Steveawiggins
MY BLOGS
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Sects and Violence in the Ancient World
http://sawiggins.wordpress.com/
A blog that tries to find intelligent things to say about religion and related subjects.
LATEST ARTICLES ( 4116 )
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Fictional Facts
“If you want truth,” Indiana Jones famously said, you need to go to philosophy class. The sad fact is most people have little practical training when it comes t... Read more
Posted on 29 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Day of Memorials
I admit that I’m as guilty as the next guy of thinking of holidays primarily as a day off work. A boon from the gods of capitalism so that we can come back to... Read more
Posted on 28 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Biblical Popes
It was the end of the world. The year was 1979, if I recall. One of those occasional manias that sweep the nation weighed heavily upon my high school. Read more
Posted on 27 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Eternity, Technically
When the robot uprising comes, we have a factor in our favor, we biological beings. That is our parts, although they do break down, generally heal themselves. Read more
Posted on 26 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Crafting Magic
There’s a disingenuousness about an extremely wealthy white man claiming he’s the victim of a “witch hunt.” Such super-slurring devalues the many thousands of... Read more
Posted on 25 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Holy Or Not?
The ancient divine world was a slippery place. When you stop to think about it, this makes sense. The deities and demons of antiquity were invisible. Different... Read more
Posted on 24 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Wired for Good
I spend entirely too much time untangling wires. Recently I read a survey asking whether you’d rather face a robot uprising or a zombie apocalypse. There’s no... Read more
Posted on 23 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Which Bible Again?
Which Bible? That’s a fair enough question. No matter how much you want to deny it, western culture always has been and always will have been biblically based. Read more
Posted on 22 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Ask an Evangelical
News stories this year have plowed up a frequently repeated question: what’s an Evangelical? This was the subtext to a Washington Post story that declared... Read more
Posted on 21 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Taming Shakespeare
It hardly seemed credible, from what I heard in high school, that anyone would read Shakespeare if it weren’t required. I’m not completely naive, but I do wonde... Read more
Posted on 20 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Belly Fires
A friend recently sent me a story from Smithsonian.com about how Evangelicalism arose partially in reaction to protests against the Vietnam War. Read more
Posted on 19 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Secularcist
It should be fairly obvious that I’ve been researching demons lately. In the current political climate, it feels like a natural thing to do. Where there are... Read more
Posted on 18 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Latter-Day Scouts
Physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. And prepared. That’s what Boy Scouts are supposed to be. My attempts to become an Eagle Scout were abou... Read more
Posted on 17 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Of Gears and Gods
We develop pictures in our minds of the kinds of things that belong together in different eras. Dinosaurs, for example, don’t belong with our own species, no... Read more
Posted on 16 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Creating Afterlife
Once upon a time I wrote a book on commuting. It never got beyond my laptop, but I often wonder if it was simply premature. Some stories from public transit... Read more
Posted on 15 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Russian Passions
Dmitri didn’t do it; guilty anyway. That’s it in six words. I have to confess my tolerance for really long novels isn’t what it used to be. Read more
Posted on 14 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
For Mothers’ Sake
We try to be practical for Mother’s Day. I take my wife out to eat every year, but since we both work and Monday always comes earlier than we expect, we... Read more
Posted on 13 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Real Dreaming
I keep odd hours. Although we don’t live far from New York City, as the pigeon flies, public transit sets the schedule for my day. (I’m merely writing as a... Read more
Posted on 12 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Book Recommendations
Working in publishing has its perils. One from my personal experience is that you run into many books you just have to read. Not necessarily for work, but... Read more
Posted on 11 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Spiritual Walls
I often ponder what a difference walls make. Perhaps our ancient, cave-dwelling DNA just runs away with imaginations, but walls make us feel safe. Most of the... Read more
Posted on 10 May 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY