Mustafa Ceric, the grand mufti of Bosnia. Source: BBC

Tim Townsend’s story in the Saturday edition of the Post-Dispatch about the Interfaith Partnership/Faith Beyond Walls annual dinner included a remarkable statement by Mustafa Ceric, the grand mufti of Bosnia, described as “the highest authority for Bosnian Muslims.“

“Humanity is, at the moment, confused,” Ceric is quoted as saying. “People of all beliefs and concepts are claiming now that they possess the whole truth about our destiny. No one possesses the whole truth, but each of us has a bit of it. That’s God leading us toward each other.”

I could not possibly agree with the grand mufti more (except for the God part), and I trust the attendees at the dinner, all of whom are demonstrably interested in finding ways that people of different faiths can coexist in peace, found his remarks especially welcome.

As an atheist, I find I can agree with the lion’s share of…

Prom Dance http://graphicshunt.com

Ohio Christian school tells student to skip prom

Fri May 8, 12:05 pm ET
FINDLAY, Ohio - A student at a fundamentalist Baptist school that forbids dancing, rock music, hand-holding and kissing will be suspended if he takes his girlfriend to her public high school prom, his principal said.

Despite the warning, 17-year-old Tyler Frost, who has never been to a dance before, said he plans to attend Findlay High School’s prom Saturday.

Frost, a senior at Heritage Christian School in northwest Ohio, agreed to the school’s rules when he signed a statement of cooperation at the beginning of the year, principal Tim England said.

The teen, who is scheduled to receive his diploma May 24, would be suspended from classes and receive an “incomplete” on remaining assignments, England said. Frost also would not be permitted to attend graduation but would get a diploma once he completes final exams. If Frost is involved…

I just found a very interesting site, yourmorals.org, created by researchers looking into how people make moral choices and what kinds of moral frames lead well-meaning folks of different beliefs and backgrounds to make different moral choices.  You have to register to use the site, but that only takes a minute and allows your answers to the very interesting questionnaires and moral dilemmas to further research into how humans make moral decisions.

Have fun and feel free to share any interesting results.  So far I have found out that I make moral decisions based much more on whether someone will be harmed than whether or not traditional social rules will be broken.  This will come as no surprise to readers of this blog.

A major and an unusual event took place earlier today uniting people from ALL major religions of the world. Look at this list of diverse nations that agreed on that one thing: US (Western Christianity), Russia (Eastern Christianity), China (Buddhism/atheism), India (Hinduism), Pakistan (Islam), and Israel (Judaism). Any lucky guesses what brought the disparate parties together?

Sorry ladies and gentlemen. I am not talking about prospects of world peace, abolition of poverty or God revealing Himself to all humanity. I am talking about little flying things that go by the ‘cute’ name of bomblets.

I know this is not a political blog but the list of those countries, covering all major world belief systems, uniting behind anything makes religion somehow come to my mind.

Some of you may know by now that earlier on Wednesday, 111 nations have approved in Dublin a treaty banning the use, manufacturing, distribution, and selling of cluster bombs. These…