Home, the movie

On Sunday, Nov, 22 we will begin watching the movie "Home". This is a film crafted of beautiful images of the natural world, showing what was, what is and what may be. Narrated by Meryl Streep, the film emphasizes that it isn't God that intervenes in the course of the world, it's us. Please join us. Loving childcare is provided.

The Evolutionary Psychology of Religiosity

Next Sunday, November 15, our speaker will be Myra Elder, one of my favorites.
Myra's going to speak on the psychology of religiosity. About this talk, Myra writes:

"Psychological Models of Religiosity:
How (and why) do we get religion? According to research in the field of psychology, religiosity is negatively correlated with IQ and educational level. Demographic research indicates that, the poorer the country, the more religious it is (the US is the rich outlier). On the other hand, being religious may be an evolutionary adaptation, because it includes four ways of knowing that advance the species: mysticism, ethics, myth, and ritual."

Join us this Sunday, November 15th, and see how Myra Elder plans to condense the fields of psychology, metaphysics, religion, and evolutionary biology into several digestible sound bites lasting about an hour.

More on Neuroscience, Bringing it back home.

We had a cancellation....so on short notice I added to the previous talk. It started our charge to dominate the earth as given in Genesis, then some Neuroscience, images and differences in brain function and response in individuals with defined genetic backgrounds (fMRI), then it went to the neuro basis of decision making, on to moral determinism and then whoop-ti-do through metaphysical reductionism, then on to the Gospels of Thomas and Matthew and ending up with a quote from Old Lodge Skins in Thomas Berger's "Little Big Man." And somehow, it all seemed to hang together.

Neuroscience 2009: at the edge of brain research

Last week I attended the 39th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago. So did more than 30,000 other interested people. The changes in the focus of neuroscience since I first attended this meeting in the 1980's have been astonishing. The implications of recent findings are important to everyone. The combined forces of modern genomics and brain imagery tell us more about ourselves than we may be immediately comfortable with. Here's what the description of one of the sessions on the societal impact of neuroscience had to say:

"New insights into the nature of the brain and mind can have great implications for such concepts as the self, soul, free will, or what it means to be human. Some of those implications are already causing discomfort in segments of the public, including some religious groups. This session discusses both the nature of those issues and ways the scientific community can best engage the public and find common ground, potentially minimizing potential tensions between the field and society and maximizing opportunity for progress." Social Issues Roundtable: Engaging the Public on Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Neuroscience Research Organizer/Moderator: Alan Leshner, Ph.D., CEO, American Association for the Advancement of Science

This Sunday, November 1, I'll show some of the findings this session was based on and we'll cover some of the implications.

Please join us at 9:45. The more the merrier. As always, free and excellent, loving childcare is provided.

The Psychology of Domestic Violence

Today, Sunday October 25, Dr. Paul Gabinet gave an excellent presentation on the psychology of domestic violence. This is a chilling topic, but it is a reality we need to confront. Paul is the Excutive Director of the Shepherd's Inn in Elizabethton, Carter County’s only shelter for victims of domestic violence. You can learn more about the Shepherd’s Inn by visiting the Missions page at First Presbyterian. Most communities the size of Elizabethton don't have a similar facilty. the Shepherd's Inn is a blessing for Carter County and a wonderful initiative for social justice.

Edgar Casey

Next Sunday, October 18, our own John Morrison will speak to the Adult Forum on Edgar Casey. who taught I haven't spoken to John about the details of his talk, so I copied the introduction from Wikipedia.

"Edgar Cayce (March 18, 1877 – January 3, 1945) was an American who was believed to be psychic. He is said to have demonstrated an ability to channel answers to questions on subjects such as health or Atlantis, while in a self-induced trance. Though Cayce considered himself a devout Christian and lived before the emergence of the New Age Movement, some believe he was the founder of the movement and had influence on its teachings.
Cayce became a celebrity toward the end of his life and the publicity given to his prophecies has overshadowed what to him were usually considered the more important parts of his work, such as healing (the vast majority of his readings were given for people who were sick) and theology (Cayce was a lifelong, devout member of the Disciples of Christ). Skeptics challenge the statement that Cayce demonstrated psychic abilities, and traditional Christians also question his unorthodox answers on religious matters (such as reincarnation and Akashic records).
Today there are hundreds of thousands of Cayce students, more than 300 books written about Edgar Cayce, members of Edgar Cayce's A.R.E. worldwide and Edgar Cayce Centers found in more than 35 other countries."

Casey taught: "Through prayer we speak to God. In meditation, God speaks to us."

Please join us at 9:45. We'll be glad to see you. Free Childcare is provided.

Follow-up to Mark Peacock's presentation

I want to follow-up Mark's presentation by saying thanks Mark, for sharing your work. Also, I'm posting the link to his blog (click here) and his website (click here). Both sites have hundreds of stunning photographs of the region.

When Mark's 2010 calendars are available, I'll post the link.