Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind

The process of the secularization is epitomized on the cover of Steve Bruce’s book God is Dead. The cover depicts a British church converted to a discount warehouse store called Mike’s Carpets. It can similarly be seen at the converted church hostel that our History of Christianity class stayed. There is noticeable evidence all around us that religion has a declining influence. We know fewer people around us that get married in a church or regularly attend church. Christmas and Easter (Christian holidays) have lost much of their religious meaning. The holidays are now an excuse to have a break from work and indulge in food and drink. For many Christian holidays are a cultural rather than a religious affair. It may seem like common knowledge

Jonathan Haidt, associate professor of psychology, in his essay “The Dangers of Naïve Realism,” explains how naïve realism influences relationships between people and between groups. Haidt argues that naïve realism causes a negative effect on relationships because people do not understand that others vary in perspectives. Those who favor their own views, are not open to other interpretations. Naïve realists are consumed in the idea that they are always right and that others must agree with their points of view; therefore, if others disagree with their views they are viewed to be “naïve.” Although naïve realism can allow people to, leads to disagreements between individuals and groups.

John Karkauer novel, Into the Wild tells a true life story about a young man

Award-winning journalist, Lee Strobel wrote The Case for Christ to retrace and enlarge his journey toward becoming a Christian. Strobel once atheist, and now Christian, shares how he began to look upon the Bible and God. As an atheist, Strobel lived the life of selfishness and only worried to please himself. When his wife began to go to church he wasn’t very pleased until after he saw the positive and attractive change in her. This is the start of his curiosity and investigation about Christianity. He wanted to understand what changed her like this. He wanted to relate with his wife so he decided to study about this and attend church services with her. Strobel began his journey and interviewed thirteen leading scholars who defended their views concerning the historical reliability of the New Testament. Strobel splits the case for Christ into three basic sections: Examining the Record, Analyzing Jesus, and Researching the Resurrection.

Award-winning journalist, Lee Strobel wrote The Case for Christ to retrace and expand his journey toward becoming a Christian. Strobel once declared atheist, and now Christian, shares how he began to look upon the Bible and God. As an atheist, Strobel lived the life of selfishness and only worried to please himself. When his wife began to go to church he wasn’t very pleased until after he saw the positive and attractive change in her. This is the start of his curiosity and investigation about Christianity. To relate with his wife he decided to study about this and attend church services with her. Strobel interviewed thirteen leading scholars who defended their views concerning the historical reliability of the New Testament.

Thoughts can be fleeting, however some of the feelings resulting from thought and can have a long lasting impact on the mental state of a person. In my metacognitive exploration I found an interesting comparison between the way in which I think and approach my past feelings and the methods which Tim O’Brien, from The Things They Carried, and Paul D from Beloved express their thinking about the past. I have discovered that the expression of thoughts, including memories and feelings, is the key to a healthy mental state of a person.

In the 18th century, African Americans were mostly slaves. They were treated like the property of whites and had very few rights. However not all whites were for slavery. Two white English writers who created a Black persona to write poems supporting abolition were William Blake, in The Little Black Boy, and William Cowper, in The Negro’s Complaint. In 1788, William Cowper wrote The Negro’s Complaint in support of the ending of the trade in slaves. The poem is criticizes slavery how horrible slavery really was. William Blake's The Little Black Boy is from Songs of Innocence and was published in 1789. The poem is about a little Black boy’s struggle with his identity. At this time in England, slavery was still legal and would not be

“Imagine there’s No Heaven” is a letter written by Salman Rushdie who is a British Indian novelist and essayist. He is an atheist and is known for his unflinching criticism of religion. Rushdie contributed this letter to a UN-sponsored anthology, addressed to the six-billionth human child who was expected to be born that year. He attempts to discuss and answer two fundamental questions of life. “How did we get here? And, now that we are here, how shall we live?” However he diverts from his central thesis and most of his text malign and smear all religions while the two questions go almost completely unanswered. His tone is demeaning, scornful and he presents religious beliefs as being ridiculous. He makes absolute statements without any

Rumors tend to be successful not because of our logic or common sense, but because of our surroundings. In “Truth is in the Ear of the Beholder” by Gregory Rodriguez he analyzes how and why rumors are successful .There are many factors that may answer our question .But as Rodriquez states, “rumors thrive because those who hear them are predisposed to believe them”. People are not capabl3e of in taking I formation in an unbiased manner, as studies have uncovered. Reason for this being is what Rodrigues calls, “biased assimilation “this means people will process information given to them that agrees or identifies with their beliefs .Any

In the book, The Eye of Minds written by James Dashner- where sleep becomes a game. Michael and his friends were chosen to go on a mission in the Virtnet to track down the mysterious hacker, Kaine. The tree friends Sarah, Bryson, and Michael have to go where no other human has gone; off the charts and though “the path.” One theme that is shown very strongly in the book is, if you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything.

The basic premise is that tough choices revolve not around questions of right vs. wrong rather tough choices revolve around questions of right vs. right.

In its incredible attention to detail, The Awakening Conscience recalls the Flemish paintings of Jan Van Eyck while simultaneously offering a critique of the contemporary era at the time. There is a vulgarity to the opulence of the items that crowd the painting (considered by Ruskin to be the “evil of the age”) that is matched in offensiveness by the adulterous affair of the figures pictured. Nevertheless, there does seem to be some hope for the archetypal Pre-Raphaelite fallen woman in the painting, who appears to be caught in the moment of rejecting her lover for her previous life. From the mirror placed behind her (again evoking Jan Van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait), it appears that she is reaching out to the nature, a symbol that may be interpreted

‘Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.’

In “Mortal Questions," Thomas Nagel attempts to show that some human experiences are completely beyond understanding. Nagel attempts to justify that even though your life has ends, the choices one makes will not influence the end result. Nagel first clarifies his position by defining a few terms. Agent, as Nagel describes it, is defined as being in control of one’s life. Nagel states that end results are influenced by a combination of factors and that it is not in the agent’s control. In this paper, I will describe Nagels reasoning for believing that one cannot control their ends and fates. Fate is the event beyond a person’s control. Then, I will provide two reasons to object that the idea that one’s actions do not influence the end results is false.

Watchmen by Alan Moore and David Gibbons makes many comments on the good and evil of humanity. The heroes in the book are very human and thus are very flawed. Most of the time, it is hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Quite frankly, the heroes themselves are relatively bad people and show the inner darkness that humans possess. However, there still seems to be a representation of the good in people. In this panel, there are many aspects that draw on the idea of the evil and good of humanity. This panel is able to capture so much of the story at once and it also presents the reality of what Veidt did. Even more so than the destruction caused, it is the images of the two Bernies, the “Black Freight” magazine, and representation