Worship & Celebration: Seasons of the Church

Some Busted Halo videos to help with GCSE study on the Seasons of the Church:

• Advent in 2 minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S02KOlw7dlA
• You Don't Know Jack...about Advent  - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnzKhbDFGMw
• Holy Week in 2 minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HugMM_3FfnI

£500 A-Level Philosophy Essay Prize

Heythrop Philosophy Essay Prize Competition 2012

Heythrop College University of London is launching a new Philosophy Essay Prize, worth £500 which will be judged by Dr Stephen Law, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Heythrop College and the editor of the Royal Institute of Philosophy's journal THINK: Philosophy for Everyone.

The competition is open to all those studying for any AS or A2-level examinations (or equivalent) in 2012.

Entries should be no longer than 1500 words including footnotes but excluding references and can take any form e.g. essay, dialogue, etc. All sources must be referenced.

The deadline for the 1500 word essay is 5pm on Friday 30 March 2012, and the winner will be announced on the Heythrop website on 29 June 2012.

To enter please choose one of the titles below and send your entry to essayprize@heythrop.ac.uk (please note you may only submit one entry to the competition).

Entries should be written in the Microsoft Word document which includes the entry form (please see below). Entries will normally be acknowledged within 5 days.

Heythrop College/Dr Stephen Law reserve the right to publish entries but entrants will retain copyright over their work.

Title 1: Is there good evidence for or against the existence of God?
Title 2: What is the mind-body problem? Can it be solved?
Title 3: Under what conditions can someone be said to know something?

Entry form: http://www.heythrop.ac.uk/outreach/schools-and-colleges/philosophy-essay-prize.html

Original Text: http://stephenlaw.blogspot.com/2012/01/level-philosophy-essay-prize-please.html

'There Might Be A God', says Sir David Attenborough

"Sir David Attenborough does not believe that an understanding of evolution is incompatible with faith in God, he will tell Radio 4 listeners on Sunday.

Attenborough, who was invited back to Desert Island Discs to mark the 70th anniversary of the radio programme, explains that, while he is still agnostic, he does not rule out the possibility of the existence of a deity.

"I don't think an understanding and an acceptance of the 4 billion-year-long history of life is any way inconsistent with a belief in a supreme being," the 85-year-old broadcaster and writer will tell presenter Kirsty Young. "And I am not so confident as to say that I am an atheist.""

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/jan/29/david-attenborough-desert-island-discs
Listen on iPlayer (as of 30/1/12): http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01b8yy0

Govt Opposes Paralysed Man’s Bid For Euthanasia

"The High Court case of a paralysed man who wants a doctor to be allowed to kill him should be dismissed, the Ministry of Justice has said.

The Government says there are “compelling reasons” for the court not to get involved in Tony Nicklinson’s case, saying that only Parliament can make such a decision.

A medical ethics expert cautioned that cases such as Mr Nicklinson’s are “extremely rare and hard cases make bad law”."

The MoJ are suggesting that as this case is rare, it would be dangerous to allow euthanasia as it would set a precedent. This is what many suggest is the danger of a 'slippery slope'. Do you think in these circumstances euthanasia should be allowed? What would see as the implications if they did?

Read more: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/govt-opposes-paralysed-mans-bid-for-euthanasia/

BBC Horizon: Playing God

"Adam Rutherford meets a new creature created by American scientists - the spider-goat. It is part goat, part spider, and its milk can be used to create artificial spider's web.

It is part of a new field of research, synthetic biology, with a radical aim: to break down nature into spare parts so that we can rebuild it however we please.

This technology is already being used to make bio-diesel to power cars. Other researchers are looking at how we might, one day, control human emotions by sending 'biological machines' into our brains."

There are some clips from this show currently (26/1/12) here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01b45zh/clips and the program link is here:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01b45zh

This raises many medical and scientific ethical questions. Is this right? Are the scientists really 'playing God'? 

Struggling with the question of belief? Homer Simpson's got the answer!

"The Springfield philosopher shows us that the issue of God's existence or non-existence is of little importance..."

How does Homer Simpson address the issue of God's existence? This includes useful reference to Pascal's Wager.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/19/struggling-question-belief-homer-simpson-answer

Look Forward To The Death Of Organized Religion: Richard Dawkins

"Far too much sympathy is shown to people who claim to be motivated by religion - sympathy that would not be shown to people acting from mere prejudice. I have a problem with Santa Claus, baby Jesus and Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, but I can't act on this without being held accountable. I may, on grounds of taste, want to murder a TV personality, but I can hardly do so. And yet, it seems it is somehow acceptable for someone to act without accountability simply because his religious sentiments have been hurt," said Richard Dawkins.

Does Dawkins make some valid points here? Do you think the removal of religion would allow for scientific questions be better answered? Would people treat one another better as he indirectly suggests?

Read more: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-24/jaipur/30658973_1_religion-rationalists-science