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Man, I haven’t done a Le Linkage episode in a while. Way too long. I don’t know if that stops here, but for those of you too uninterested in surfing the Web to find interesting random stuff, here’s something to keep you entertained:

Jesus is Not a Republican: An article by professor Randall Balmer which explains the history of the Republican/Evangelist Christian partnership from the perspective of a Bible-belt evangelist, as well as the dangers that such a partnership poses to both the Church and the political climate in general. Great read for anyone tired of the whole “You’re either a Republican or are going to Hell” crowd. Kierkegaard must be rolling in his grave.

Free Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science Video Lectures: I’ll be the first one to admit that although I may not have the brains for higher level mathematics and theoretical CS, I certainly don’t have the patience for them, at least not enough to pay for a college course in them. Still, finding free video lectures like these is always a treat. After all, although I may not be crazy about mathematics, I can’t deny the simple beauty found in an equation.

Family Guy: The Best of Stewie Griffin, Part 1: This is self explanatory. If you like Family Guy, this is a great find. If you don’t like Family Guy, this is still a great find, since it’ll allow you to see what everyone else finds so funny without having to waste half an hour of your life.

BetterHumans: For a while now, I’ve had a deep interest in the field of cryonics, the practice of cryopreserving humans or animas that can no longer be sustained by current medical technology for possible later revival in the future. This eventually led me to information on a number of new philosophical ideas, such as transhumanism (the idea that new sciences and technologies should be used to enhance human physical and cognitive abilities). This site covers news and information regarding that movement. (I’ll very likely be discussing this in the future on Gnorb.NET, especially after some recent posts I’ve read across some of my favorite blogs.)

That’s all I’ve got for now. More later (whenever that may be).

The following comes from Zig Ziglar’s book, See You At the Top. I heard this tonight at an association I frequent. Thanks to Dev for this little gem. (And yes, I’ve been in the whole “self improvement” mentality lately. See #3 and 13 to find out why.)

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The following are some thoughts that I had while at the gym today. They may not make much sense, since they will probably seem like unsupported pseudo-philosophical statements. However, these thoughts are based on a question I’ve asked myself for a little while already. (By the end of this post, if you decide to read it, you’ll realize how incredebly ironic that statement is.)

It should be noted that this has not been edited and much of it is “stream of consciousness” type of thought. As such, don’t expect a clean post. It’s not meant to be that. It’s mean to be a “this’ll get you thinking” post. Mostly, it’s a post to remind myself later of what I was thinking today because it’s a line of thought I wish to continue with in the future.

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I found the following essay by author Orson Scott Card to be a rather interesting take on the entire “Evolution/Intelligent Design/Creationism” controversy that Bible Belters seem Hell-bent on winning.

Darwin gave us a huge leap forward. But he did not take us all the way to final truth — no scientist ever can or ever will, by the definition of what science is and scientists do.

When somebody — anybody — asks hard questions of a theory, then the scientific answer is never “shut up and go away.” The scientific answer is, “Let’s see if we can find out.”

The essay can be found in its entirety here: Creation and Evolution in the Schools.

This link comes in light of the following declaration:

We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as “one theory among others” is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children. We believe that among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator. To argue that God’s loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full employment of the God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to limit God, an act of hubris. We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth.

Both are rather interesting reads.

After the whole James Dungy affair, I started thinking a lot about the Christian/Catholic idea of the Mortal Sin. (James Dungy is/was the sun of former Buccaneers head coach Tony Dungy, who has become one of the more visible figures in the NFL since his taking the helm in Tampa, and now Indianapolis. James committed suicide in December of 2005. The news was a surprise to just about anyone familiar with the Dungys and their strong faith/family stance.) Having spent the first 10 years of my life as a member of a Catholic family (I moved away from the Catholic church after relocating to the US), I always thought that suicide was a mortal sin, and hence anyone who guilty of suicide was automatically sent to Hell.

After this incident, two things came to mind: (1) What exactly IS a mortal sin? and (2) Are there any others? A quick Google search brought up the following article, reprinted here in accordance with the author’s copyright notice. After reading it, I find myself again in awe of how short I fall of the Glory of God. I guess the old saying is true: “The deeper you are in sin, the less you realize you’re in it.” I just didn’t think I was this deep in it.

(Note: I’m not a Catholic. However, simply because I hold some disagreements with certain practices within the Catholic church does not mean that I’d throw the entire body of their teaching away. Indeed, I find more and more that my views are deeply influenced by Catholic teachings. Frankly, thinkers like Descrates and Acquinas should be embraced by all Christians, Catholic and Protestant alike. The more I re-introduce myself to the faith, reading such things as the Summa Theologica and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the more I find myself agreeing with — or at the very least, better understanding — the Catholic world view.)

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