Oct 01 2007

american justice

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I’ve sometimes heard that with respect to public figures, the established stereotype is far from how they actually are as a person.  In American politics, there are few people as polarizing as Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas.  Just mentioning his name may make you think of what you think about him.  It certainly does to me.  Liberals hate him.  Many African Americans misunderstand him.  But who is he?

Thomas recently wrote his memoirs titled My Grandfather’s Son, and also recently sat down for a fascinating interview with 60 Minutes.  This is possibly his first interview of this depth he’s given since the U.S. Senate approved him to the Supreme Court.

He discusses many aspects of his life, including time spent studying at a Roman Catholic seminary.  He later left the seminary due to how he perceived the school’s indifference to civil rights issues, but came back to his faith later in as an adult.  I wish they had spent more time on this, but with so many other topics to consider in his life, it’s understandable.

I won’t spoil the rest of the interview, but it is an intriguing look at someone that so many carry opinions about, but few actually know.  Regardless of how you feel about him, you will be better informed for watching this.  See for yourself, and tell me what you think after watching it.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three


Sep 11 2007

Lost in Translation Part 1

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I have come to have a renewed appreciation for the “glass ceiling” that limits relationships in the blogosphere. Yes, we can exchange ideas, beliefs, and opinions with many to spare, yet it is a different story when we cannot be so personally invested in relationship. Because of the limits to personal interaction, there is a limit to shared experience as well. And while we exchange “ideas,” we do so in a sterile environment, bereft of the richness and depth of experience each of us has to offer.

A friend of mine was recently talking about how she was able to put 8 years of learning French to use at work. Her employer often deals with another company in Canada. While they normally have an English option, they received an email that was entirely in French, so her co-workers called her over. She sat down and started reading the email, some of it out loud. She explained that for some reason, this company couldn’t respond at this time, they weren’t there anymore, etc. She was excited that she could understand what they were writing and hadn’t lost many of her hard-earned skills.

Towards the bottom she realized that it was an automatic “out of office reply” sent by the system. Read more »


Aug 28 2007

Objectivity v Subjectivity Pt. 2

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG17Atw-Qcg]

This is the second part in the discussion. I hope that this is a good follow up to the first one, and as always you can either post questions and comments here or on the YouTube page.


Aug 27 2007

Objectivity v Subjectivity Pt. 1

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=48OBeoMLso4]
Part 1 of my discussion on Objectivity and Sujectivity. The video says it all, so enjoy!


Written by Mike | Posted under Faith, Truth, epistemology, objectivity, subjectivity | 1 Comment »









      THE SEMINARIAN WAGER
    
Everyone has faith. Regardless of how our faith developed, we should be willing to critically analyze those beliefs. While analyzing the validity of our faith, we should also be willing to analyze the validity of our doubts and cultural preconditions. If we are willing to do this, we wager that over time, the roots of our faith will strengthen toward truth, and will not be uprooted during challenging times. This site aims to provide worthwhile discussion regarding a critical evaluation of both religious belief and modern doubts.