Tag: religion

  • Religiousness

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Today’s post is about religion. One of the two things you are never supposed to talk about in good company. And since the other is politics and since I cover that here frequently, let’s just go all in, shall we? FiveThirtyEight has an interesting piece about religious diversity and a corresponding lack of religiousness. From…

  • The Crane Crash in Mecca

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    Brendan Barry
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    Sometimes when you are reading something, what you really need is context. Personally, I prefer visual context over textual, but not everybody is so thankfully we can do both. Last week a crane collapsed during inclement weather in Mecca and fell upon the Grand Mosque. I knoew that it was a large crane, but it…

  • Jesus and the Footprints

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    I’m Irish—my ancestors were from the southern part—and so I grew up Catholic and I went to Catholic schools. So I know some of my Jesus stories. There’s that one story about how at the end of some guy’s life he looks back at a beach—I have no idea what life means being on a…

  • Sochi and the Caucasus

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    The Olympics opened in Sochi this past weekend. Many of us may well be familiar with photographs of urinals without piping, or unfinished hotel rooms, or many other infrastructure problems, but there is a bigger issue facing Sochi. It exists on what the New York Times terms the edge of a war zone. Their overall…

  • Catholics and Cardinals

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    Brendan Barry
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    As the conclave in Rome is almost ready to begin, likely sometime next week, cardinals are gathering in Rome to discuss the affairs of the Catholic Church and then elect a new pope from within their ranks. Many outsiders talk about the time for a pope from outside of Europe, that the papacy has been…

  • Whence the Popes Came

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    Brendan Barry
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    For the first time in centuries, a sitting pope is to resign. Typically most popes have served until their death. The question for many will now be who will be the next pope. Will it be a cardinal from Latin America? From Africa? I looked at the origins of the all the popes since Peter.…

  • The First Rule Is You Don’t Talk About It

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    There are two things one is not supposed to discuss in mixed company, and let us face it, the internet is some rather mixed company. One of those things, politics, I frequently mention and bring up on this blog. The other, religion, I do not. Until now. (I think.) From the National Post comes this…