On Wednesday, USU philosophy professor Richard Sherlock explained why he left Mormonism and converted to Roman Catholicism. For those of us who couldn’t make the presentation, we are indebted to my friend Will for recording it. You can download the audio file of both the lecture and the Q & A period below.
The USU Religious Studies Club is hosting a presentation by Dr. Sherlock about his recent conversion from Mormonism to Catholicism. For those who are not familiar with him, Dr. Sherlock is a philosophy professor at USU. His conversion to Catholicism is notable because he has long been an important (though some think heretical) Mormon intellectual.
The presentation is this Wednesday, March 2, at 4:00 PM in Old Main 121. You won’t want to miss it. But if you cannot make it, I’ll likely post a recording of the talk later this week.
My fellow redditors may appreciate this.
In recent years, I’ve become sympathetic to some pro-life arguments. So on the issue of abortion, I don’t think the Catholic Church is totally backwards. I agree with Catholics on (casual) late-term abortions and even respect their stance against abortion in the case of rape. But excommunicating a nun/medical professional who in good faith just wanted to save the life of a patient is incomprehensible.
Okay, so the title is just to grab your attention. The Catholic Church is actually extending a rather ecumenical offer to atheists. From The Independent:
The Vatican is planning a new initiative to reach out to atheists and agnostics in an attempt to improve the church’s relationship with non-believers. Pope Benedict XVI has ordered officials to create a new foundation where atheists will be encouraged to meet and debate with some of the Catholic Church’s top theologians.
The Vatican hopes to stage a series of debates in Paris next year. But militant non-believers hoping for a chance to set senior church figures straight about the existence of God are set to be disappointed: the church has warned that atheists with high public profiles such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens will not be invited.
Father Raphael Trytek of Krakow, Poland told reporters at a gay rights rally that homosexuality is unnatural and a choice, and that “faggots” should be burned at the stake as they were during the Inquisition. And by faggot, I do not mean a bundle of sticks (which would be quite appropriate to burn, coincidentally).
Ugh. The Sunday Times reports:
Richard Dawkins, the atheist campaigner, is planning a legal ambush to have the Pope arrested during his state visit to Britain “for crimes against humanity”.
Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.
The pair believe they can exploit the same legal principle used to arrest Augusto Pinochet, the late Chilean dictator, when he visited Britain in 1998.
Dawkins and Hitchens believe the Pope would be unable to claim diplomatic immunity from arrest because, although his tour is categorised as a state visit, he is not the head of a state recognised by the United Nations.
They have commissioned the barrister Geoffrey Robertson and Mark Stephens, a solicitor, to present a justification for legal action.
The lawyers believe they can ask the Crown Prosecution Service to initiate criminal proceedings against the Pope, launch their own civil action against him or refer his case to the International Criminal Court.
Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, said: “This is a man whose first instinct when his priests are caught with their pants down is to cover up the scandal and damn the young victims to silence.”
Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great, said: “This man is not above or outside the law. The institutionalised concealment of child rape is a crime under any law and demands not private ceremonies of repentance or church-funded payoffs, but justice and punishment.
The Catholic Church is reeling from the recent spate of headlines about sex abuse in the priesthood and its cover-up by church officials.
Coverage of this scandal, though, diverts attention from another, less well-know scandal: the Catholic suppression of the real meaning of Easter. Below is a video that the Vatican doesn’t want you to see. ;)
Happy Easter!