Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Does a Dog Have the Buddha Nature?


Christopher Hitchens, God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (USA) / God is Not Great: The Case Against Religion (UK). Glittery, biting, witty, and brave, Hitchens takes on the big guns of organized religion. He scores many valid points, and I particularly agree with him that religion and state must be kept separate, that when religion and state operate in tandem, woe to free speech and free thought and free inquiry. Similar to Voltaire, but whereas Voltaire claimed some religious conviction, Hitchens throws it all out, baby and holy water alike. A great read worthy of the Enlightenment, with a wicked modern twist. (And, dear readers, I'm an adult convert to Catholicism, so take from this what you will).


Speaking of twists, Sonali Bendre turned 33 today. Here's a harbinger -- outsource more ads, sports, and soda to India and be done with it.


Here's María José de Pablo / Cote de Pablo, Chilean American actress. I wonder how she feels about Christopher Hitchens' new book? Also, does a dog have the Buddha nature? What is the sound of one hand clapping? And what would happen if bloggers posted a thousand caricatures of various religious figures on the internet?

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune; yesterday's: Partnership.

Happy '008, everybody!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's always going to be a callamity of religeous biggots and ruthless politicians setting us up for a fight.

Charles Gramlich said...

Lana read this and enjoyed it. I tended to see his platform pretty clearly though and haven't read it yet.

Lana Gramlich said...

Yes, I enjoyed the book!