Confessions of an Evangelical UU

Free Hawaii!

shaktinah — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:23:36 -0700

Whenever the subject of Tibetan independence from China comes up, my father almost invariably says that if Americans think that China should free Tibet, then the U.S. should free Hawaii. The first time I heard him say it, I laughed. "But Dad," I protested, "Hawaiians don't want to be independent from the U.S." I very soon found out that asumption was not necessarily true.

Do UU Congregations Support Us?

shaktinah — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:49:51 -0700

Such is this digital age that there are people whom I've never met in real life of whom I'm nonetheless fond. They are people I've interacted with in online forums and such on a regular enough basis that I think I know just a little about them and they about me. And I want for them to be happy as much as I want that for anyone.

Miley Cyrus

shaktinah — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:44:31 -0700

The first I heard of the controversy over 15 year old Miley Cyrus posing topless in Vanity Fair was when a colleague blogged about it. I thought Grace's piece was well written and kinda took it for granted that most people would agree that the picture was indicative of our culture, which sexualizes our youth in order to sell products. So I was rather surprised wh

Boo, Burger King

shaktinah — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:54:31 -0700

Well this ought to make the company look really good PR-wise.

Burger King VP Stephen Grover used his daughters email address from behind which to slander the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a group trying to gain fairer wages for migrant farm workers.

For Earth Day...

shaktinah — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:26:58 -0700

Tip #1 on saving the world:

Stop buying bottled water.

Don't Forget to Save the World

shaktinah — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:46:11 -0700

I used to have in my email signature:

P.S. Don't forget to save the world.

followed by a link to some form of online activism. For example, the Hunger Site, where the click of a mouse can donate a cup of grain.

Free Will, Meaning and Morality

shaktinah — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:50:00 -0700

An interesting discussion came up on one of the online discussion forums. Someone posted the results of an fMRI study where researchers found patterns of brain activity that predict people's decisions up to 10 seconds before they're aware they've made a choice. The poster then asked the question whether this was the end of the belief in free will.