There was a very exciting announcement recently that synthetic life had been created in a laboratory through the wonderful applications of scientific advancement. Rather than my usual commentary on the ethics of this situation, I thought I would try something different and provide a spiritual parable of sorts about synthetic life. I hope that you enjoy it.
What do we want to be?
Tag Archive: religion
Secular Spirituality: Sacred acts, profane thoughts
With today’s post I want to embark a bit more upon this new direction that I spoke about last week, a direction that was going to be infused with more of a spiritual understanding and voice in an attempt to move away from the purely neutral ‘Wikipedia’ tone that some of my news posts were guilty of. What I’ve picked as a topic to start this new tone is one that has always interested me and is becoming increasingly more important and central to modern life in the developed world: secular spirituality.
Future Conscience: Taking a slightly different direction
It’s always interesting looking back at work that you have done, trying to gauge whether or not it should be considered successful or worth continuing with. Recently I’ve been going through this process with Future Conscience, wondering just how it will continue into the future and whether or not any changes should be made to the writing style and content.
Anti-terrorism fatwa to be issued by prominent Muslim leader
Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri, a prominent Islamic leader is going to issue an incredibly detailed fatwa tomorrow in London that denounces terrorism and suicide bombing in the name of Islam.
10 sectors to watch over the next decade (part 5)
So we’ve come to the final installment in my ‘10 sectors to watch’ series, and I can definitely say that it’s been difficult cutting down the list to just ten. I’m going to finish today with two sectors that both represent social changes rather than merely technological ones.
Friday Link Roundup: New Religious Movements
Given yesterday’s Site of the Week, I figured that it would be appropriate to use this week’s Link Roundup to focus on cults and new religious movements.
Site of the Week: The Rick Ross Institute
Collecting information, news articles, interviews, personal accounts and more surrounding the topic of ‘destructive cults, controversial groups and movements’, The Rick A. Ross Institute has been collating a great deal of data over the past thirteen years.
Pope opens the door for disillusioned Anglicans
Today saw quite a surprising announcement come out of the Holy See in Rome. The Catholic Church has announced that they are opening the door for disillusioned Anglicans who wish to convert whilst still allowing them to maintain many of the traditions and liturgical differences that they have developed.
Quarter of global population now Muslim
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has just released a report that indicates that the global Muslim population is now very close to a quarter of the estimated total population of humankind. About 60% of this population resides in Asia, with Indonesia having the highest proportion with 12.9% of the overall Muslim population worldwide.
The Neuroscience of Buddhist meditation and spiritual practice
A video covering some of the latest thinking within the neuroscience community on the physiological effects of spiritual practice within the brain – with a particular focus on Buddhist mindfulness meditation.
