He explains the experiment to me. “We know dark matter is massy. Massively massy. So its particles, even though they’re invisible to us, have mass, and if they have mass then they must at least occasionally collide with particles we can see. These collisions send nuclei scattering. Our first goal with DRIFT is to detect these collisions, and follow the nuclei as they scatter.” […] “Why are you searching for dark matter?” I ask. “To further our knowledge,” Christopher replies without hesitation, “and to give life meaning. If we’re not exploring, we’re not doing anything. We’re just waiting.” He pauses again. I wait. “Is the search for dark matter an act of faith?” I ask him. “My sense,” I say to Christopher, “is that the search for dark matter has produced an elaborate, delicate edifice of presuppositions, and a network of worship sites, also known as laboratories, all dedicated to the search for an invisible universal entity which refuses to reveal itself. It seems to resemble what we call religion rather more than what we call science…
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An estimated 40,000 worshippers filled the Western Wall, or Kotel, Plaza on Monday morning for the Birkat Hakohanim (priestly blessing) performed en masse at the Kotel during Passover and Sukkot. The blessing is performed by kohanim, male Jews with priestly heritage who have a clear patrilineal tradition leading back to Aaron the high priest, brother of Moses. The priestly blessing is said daily during the year as part of the morning prayer service, and twice during Sabbath and holiday morning prayer services. Before saying the blessing, men from the tribe of Levi wash the hands of the kohanim. The ritual may only be performed by a kohen and only in the presence of a quorum of ten Jews. A kohen who is under the influence of alcohol or in mourning may not perform the blessing. Demographically, kohanim represent about five percent of the Jewish population. The Temple Institute instituted a registry for the priestly class as a step towards reinstating the Temple service.
Listen to the mass media, some of the political class and too many of our political generals (active and retired) and you’ll hear why they want our sons, daughters and treasure to remain in Syria. They are all mistaken.
The common rationale heard today for staying in Syria include:
- The Islamic State (ISIS) will re-emerge.
- We are abandoning an ally – the Syrian Kurds.
- Abandoning the Kurds will hurt us strategically around the world.
- Turkish forces will commit genocide.
- Turkey has no legitimate claim against the Syrian Kurds.
- Staying in Syria is in our national interest.
- Pulling out of Syria will aid dictator Bashar al-Assad.
- Pulling out will destabilize the region.
What’s really at stake for the United States and these critics? Lots of ego among the Washington elite…
A common narrative today is that deeply held religious beliefs are a key driver of incivility. Yet new research on evangelical views on civility and democracy shows exactly the opposite effect. This massive survey was released as part of a joint project by The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Lifeway Research and the Fetzer Institute. The researchers at Lifeway created what they describe as a “civility index,” which scores people on their ability to find common ground among those with whom they disagree, and came up with some interesting findings. For instance, evangelicals who believe in the exclusivity of Jesus as the pathway to God and the importance of religious liberty, who believe that every human being is created in the image of God (and in the “inherent and equal dignity of all”) had high civility scores…
Almost 1,700 Catholic priests and other clergymen accused of child sex crimes live freely in the US, with no oversight from law enforcement or the church, a new Associated Press investigation has found. The discovery was part of a broader investigation into the whereabouts of 5,100 priests, deacons, monks, and lay people in Roman Catholic Churches in the US accused of child sexual abuse dating back decades…
Over the nearly four years running from December 1940 to September 1944, the inhabitants of the French village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and the surrounding area collaborated together in a conspiracy of goodness. Risking everything, this modest-sized village had essentially doubled itself, giving sanctuary to some five thousand people—more than two-thirds of them Jewish—fleeing the Vichy authorities and Nazi regime. The Chambonnais provided shelter, food, protection, and escape in their homes, in hotels and businesses, in the outbuildings of farms, in schools and other public buildings, and anywhere else they could fit the desperate and imperiled. The villagers also worked to forge identification and ration cards and to sometimes help ferry refugees into neutral Switzerland. The charity of the Chambonnais was indiscriminate. One child refugee said, “Nobody asked who was Jewish and who was not. Nobody asked where you were from. Nobody asked who your father was or if you could pay. They just accepted each of us.” Why? As Huguenot Protestants, the Chambonnais’ own history might suggest at least a partial motive…
The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities has announced a dramatic find in the center of the country. During construction work, the lost temple of a pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Dynasty was uncovered, completely by chance. The temple is a very important discovery and it is expected to help researchers to better understand the period when the Ptolemaic dynasty began to decline. In Ancient Egypt , Kom Shaqao was an important urban center. According to Egypt Independent it “was the capital of the tenth region of Upper Egypt, west of the city of Tama”. This regional capital was also known as Wagit and it was first mentioned in the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, (2610-2500 BC). Previously important papyri were found here, that talk of “the famous poet Dioscorus of Aphrodito who lived there in the 6th century” reports the Daily News Egypt website…
The find will change everything scholars know about the urbanization process in the Land of Israel. The ruins of a 5,000-year-old megalopolis were uncovered in northern Israel, the Antiquities Authority announced on Sunday, in one of the most significant archaeological findings in recent history. The ruins were discovered in a major excavation project in the Ein Assur site near Harish. According to the IAA, the city was the largest and most central one in the area during the Bronze Age…
In Psalm 60, the Psalmist describes the totality of God’s victory over Israel’s foes, proclaiming “Moab is my wash basin; upon Edom I cast my sandal.” This is only one of more than 100 mentions of Edom in the Old Testament. The Edomites were descendants from Esau, Jacob’s older brother. The Genesis account of the troubled twins describes Esau as red all over when he was born. Esau, you might remember, sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of red stew. Edom means “red” in Hebrew; thus, Esau’s descendants came to be known as Edomites. Over the years, many scholars doubted the Edomites even existed and the depiction in the Pentateuch of the Edomites to be largely mythical. Well, these scholars were mistaken. Recently, a team excavating in Israel’s Timna Valley found evidence of a “thriving and wealthy society” dating back to the 12th century before Christ…
An article published Tuesday begins on an ominous note, saying that “the question of whether President Donald Trump will get to make yet another U.S. Supreme Court appointment before the 2020 election lingers as the nine justices prepare to begin their new term next week.” “If Trump, running for re-election, were to win a second four-year term next year, he potentially would be able to replace both Ginsburg and Breyer, leaving the court with a rock-solid 7-2 conservative majority, possibly for decades to come,” Hurley wrote…
