Religious Extremism in Arizona

ABC15.com television reports on a church in Tempe whose pastor, Steven Anderson, prays that the President "die of brain cancer, like Ted Kennedy." The Faithful Word Baptist Church claims to be a family-centered church. If you have the stomach for it, you can listen to Anderson's sermons.

Honestly, studying religious belief is a fascinating thing... but it is disheartening sometimes.

Ramadan Photos

There is a beautiful set of Ramandan photos available at the Boston Globe.

Times Higher Ed Bloopers

Anyone who teaches has come across bloopers in student papers. The Times Higher Ed supplement highlights some of the best. My favorite: The student who wrote a paper on Martin Luther, who not only had a hand in the Protestant Reformation, but who also was instrumental in the U.S. civil rights movement four centuries later! What a guy, that Martin Luther!

Click here to read more wisdom from the world's students.

Ted Kennedy on Religion in Society

At The Religion Clause, Howard Friedman has posted an extended quote from Ted Kennedy's speech at Liberty University, known for the conservative religious and political views of its founder, Jerry Falwell in 1983. Click there and remember a man who had a significant impact on US society, and managed to work people in both political parties, and with divergent religious views.

Radio Program on Forgiveness

Minnesota Public Radio broadcast a program recently on forgiveness, and included as guests psychologist Michael McCullough, and religion scholar Anthony Stevens-Arroyo. You can listen to the program here.

New Research: Technology and Religion

A graduate student seeks participants in a study of religion and technology. Please consider participating in his research, and passing the information along to others who might be interested. He seeks two samples.
If you are Christian, use this link
If you are Muslim, use this link

Thanks!

Professor Chooses Church over Seminary

The religion blog at the Dallas Morning News reports this interesting story. Michael Cox, who taught music at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, was given an ultimatum to leave his church or lose his job. Cox attends Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, but the seminary, which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, considers Broadway Baptist to be insufficiently opposed to homosexuality. Cox opted to take early retirement from the seminary, rather than leave his church. Read the details here.

Video: Christian Teens Talking with Hindu Friend

This video of two Christian teens talking about religion with their Hindu friend may be useful for classes. It might be a good example when discussing developmental psychology and religion, for example. They clearly have trouble accommodating her ideas into their religious schema.

Student Paper Competition - Race & Religion

Rice University's Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life is holding a paper competition for graduate and undergraduate students. Entries must use the Panel Study on American Religion and Ethnicity. They specifically seek entries from a variety of disciplines. Deadlines are in January (graduate students) and April (undergraduates) 2010, and first prize is $1000 (graduate students) or $500 (undergraduate students). Click the title for more info.

APA - Toronto

The APA convention in Toronto is now over. A few thoughts:

- It was a pleasure to serve as program chair for Division 36. I enjoyed being able to organize paper sessions, and I deeply valued the chance to work with the reviewers. They gave me excellent input on the program.

- There were some very interesting papers and posters presented, more than I could possibly have attended.

- I was surprised -- although, given the economy, perhaps I should not have been -- at the number of posters that did not make it to convention.

- For me, the convention got off to a poor start when the fire alarm at my hotel sounded at 2:00 a.m. Walking down 16 flights of stairs, waiting, and then having difficulty getting back to sleep, made me so tired that I missed some sessions that I had hoped to see. In my younger days I might have made it through the convention despite the poor sleep, but I'm not as young as I used to be. Such is life.

- I greatly enjoyed meeting several people whose research I have read and deeply respected. By far, that was a highlight of the convention for me.

- Division 36, FWIW, appears to be one of (if not the) most conservative groups in APA. Like many things in life, whether or not this is a good thing depends on one's perspective.

- Toronto is a remarkably vibrant city. A highlight was visiting The Royal Ontario Museum where I saw the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as several other fascinating exhibits.


On another topic from APA a few years ago, I see more information about psychologists involved in so-called 'harsh interrogation' is becoming available. When the news broke a few years ago, I nearly left APA. The organization's tepid response to the situation left me very dissatisfied, and I remain ambivalent at best about APA. Years ago, I left APA because it focused on practice and neglected research. I rejoined when it appeared to balance the two interests more effectively. Now, I find that its morals and mine are not quite consonant. There isn't enough of a discrepancy for me to part ways, but I confess to being distinctly unsatisfied. Not that anyone has asked, but this is one of the things that blogs are for, right?

Court Verdict in Prayer Case

A jury has convicted Dale Neumann of murdering his 11-yr-old daughter when he relied on prayer and did not pursue medical treatment of her illness. The girl died of complications from diabetes, which had been undiagnosed. When she fell comatose, Neumann believed she was sleeping.