08:00

SInce I have just gotten back from a nice vacation down in southern Utah, I thought I would finish up the posts on "In Gods We Trust". While many of the ideas have been pretty well discussed in the previous posts, I thought I would still finish posting all the notes I jotted down while going through it in November. Again, things are more tangential discussions than substantial commentary.In

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1134578288144447812005-12-14T08:36:00.000-08:002005-12-14T08:38:08.160-08:00

In God We TrustIntroduction 1.6- Attachment TheoryIn Page 72 of the book attachment theory is presented as a possible explanation for religious tendencies. Basically people who tend to care about others, view God as caring for themselves. In psychology language, they tend to project their views onto God. People that have a strong need for personal relationships tend to view God on a very

chris gnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1134490251363209732005-12-13T08:10:00.000-08:002005-12-13T08:11:53.686-08:00

In Gods we trustIntroduction - 1.5/6 - Supernatural uncertaintyIt is this cognitive architecture that makes it natural to render a supernatural interpretation of events under conditions of uncertainty.This seems similar to my recent post on leavening, and some of my other posts. Well maybe I should say it was more like what I was trying to get at, not necessarily what was conveyed. People seem

chris gnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1134433657134847382005-12-12T16:27:00.000-08:002005-12-15T12:47:43.876-08:00

In Gods We TrustIntroduction 1-5 - Causal ProblemsA fair amount of time is devoted to psychological ideas and tests of agency. While the complicated writing style gets a bit tedious, especially for those who may have seen much more clear and concise explanations of the same, eventually the discussion hits upon some interesting points.Unobservable or longer-term productions, such as the complex

chris gnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1134401817376260982005-12-12T07:24:00.000-08:002005-12-12T07:36:57.386-08:00

In Gods we TrustIntroduction 1.4 - Sexual SelectionThe second chapter of the book comes across rather tedious, well at least if you are comfortable with evolution related concepts. One interesting point was a brief mention of the relation of religion to sexual selection. Unfortunately this passing reference on page 23 was more of an allusion that a substantive point. This is unfortunate as the

chris gnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1134401040590912192005-12-12T07:22:00.000-08:002005-12-12T07:24:00.603-08:00

Branding, as we have seen, is a balloon economy: it inflates with astonishing rapidity but it is full of hot air. It shouldn't be surprising that this formula has bred armies of pin-wielding critics, eager to pop the corporate balloon and watch the shreds fall to the ground. The more ambitious a company has been in branding the cultural landscape, and the more careless it has been in abandoning

chris gnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1134062230469363282005-12-08T10:16:00.000-08:002005-12-08T09:20:32.466-08:00

In Gods we trustIntroduction 1.3 -Depth processingAll religions have core beliefs that confound these innate expectations about the world, such as faith in physically powerful but essentially bodiless deities. These beliefs grad attention, activate intuition, and mobilize inference in ways that facilitate their social transmission, cultural selection, and historical persistence. New experiments

chris gnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1133972482046813142005-12-07T08:53:00.000-08:002005-12-07T08:21:22.120-08:00

In Gods we trustIntroduction 1.2 - Commitment TheoriesCommitment theories are mindblind. For the most part, they ignore or misrepresent the cognitive structure of the mind and its causal role. They cannot in principle distinguish Marxism for monotheism, ideology from religious belief. They cannot explain why people can be more steadfast in their commitment to admittedly counterfactual and

chris gnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1133973210515736642005-12-07T08:33:00.000-08:002005-12-07T08:33:30.516-08:00

On a similar note to InG we T - commitment theories, I think the issue of keeping personal revelations personal comes up. I believe there is a Joseph Smith quote somewhere (I could be wrong) that says the reason we don't get more revelations is that we don't keep them personal enough.There are two takes on this idea. One is that sacred experiences, promptings and presumably, but not necessarily

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1133887715638723552005-12-06T08:48:00.000-08:002005-12-06T08:52:07.086-08:00

Over at Ned Flanders comment shake down, Clark had a phrase I have been trying to alliterate for some time "dialogue by force." Of course he used the American spelling but, then we all know, communication is context dependent.The issue revolves around a minority's concept of dialogue. The other week I was listening to CBC or something and heard various native groups complaining that, even

chris gnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1133883633965199722005-12-06T07:39:00.000-08:002005-12-06T09:03:47.536-08:00

In Gods we trust1.1 - IntroductionThe introduction to In Gods we trust is jam packed. By itself it is quite an enticing thought starter. The subheading should give one a good taste of its content.-why is religion an evolutionary dilemma-why are religions and cultures not entities or things-what is an evolutionary landscape-why are Mickey Mouse and Marx different from GodOne of the big questions

chris gnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1131482765039841552005-12-05T14:41:00.000-08:002005-12-05T14:04:22.936-08:00

Jim Faulconer has a great post suggesting that some forms of religion may encourage idolatry. In particular he mentions that valuing a construct, perhpas due to systematic theology, over the real, or revealed, may lead one to idolatry. This is because we are worhsipping what we create rather than the thing we are trying to describe. This seems like some of the problems some forms of

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1133805979318098442005-12-05T10:04:00.000-08:002005-12-06T07:56:53.483-08:00

In Gods we trust 1.0 - ExpectationsWho can resist a book whose subtitle is "The evolutionary landscape of religion". While some people like befuddling themselves with questions of when commandment A is more appropriate than commandment B, I find hard fundamental questions much more entertaining. It seems like a good way to keep oneself humble, and hence teachable. After all, from a

chris gnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1133805855350171532005-12-05T10:03:00.000-08:002005-12-05T10:04:15.360-08:00

In Gods We Trust by Scott Atran (another review here) deals with the evolutionary landscape of religion. In it, he offers a well researched analysis of how supernatural religion is a natural consequence of our basic natures.This book is written from a decidedly atheistic point of view. While it certainly isn't written in a pejorative way, it certainly can be a challenge to some types of

chris gnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1133221463091749632005-11-28T15:36:00.000-08:002005-11-28T15:44:23.103-08:00

As a teacher I often have to run around the internet looking for resources. A few years ago I found the World Lecture Hall. This excellent resource has a listing of online college courses. Most courses are fairly complete. There are a few religion courses up there that I haven't gone through. If one is looking to get a bit more out of one's studies, picking up a text, and following through a

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1132587524203003232005-11-23T08:37:00.000-08:002005-11-23T07:31:37.633-08:00

From the Oct 8 2005 New Scientist:The conclusion they came to was that there was no real difference between fundamentalists and everybody else. "The fundamentalist mentality is part of human nature." writes Stuart Sim, a cultural theorist at the University of Sunderland in the UK. "All of us are capable of exhibiting this kind of behaviour".Attention has now turned away from individual

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1132759653738152782005-11-23T08:26:00.000-08:002005-11-23T07:27:33.750-08:00

From the October 8-14th New Scientist article "Meeting of the Minds" on fundamentalism we get the following, hopefully humility inspiring quote:But how does the conflict [the compartmentalization of religious and scientific thought] translate into a social war, like that being waged over the role of science? part of the answer lies in fundamentalist's need to bolster group identity by reframing

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1132597301999319672005-11-21T11:17:00.000-08:002005-11-21T10:23:13.746-08:00

Browsing throught the Jesus Creed today, there was an interesting article in the on the Emergent Movement. The problem, as I see it, is centered around the non-denominational aspect of some brances of protestantism. Hence the importance that Mormonism doesn't have on defining belief.What do we really need? Is not a doctrinal statement a locally-defined statement in order to delineate one

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1132587464540970552005-11-21T10:29:00.000-08:002005-11-21T09:31:04.530-08:00

The October issue of New Scientist has quite a few good articles on religion. Unfortunately the articles aren't available online without a subscription. However, I thought some of the letters were interesting. The one point I found interesting was how some evangelicals, as evidenced by a forum sample size of one, are rather miffed at evangelism being equated with fundamentalism. It seems

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1132268366605271252005-11-17T14:15:00.000-08:002005-11-17T14:59:26.696-08:00

I stumbled across a number of good posts on this subject over at Jesus Creed. I don't really like the blog title (mormons use Christ, evangelicals Jesus, but the posts are nicely balanced and mature. Return of the Pharisees 3 seems like the best post.From this post it seems as if the pharisees were acting like prophets without a divine mandate. By focusing in on prophetic tradition they

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1131567430171672212005-11-09T12:16:00.000-08:002005-11-09T12:18:03.223-08:00

There is a sense in which metaphysics is unavoidable if we are to reflect on anything. So, for me, the question isn’t one of entirely avoiding metaphysics or going beyond it. The supposition of such a possibility is itself a metaphysical supposition. Rather, the point is to find ways of reflecting that are more likely to disrupt the metaphysics that reflection unavoidably creates.-Jim Faulconer

chris gnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1130802108151739372005-11-09T09:41:00.000-08:002005-11-09T12:18:22.063-08:00

We are most happy when the depth of meaning we are able to create with something matches the amount of reality it is able to provide.Naomi Klein's book "No Logo", while often times frustrating to read due to the naivete about implications of her idealistic view had some interesting tangential implications.In one section she complains of how, as children, she and her brothers would run around the

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1131122446948738382005-11-04T08:40:00.000-08:002005-11-04T08:40:46.950-08:00

Over at my favorite blog, Belmont Club there is a really good post on True Believers. In it Paul Berman wonders why much of the left doesn't vilify radical Islam the way it vilifies Nazism and other tolitalitarian, or oppressive regimes. Wretchard, as usual, has a very insightful comment.At Auschwitz the SS said, "Here there is no why." That grimly hilarious punchline was not exclusive to

chris gnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1130958800426630972005-11-02T11:12:00.000-08:002005-11-02T11:13:20.440-08:00

Reading through Ether the other night, I found the comments about secret combinations interesting. Perhaps part of the reason was the transparent grab for power reflected in anti-establishment books like "No Logo". To me it always seems apparent that some people consider anything a majority does or chooses oppressive. Whether it is Walmart not carrying graphic magazines, or the loss of

chris gnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1130366685780188312005-10-26T15:44:00.000-07:002005-10-27T07:40:52.666-07:00

Jeff has a good, thorough post up at Issues in Mormon Doctrine. While I don't think I have the skills to tackle the questions in the way they need to be, I certainly enjoy fundamental questions like this.Since so many points are made in this post, I thought I would try and answer a few that jumped out at me. Instead of adding this to his blog, I figure I will do it hear. Things will be rather

chris gnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1129743493290744822005-10-19T08:10:00.000-07:002005-10-31T14:40:01.220-08:00

Council in heavenGeoff talks about the idea that there may be quite a few physical worlds in which we live and progress. Like many others I may be misunderstanding his post, but it seems one of the things being said is that the Kingdoms are descriptors of personal character rather than exclusionary spheres of existence. Thus a traditional telestial person who has been around for a while may be

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1129564590259353532005-10-17T08:55:00.000-07:002005-10-17T08:56:30.266-07:00

As I was reading the final chapter in Twitchell's "Branded Nation", there was an interesting statement, "humans congregate to share stories." From this perspective shared history, commonly understood images and attitudes are what enables communication and hence society.My last few posts seemed to have been dealing with the purpose of traditional religion. Perhaps our strongly individualized

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1129221951305808952005-10-13T09:45:00.000-07:002005-10-13T10:18:30.336-07:00

While there are some superb chapters in the Book of Mormon, my favorite is 3 Nephi 27. In this chapter Christ lays out the essence of his Gospel.27. Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do;Interpretations of this

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1129131285638121312005-10-12T08:34:00.000-07:002005-10-26T16:37:48.000-07:00

As I finish up "Branded Nation", one recurring point is that product saturation leads to indistinguishable goods which leads to branding (putting a story to your product to differentiate it). It seems as if religion fits into the process.There is a relative abundance of religions in North America. Numerous Christian sects have given the consumer power of choice. While specialization could

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1128106243815905882005-09-30T11:38:00.000-07:002005-09-30T11:50:43.836-07:00

I have been going through more of Branded nation, and despite a quite slow and weak start, I have begun to enjoy the book more. Perhaps this is because it is a welcome excuse from plumbing in a dirty 2 foot crawl space in a 100 year old house. However, Twitchell's section on the branding involved in the megachurch movement was quite good.We depend on the law to organize our human transactions.

chris gnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1127922905671832182005-09-28T08:54:00.000-07:002005-09-28T08:55:05.676-07:00

There are good and bad consequences in every decision. It seems as if negative consequences are defined as such because of the loss of future opportunity caused by them. However, no path that we ever take will be without negative consequences. Attempts at minimizing negative consequences may end up being more a function of what we do with a grey world than how much grey there may actually be.

chris gnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6417197.post-1127744487669776912005-09-26T07:21:00.000-07:002005-09-26T07:21:27.676-07:00

Often lessons stress the importance of avoiding even the appearance of evil. While I won’t disagree with the importance of this, I do wonder if the way people interpret the application of this idea isn’t somewhat removed from some of the intents of this admonition?Many people bring up the point that the worst thing we can do for non-members around us is to set a bad example by not living up to

chris gnoreply@blogger.com3