By James Haught Fundamentalists and Republicans who dominate Mississippi put “In God We Trust” on car license plates, forcing all drivers to promote religion. The only way a motorist can avoid the motto is to pay $30 extra for a special plate of one’s choosing. Gov. Tate Reeves declared that the 2019 action reflects the… Read more »
By James Haught The Handmaid’s Tale — a grotesque novel about a fundamentalist takeover that turns part of America into a cruel theocracy called Gilead — rang a worldwide bell when published in 1985. The vivid book by Canadian Margaret Atwood sold eight million copies and was made into a Hulu television series that won eight Emmies and two… Read more »
By James Haught “Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a worm, yet he will make gods by the dozen.” — Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592), creator of the essay. But Montaigne spoke too modestly. Instead of dozens, the human imagination has created thousands — even tens of thousands — of gods. Hinduism’s ancient Sanskrit Vedas, written about 1200 BCE, declared… Read more »
By James Haught Even if you’ve lived all your life in Appalachia, the immensity of the mountains still can be awesome. Last week I drove down the turnpike to Beckley, then east on I-64 to the Shenandoah Valley, and the colossal convolutions were as boggling as ever. Looming peaks and slopes were especially impressive with… Read more »
By James Haught Here’s an odd twist of religion: Multitudes of Muslims believe that Jesus will return to Earth soon — not to spread Christianity, but to abolish it in support of Islam. Muslim scholar Mustafa Akyol outlines this bizarre tenet in The Islamic Jesus: How the King of the Jews Became a Prophet of the Muslims.… Read more »
By James Haught The solar system is relatively flat, occupying an imaginary plane in the sky called the ecliptic. Planets waver 8 degrees on each side of the centerline, in a belt called the zodiac. As the Earth travels around its orbit through the year, 12 different constellations of stars come into the zodiac area.… Read more »