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 ( 4568 )
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Not Sleepy Yet
Over a recent weekend I watched four versions of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” (I have two excuses. One is that it’s October, and the second is that I have an... Read more
Posted on 09 October 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Keep Cool
I know national secrets. You can too! Bob Woodward’s Rage contains them because Trump is willing to talk about anything that aggrandizes himself. Read more
Posted on 08 October 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Dangers of Experience
I’m so used to being behind everyone else that when I turn out to be ahead of the curve it occasions genuine surprise. That’s the way it appears when I think... Read more
Posted on 07 October 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
What Smells
One of the stories I recently read had a character commenting on the smell of a place. Although humans can’t rival many other mammals and some birds for sense o... Read more
Posted on 06 October 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Ghosts, of a Sort
What happens when we die? That question is perhaps THE question that drives just about everything we do. Evangelicalism, masked behind love of Jesus, is really... Read more
Posted on 05 October 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
The Hardest Part of Nightmares
In the process of writing a book, there comes the long time between when everything’s submitted and you hear nothing. In fact, writing a book is often about... Read more
Posted on 04 October 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Unintentional Patterns
Time, they say, is what prevents everything from happening at once. I’ve noticed something about my reading life (is there any other kind of life?). One of my... Read more
Posted on 03 October 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
WordPress Extortion
I seldom post twice in one day. WordPress’ decision to extort customers into using their “block editor” unless they pay $300 a year for a business account is... Read more
Posted on 02 October 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Belief and Its Discontents
In this day of self-driving cars and instant, world-wide video conferencing, it is difficult to believe we still prejudice belief in God. Read more
Posted on 02 October 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Scared Space
It was dark. I often work in dim light since the computer screen backlights everything. I’d strained my back the day before, and getting into a standing positio... Read more
Posted on 01 October 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Behind the Exorcist
Some books from the 1970s are difficult to locate. Since that was some half-century ago I suppose that’s not at all unusual. One of those that I had been anxiou... Read more
Posted on 30 September 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Bbw
It’s a measure of how busy I am when Banned Book Week has started before I realize it. Most years I make it a point to read a banned book at this time, but my... Read more
Posted on 29 September 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Mother of Life
Homeostasis is, if I recall correctly, the state of equilibrium that entities and systems seek. When we’re too warm we seek someplace cooler and when we’re... Read more
Posted on 28 September 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Up in the Sky
Superman stands for truth, justice, and the American way. Or least he did when I was a kid. One out of three ain’t bad. Considering the many exposés that have... Read more
Posted on 27 September 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Eureka?
It’s weird to feel yourself becoming a curmudgeon. Especially when it’s about technology. Someone asked me the other day if I could send an audio file of... Read more
Posted on 26 September 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
In Black
When autumn rolls around my hankering for gothic literature ratchets up. It’s really my gothic sensibilities that make me watch horror films, seeking some kind... Read more
Posted on 25 September 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Horse Senses
Chief was a smart horse. The horse camp instructor told us that horses sometimes distended their midsections when a rider was strapping on the billet because... Read more
Posted on 24 September 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Secretly
There are not too many books that I would call epiphanies. I always lay down Jeffrey Kripal’s books with a sense of wonder and awe. Read more
Posted on 23 September 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Being Equal
With all that’s been happening lately—as 2020 shudders along—we find ourselves at the equinox. For some of us the weather has already been unseasonably cool,... Read more
Posted on 22 September 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Believing and Seeing
Our eyes locked for a moment. He wasn’t ten feet away. Of course, like all famous people he knew that his fans thought they knew him and hoped that he would kno... Read more
Posted on 21 September 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY
