Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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The Limits of Secularism
An outsanding analysis by the Chief Rabbi of England Lord Sacks. Some highlights: In 1997…I argued that the world had moved on since (Isaiah) Berlin’s great 1957 lecture “Two Concepts of Liberty” (.pdf), and that the threat to liberty was now different: not totalitarianism but rather the internal moral decay of free societies. So there…
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Christmas Too Commercialized? Bah! Humbug!
Source: Koinonia A sermon by Fr. Gregory Jenson. From both the left and the right then, we hear attacks of the contemporary American celebration of Christmas. Every year about this time you can be certain that someone—and not necessarily a Christian—will write an essay lamenting the secularization or the commercialization of Christmas. And for the…
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OCA Holy Synod of Bishops Expresses Solidarity with Coptic Church in Egypt
Source: Orthodox Church in America The witness and mission of the Coptic Church in Egypt have their origin in apostolic times. Today, the Coptic Church of Egypt is the largest Christian Church in the Middle East. Under the leadership of His Holiness, Pope Shenouda, the Coptic Church is a dynamic and active Church, with significant…
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Russian Orthodox Church Asserts Role in Civil Society
Source: New York Times (HT: The Orthodox Church) | Sophia Kishkovsky MOSCOW — Just over 20 years ago, any religious education outside church walls was still banned in the Soviet Union. Today, churches are being built on state university campuses, theology departments have opened around Russia, and the Russian Orthodox Church has built its own…
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Cultural Legacy of Communism: Armenian Women Still Have Average of 8 and as High as 20 Abortions in Lifetime
When the Berlin Wall fell everyone pondered the ramifications as East Germany rejoined their Western brothers and presumably in a few short years catapult Germany to even higher economic prominence. It didn’t happen. As it turned out, all it takes to weaken a culture is one generation. Sixty years can wipe values and habits that…
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