Daily Archives: May 14, 2011

Religious Belief is Human Nature?

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Yes, according to a recent, massive study done at Oxford. Here’s the report from CNN; here’s another account from The Telegraph.

Given the widespread presence of religious notions, the study concluded that religious belief is not likely to wither away: “The secularization thesis of the 1960s – I think that was hopeless,” one of the study’s authors said.

If that’s the case, one wonders what he thinks about the announcement that Pfizer College (in California) will establish a Department of Secular Studies.

Weekly Anglican Covenant Round-Up

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The Church of Ireland “subscribes.”

The Church of SE Asia “accedes.”

Last week, the Diocese of Quincy said no.

Episcopal News Service points out the wiggle-room in the language used: “The original request to the communion’s primates and moderators was that the member churches should consider the covenant and decide ‘on acceptance or adoption’.”

Last week, Tobias Haller had some useful reflections on the notion the Anglican Communion and the Covenant. He concludes:

since only those who adopt the Covenant have any chance to help guide it in a productive, rather than a destructive, direction; and further, since at this point among the most vocally opposed to it are those who also most wished to employ it in this surgical fashion, this may present a reason for those who really do want to encourage the communion to stay together in spite of disagreements — at least among those who wish to self-select togetherness over institutionalized schism — to adopt the Covenant with the understanding that Section Four shall never be appealed to or employed, and perhaps to move for its amendment or removal.