By James Haught The ghastly Indian Ocean tsunami on the day after Christmas 2004 — one of the worst natural disasters in the history of humanity — should have an unexpected side-effect: Intelligent people increasingly may be forced to abandon the notion that an all-loving, all-powerful, fatherly, kindly, creator god controls the universe. If a deity caused the Indian… Read more »
By James Haught When the West Virginia Book Festival was canceled because of the Kanawha library’s money crisis, a pang of loss was felt among lovers of writing. Then longtime Gazette staffer Susan Williams asked readers to remember special books that affected their lives. All this prodded me to ponder the amazing power of language,… Read more »
By James Haught Religion is collapsing faster in America than in any other nation, according to a top researcher. Writing in Foreign Affairs magazine — in a report titled “Giving Up on God: The Global Decline of Religion” — Dr. Ronald Inglehart of the University of Michigan said: “The most dramatic shift away from religion has taken place among… Read more »
By James Haught One of my in-laws, a lovely young mother in Australia, has two adorable, bright-eyed, intelligent sons. But the second one, age three, developed unstoppable brain cancer that has kept the family in agony for a year. Now he’s just weeks from death, and everyone is grieving. This rouses questions about life’s horrible… Read more »
By James Haught Evolution is astounding. The mind boggles to realize that natural selection — driven by weak hydrogen bonds that let the long DNA molecule unzip and replicate itself — could produce the planet’s incredible array of millions of living species, including humans. It’s almost unbelievable. How could such amazing diversity come from a self-replicating molecule? How can… Read more »
By James Haught Among sleazy occupations, is anything worse than big-money evangelists with their private jets, garish diamonds, piled-up hairdos and $5,000 suits? A new book, to be released April 27, is PreachersNSneakers: Authenticity in an Age of For-Profit Faith and (Wannabe) Celebrities. It exposes TV pastors “who get rich off of preaching about Jesus.”… Read more »