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AR 22:10 - Transcendental Meditation taking over Wall Street?
In this issue:
DAWKINS, RICHARD - survey shows that many fellow scientists reject his alienating approach to controversy
EMERGENT CHURCH MOVEMENT - a book-length look at Brian McLaren
ISLAM - new Quran said to show how much it has in common with New Testament
TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION - is it "becoming mainstream"?
Apologia Report 22:10 (1,330)
March 8, 2017
DAWKINS, RICHARD
"Richard Dawkins Misrepresents Science, Say British Scientists" (no byline) -- "A majority of those surveyed who mentioned Dawkins' work during research interviews reject his approach to public engagement and said his work misrepresents science and scientists because he conveys the wrong impression about what science can do and the norms that scientists observe in their work.
"The Religion Among Scientists in International Context (RASIC) study <www.goo.gl/vUDFY4> includes a survey of over 20,000 scientists from eight countries. ...
"Elaine Howard Ecklund, the study's principal investigator and the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences at Rice, said that some scientists, independent of their religious beliefs, do not view Dawkins as a good representative because they believe he conveys 'the wrong impression about the borders of scientific inquiry.' ...
"A nonreligious physicist said, 'He's much too strong about the way he denies religion. … As a scientist, you've got to be very open, and I'm open to people's belief in religion. … I don't think we're in a position to deny anything unless it's something which is within the scope of science to deny. ... I think as a scientist you should be open to it. … It doesn't end up encroaching for me because I think there's quite a space between the two.'
"Dawkins has 'gone on a crusade, basically,' another professor of biology said. 'Although there is a lot of truth behind what he says, he does it in a way that I think is deliberately designed to alienate religious people.' ...
"Johnson said he hopes the research will help scientists learn to communicate science without alienating the public.
"'The best science communication does not begin with insults and arrogance,' Johnson said. 'It encourages curiosity, open-mindedness and appreciation for science.'" Science 2.0, Oct 31 '17 <www.goo.gl/xUCyH4>
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EMERGENT CHURCH MOVEMENT
McLaren in Focus: A New Kind of Apologetic, by Scott Burson [1] -- reviewer G. Richard Fisher explains that "Burson begins by alleging other apologists have been too negative or too hard on [Brian McLaren, an ECM leading voice]. Burson asserts that he will be committed to a hermeneutic of charity, not a hermeneutic of suspicion. ...
"What McLaren is offering is not new and innovative, but rather it is the old 'Social Gospel Movement' full of political slogans and empty nostrums, which have been tried and found wanting. ...
"Burson examines the early McLaren (1956-1994), the emerging McLaren (1995-2005), and the Emergent McLaren (2006 to the present). ...
"McLaren lost some support with his overt backing of the Obama presidency in 2008. He lost favor with many conservative Evangelicals when he affirmed the gay position and presided over his son's same-sex commitment ceremony.
"There is no doubt McLaren has created a totally new hermeneutic in his approach to the Bible. Brian McLaren seems to be declaring that any former way of looking at the Bible is wrong. ...
"McLaren's new hermeneutic is so dense, so philosophical, and in the end, so deceptive, that the average man-on-the-street would be totally lost. While McLaren would argue that as historically understood, the Bible is irrelevant; it is he who is out of touch with the common person. McLaren has developed insider language that is foreign to most people. At times, he seems to be on another planet of his own making.
"McLaren's ultimate bogey man is Calvinism [and it] has pushed him into the heavy and poisonous weeds of Open Theism. ...
"Burson shows McLaren seems unaware that finely nuanced Calvinism does not hold to hard determinism (fatalism), but rather soft determinism. McLaren is really rejecting hard determinism and, as a result, falls into the camp of libertarianism. His critique of Calvinism totally misses the mark and creates a straw man. ...
"Burson demonstrates that McLaren does not hold to the historical orthodoxy of the doctrines of the Fall and Total Depravity."
What's more, "McLaren does not hold to the literal, physical return of Jesus....
"Burson shows, without question that McLaren does not believe in Hell, but that he is a Universalist - believing that all will be saved ultimately. In light of his belief everyone will be in Heaven, it seems strange and inconsistent that McLaren refuses to discuss the eternal fate of the unevangelized. ...
"Burson's more than 300 pages are a challenge and a mind-stretcher. Wading through the dense, complex world of McLaren's terminology has been well handled. This is a necessary book if one wishes to see where liberalism is going, and how it is getting there through 'deceptive words' (2 Peter 2:3) and 'flattering speech' (Romans 16:18)." MCOI Journal, Wtr '17, pp8-9, 13. [3]
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ISLAM
The Qur'an - with References to the Bible: A Contemporary Understanding, by Safi Kaskas and David Hungerford [2] -- writing for the Religious News Service, Lauren Markoe's review begins: "By the authors' count, the Quran has been translated into English 212 times since the 17th century - but never like this.
"Two friends, one Muslim and one Christian, have just published a Quran for English speakers to help fulfill a sacred shared mission: to show people of the world's largest and second-largest faith groups how much their holy books have in common. ...
Muslim co-author Safi Kaskas explains: "'This new translation was designed to be a tool of reconciliation between Muslims and the followers of other Abrahamic religions.' ...
"The new translation shows more than 3,000 parallels between the two religious texts in a split-page format. The top of each page is the English translation of the Quran, and the bottom shows the analogous biblical verses, from the New Revised Standard Version — which account for 40 percent of the book. ...
"Few Quranic passages in the translation lack biblical references, though some are far closer in language and meaning than others. ...
"'Our intent is not at all to convert readers from one faith to another, or merge the two religions into one,' Kaskas said. 'Rather we seek to build bridges of understanding among people of the three Abrahamic faiths.'" RNS, Oct 6 '16. <www.goo.gl/1Alj3Q>
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TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION
Business Insider staff writers Richard Feloni and Mike Nudelman report (Nov 10 '16): "Transcendental Meditation is taking over Wall Street - here's how it works. Five years ago, Ray Dalio - founder of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates - declared Transcendental Meditation (TM) to be 'the single biggest influence' on his life.
"Over the past few years, TM has made its way into the mainstream....
"The Department of Veterans Affairs also works with the David Lynch Foundation (DLF) <davidlynchfoundation.org>, one of the premiere TM organizations, to offer free lessons to military veterans undergoing treatment for PTSD.
"And, following Dalio's lead, hundreds of investors and bankers on Wall Street are signing up for lessons at the DLF. ...
"It's important to note that you really can't learn the technique without the guidance of a teacher....
"Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, TM's founder, was a young man with a physics degree when he traveled to the Indian Himalayas to study as a Hindu monk under Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, the leader of the monastery in Jyotir Math.
"When the Maharishi - a title that means 'seer' and is commonly used as shorthand - began his global tour of spreading TM in 1958, he made it clear that although he and his guru were Hindu monks and TM was rooted in the ancient Vedic scriptures, his practice was not tied to the Hindu faith.
"Because of the caste he was born into, the Maharishi could not succeed Saraswati, but Saraswati entrusted him with the mission of spreading meditation around the world for the purpose of fostering peace. ... The technique is now more popular and accepted than it ever had been." <www.goo.gl/rEWrUj>
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - McLaren in Focus: A New Kind of Apologetic, by Scott Burson (Abilene Christian Univ Prs, 2016, paperback, 304 pages) <www.goo.gl/wQLvnO>
2 - The Qur'an - with References to the Bible: A Contemporary Understanding, by Safi Kaskas and David Hungerford (Bridges, 2016, paperback, 570 pages) <www.goo.gl/IzXi1U>
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