Our brain keeps evolving

Next Sunday Dr. Wade will continue her presentation on the evolution of the human brain. Last Sunday was the cellular anatomy and physiolgy. Upcoming is evolution and functional development. It'll be good as we approach the hard questions. I think we set a record with 56 folks in attendance. Please join us for more.
As ever, loving childcare is provided.

The evolution of the human brain: Dr. Julie Wade

This coming Sunday we are very pleased to present Dr. Julie Wade speaking on the Evolution of the human brain. She wrote the following:

"The field of biology was revolutionized by Charles Darwin who helped us understand how living organisms have evolved over millions of years and are still evolving today. His theory of natural selection described descent with modification which was driven by environmental pressures. His work has become the central underlying paradigm in the field because he provided so much data to support his theory. This theory first published in 1859 has yet to be refuted by scientists and has been made even stronger by more recent research involving DNA.

Studies of the evolution of the brain and behavior are difficult because we cannot study either internal soft tissues or behavior using fossils. These studies are based on investigations of contemporary organisms that are closely related to their fossilized ancestors. Fossilized skulls are used to extrapolate brain sizes at a given point in evolutionary time but are relatively hard to find.

In his book “The Accidental Mind—How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams, and God”, neuroscientist DJ Linden does an excellent job of describing the serendipitous evolution of our brains that has given us our humanity. He dismisses the fact that the brain is a paragon of design by describing it as inelegant and inefficient, and he points out that if it were built today by modern engineers, it would look and function very differently from its current design. My presentation will be based on his book which describes how our earliest ancestors have contributed to and laid the foundation for our twenty-first century brains and much of our behavior."

Dr. Julie Wade is a retired Biology Professor and Pre-Professional Health Advisor who taught at Pennsylvania State University (3 yrs) and Milligan College (24 years). She taught a wide variety of courses including comparative anatomy, animal physiology, human anatomy and physiology, cell and molecular biology, endocrinology, histology, and research seminar.

Please join us, Sunday at 9:45. It will be a delightful time. And as usual, excellent and loving childcare is provided.

The Atheism Tapes with Denys Turner

Jonathan Miller, one of the brightest minds of our time, together with BBC created a series of six interviews in 2004 that aired under the title of "The Atheism Tapes." The interviews were compiled from material left over from Miller's 2003 series entitled, "A Rough History of Disbelief."
All of the "Atheism Tapes" interviews were conducted with well-known atheists, except for the one with Denys Turner, Chair of Theology at Cambridge, and that's the one we will view and discuss this coming Sunday.
The Turner interview begins on the point of "why is there something instead of nothing," but along the way it reels across atheistic fundamentalism and dips into questions that are genuinely appropriate to ask and disingenuously wise avoid. At times the point of the conversation vanishes maddeningly into the thin ethereal air of philosophical obscurity, but in the end, it lands squarely and satisfyingly in pragmatic reality. It is a difficult conversation to follow, but it utimately resolves at a point happily within our reach. If you'd like a preview, click here.
This'll be good. I promise.

Please join us at 9:45. We'll be delighted to see you. And remember, wonderful childcare is provided.

Does the Death Penalty Serve Justice?

This coming Sunday, January 30, we are pleased to host Rev. Stacy Rector, executive director of "Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty." Stacy will speak on Tennessee's stance on the death penalty and the justice to be served to the 88 people (87 men and 1 woman) currently held on our state's death row.

Capital Punishment is a type of justice. It falls within the category of retributive justice, a form that appeals to our sense of vengance, and an act that serve to satisfy our base desire to pay back a wrong. However, if we are ever to move beyond "an eye for an eye" (that leaves the whole world blind) then we are pointed towards something else...something like restorative justice, a form that rights the wrong, and liberates us from the need to "get even."

From the Website of Tennesseans for alternatives to the death penalty: "Stacy Rector is a native of Dyersburg, Tennessee, a graduate of Rhodes College and Columbia Theological Seminary, and an ordained Presbyterian minister. She served as the Associate Pastor of Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville for nine years. During her time as a pastor, Stacy served on the board of TADP, the Restorative Justice Coalition of Tennessee, and was a founding member of the board for the Presbyterian Network to End Homelessness. In October 2006, Stacy became Executive Director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (TADP), an organization whose mission is to honor life by abolishing the death penalty. She also currently serves on the Peacemaking and Outreach committees for the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee and on the board of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty."

Please be warmly invited to join us. We'll be delighted to see you. As always, superlative childcare is provided.

What is Peak Oil and Why Should the Church Care?

This coming Sunday, January 23, John Shuck will present, "What is Peak Oil?"

According to geologist, Colin Campbell:
"The term Peak Oil refers to the maximum rate of the production of oil in any area under consideration, recognising that it is a finite natural resource, subject to depletion."

Don't let the terse definition fool you. This peak of oil global oil production that many experts think is happening now has huge impacts on everything including geopolitics, transportation, economy, ecology, housing, food, career choices--in short--civilization.

John will present a powerpoint and a short clip on Peak Oil and open up the discussion for what are possible implications and possible creative and compassionate responses.

Please join us. We'll be delighted to see you. And so will our folks that provide the very best childcare.

Heroes and the Challenge of Dissent

In preparing last week's presentation I stumbled across an interview of Richard Cizik as part of a forum on the Cost of Dissent in the Workplace. Other participants included Matthew Alexander who demonstrated the ineffectiveness the US military's efforts with "enhanced interrogation techniques" in Iraq in 2006, and Elizabeth MacKenzie Biedell, a former intelligance analyst who wrote daily briefings for the White House and senior cabinet leaders during the buildup to the Iraq war.
Each of these individuals stepped out of their ranks to say, in effect, "this is not right" and then each bore the burnt of being a truth-teller. Their stories give some depth to the beatitude appearing in Matthew, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven", and that appearing in Luke, "Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil..."

Please join us as we hear the voices of these people who paid a price for doing the right thing. We'll be delighted to see you. And has usual, loving childcare is provided.

Evangelical Backlash on Environmentalism

Last week an article in the NY Times led off with this video clip:




It is inflammatory. The magnitude of the corruption and dishonesty required to produce such a video is difficult, or nearly impossible to comprehend. I found myself thinking that the group that produced this video, the "Cornwall Allaince" are possessed of a vile, reprehensible theology.

Here's the link to the NYT article: Here

My first inclination is to show how easy it is to find succinct and comprehensive evidence of the overwhelming science that supports the facts of global warming, such as may be found at NASA or the Evironmental Protection Agency.

But, with a closer look and some inquiry, it becomes evident that the Cornwall Alliance formed as a response to what was percieved as a direct threat arising from a schism deep within the fundamentalist right. This schism erupted when Rich Cizik, former vice president for governmental affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) broke ranks with the hard core conservatives... Cizik not only accepted the science of global warming, he spoke positively of civil unions on Terri Gross' "Fresh Air." It ensured his forced resignation.

This Sunday we'll have a look at the position of Cornwall Alliance and its claim of the anti-Christian nature of climate change, the EPA's summary statement of the science of global warming, and Rich Cizik's efforts to promote global warming awareness through Creation Care.

Please join us Sunday as we have a closer look at the fascinating triangulation. There's hope in it.

As ever, excellent childcare is provided.