Tag Archives: religion

(Zionism) Secularism Democracy Religion (Israel)

Posted on July 24, 2023 by zjb

In real-time, Israel has become a huge laboratory-experiment for the study of religion, politics, law, and society; a small and ugly petri-dish for the study of contemporary Judaism and Jewishness. Elected in November 2022 and with passage of the first … Continue reading →

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Religion and Violence (Horror)

Posted on March 29, 2023 by zjb

It should be obvious that there is, of course, no single or linear-causal relation between religion and violence. As argued by Religious Studies scholars, this is a modern secular myth. Attentive to difference, one could note that there is civil … Continue reading →

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(Judaism) Religion & Violence (Israel)

Posted on February 14, 2023 by zjb

Backed up by the power of the state which it now controls, religon is a unique source of violence. Religious Zionism and Jewish Power are the ones demanding unbridled settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and unbridled destruction of … Continue reading →

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(Critique of Religion) Aharon Lichtenstein and Gerald Blidstein (Democracy and Halakhah)

Posted on February 9, 2023 by zjb

The analysis below does not represent the view of an anti-religious and anti-clerical secularism. This critique of religion is internal to religion. By critique is meant demarcation: the limits of religion and the realm of values. I am working off … Continue reading →

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(Critique of Violence) Judaism & Zionism

Posted on January 26, 2023 by zjb

Israel has always been a laboratory for political theory and Jewish Studies; always also, and especially now, a laboratory for the study of Judaism in relation to the politics of extreme ethno-national religion and political violence. The elections of November … Continue reading →

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(2023) Tel Aviv (Secular City)

Posted on January 14, 2023 by zjb

80,000+ people came out to protect rule of law and secular society in Israel against the far-right ethno-religious-Haredi-national government. Uncivil religion unites civil society against it.

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Office Late At Night With William James

Posted on November 17, 2022 by zjb

Thoughts about the night are strung along the Principles of Psychology. James is concerned here, and also in the Varieties of Religious Experience, with stimuli, sensation, perception, and the imagination. Thoughts about night in the PP make reference to the … Continue reading →

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(SCOTUS) Guns, Abortion, Religion (Subverting the Public Sphere)

Posted on July 17, 2022 by zjb

Our moment of madness in the United States of America lies in the sudden massive churn against liberal-social order after a long pre-meditated buildup going back decades. Of a whole piece are the more recent Trump attempted-coup on January 6 … Continue reading →

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(Mother & Martyr) Mistress Rachel (Mainz Anonymous)

Posted on March 28, 2022 by zjb

There was a distinguished young woman there named Mistress Rachel, daughter of Isaac, son of Asher, who said to her friend: “Four children have I. Have no mercy on them either, lest those uncircumcised ones come and seize them alive … Continue reading →

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(Technology) Slaves & Automatic Machine Gods (Aristotle)

Posted on February 16, 2022 by zjb

The question of technology (techne) runs across the entire Aristotelean corpus. Its most famous instantiation is in the Nicomachean Ethics. It’s there also in the Physics and Metaphysics. It pops up in the Politics in relation to the institution of … Continue reading →

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