Posts tagged John Mac Ghlionn
Why British Funerals Are Becoming More Boisterous And Bizarre

(ANALYSIS) Funerals — often thought of as solemn events filled with grief and mourning — are starting to take on a different tone. In Britain, anyway. In fact, more people view funerals as opportunities to celebrate life, rather than occasions for somber reflection. It’s a shift that’s redefining how the Brits, renowned for their stiff upper lips, are saying goodbye to loved ones.

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Welcome To Florida: Land Of Sun, Sea, Sand ... And God?

(ANALYSIS) Behind the sensational headlines, the Sunshine State has another, far more solemn side. Not only is Florida a religious state, but according to recent rankings, it is one of the most religious states in the nation — a fact that might surprise some. Florida’s zest for the transcendent extends beyond the Bible Belt. The Cuban-American community has had an impact on the state's religious landscape.

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Do Religious Teenagers Make For Better Students?

(ANALYSIS) In recent years, there has been a noticeable decline in academic performance across the United States and beyond, coupled with a significant decrease in religious belief. This dual trend got me thinking. Are these two developments connected? In fact, the relationship between religious belief and academic success has been explored in various studies.

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‘God Versus Aliens’: Inside The Vatican’s High-Stakes UFO Hunt

(ANALYSIS) Earlier this year, “God Versus Aliens" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The documentary,  directed by award-winning filmmaker Mark Christopher Lee, shines a light on the Vatican's secretive investigations into UFOs. It suggests, in no uncertain terms, that the Vatican has been quietly exploring extraterrestrial phenomena for years.

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Not The End Of Faith: Why The New Atheists Have Failed

(ANALYSIS) The New Atheists failed because they underestimated the human need for meaning. Religion, for all its faults, provides a framework for understanding the world, a sense of community and a way to cope with life's challenges. By dismissing religion, the New Atheists offered nothing to fill the void. Rationality and science are, of course, crucial, but they don't address the existential questions that religion grapples with.

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Tech Takes On Religious Traditions: The Quest For Immortality

(ANALYSIS) Religion and biohacking, at first glance, may seem worlds apart — one rooted in ancient traditions and spiritual beliefs; the other in cutting-edge science and technology. Look again and you'll recognize the fact that both grapple with fundamental questions about the nature of life, death and the human quest for transcendence.

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Is The UK’s New Atheist Prime Minister Cause For Caution?

(ANALYSIS) Keir Starmer's ascent as the U.K.'s first openly atheist leader marks a significant milestone in British political history. This development prompts the question: Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Unsurprisingly, the answer is rather complicated. Today's U.K. is vastly different from the country of Starmer's childhood.

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Discovering The Jack Kerouac Of Sacred Pilgrimages

(ANALYSIS) When Jack Kerouac penned “On the Road,” he immortalized the American road trip as a quest for meaning, a journey that was almost existential in nature. His words sparked a generation's wanderlust, fueling a search for adventure, self-discovery, and — dare I say — even a higher power.

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How Religion Influenced Some Of The World’s Greatest Writers

Some of the greatest writers ever to put pen to paper were deeply influenced by their religious beliefs. Take JRR Tolkien, for instance. He didn't merely craft a fantasy epic with “The Lord of the Rings,” but he filled it with the depth and richness of his Catholic faith. Through characters like Gandalf, Frodo and Aragorn, Tolkien explored themes of sacrifice, redemption and the struggle between light and darkness, good and evil, heaven and hell.

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Divine Insights: Can Dreams Really Predict the Future?

(ANALYSIS) In many religious traditions, precognitive experiences are considered gifts from higher powers. Prophets like Isaiah and Daniel in the Bible received visions directly from God, guiding communities with forewarnings and words of wisdom. Similarly, Islam attributes precognitive elements to the revelations of the Prophet Muhammad in the Quran, offering insights into future events and moral lessons.

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From Bytes To Belief: A Tech Titan’s Case For Christianity

(ANALYSIS) Christianity, with its rich history of metaphysical claims and moral imperative, offers a bulwark against a descent into chaos — not for everyone, I know, but for a chunk of humanity. It provides a narrative that encompasses human suffering, offers redemption and asserts the inherent dignity of the individual, grounded in the image of God. Peter Thiel is aiming to bring that to the tech world.

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Inside The Unseen Forces Shaping East Asian Beliefs

(ANALYSIS) Spirituality and religion, while often overlapping, have distinct differences. Spirituality is primarily about an individual's personal connection to a higher power, the universe or a deeper sense of meaning and purpose in life. It is flexible and subjective, allowing for a wide range of beliefs and practices tailored to personal needs and experiences. In contrast, religion typically involves organized institutions with established doctrines.

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Are UFO Sightings And Religious Belief Intimately Connected?

(ANALYSIS) Carl Gustav Jung’s exploration of UFOs as modern myths reveals his deep commitment to understanding the human psyche in all its complexity. By examining how these phenomena mirrored religious experiences and served similar psychological functions, Jung provided a framework for interpreting the inexplicable within the context of human consciousness.

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AI’s Future Impact On The Church: Can It Make Faith Great Again For The Masses?

(ANALYSIS) The more we rely on AI, the more we find ourselves yearning for something it cannot provide: authenticity, meaning and opportunities to connect on a fundamentally human level. This is where the church reenters the scene, not as a relic of the past, but as a symbol of the present, a sanctuary of authenticity. At this tipping point of artificiality and superficiality, people start craving transcendent values that algorithms cannot encode.

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