Does God answer football prayers?

James Martin, S. J. answers the question we’re all asking: Does God care about football? The answer may surprise you (or maybe not)….

Also, have a look at this piece in the Atlantic.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Find 13 things to smile about today.  Here’s some help:

Urban Dictionary: triskaidekaphilia.

Some people think Friday the 13th is unlucky.  I am not one of them.  My wife and I had our first (and only and ongoing without interruption) date (beginning) on Friday the 13th.

Looking for something to do today (which is not birding)? Maybe you could check out this movie.  (No, it’s not the horror film…).

Birding on a Beautiful Morning

It was indeed a beautiful morning for a walk around Okehocking Preserve.  Here are a couple photos:

a Great Blue Heron perched

a GBHE in flight

a Carolina Wren in full-throated song

[click on the pics for a larger view]

Is Lying Ever Permitted? An Exchange

Over at First Things, you can find a discussion on the matter of lying.  Janet Smith argues that sometimes it might be morally permissible to lie.  Christopher Tollefson and Alexander Pruss reply oh no it’s not.  Professor Smith counters, no, really, it is okay sometimes.

Thanks to Edward Feser’s blog for drawing my attention to this exchange.  Here is his reply in defense of Tollefson and Pruss against Smith, more or less.  Feser has written on this topic before, and there are links to his early posts in this one.

Have a look, then decide for yourself.

Let’s take a moment to remember why its wonderful to study and teach philosophy

Here‘s a post from last year at Leiter Reports (some wheat amongst a great deal of chaff).  Studying and teaching philosophy is a very good thing, indeed.  Read some views on why that is.

 

Turkey Vultures

Perhaps they don’t get one feeling all warm and fuzzy, but TV’s are fairly magnificent in their own way.  They are not raptors like hawks and eagles (they are more like storks), but are always included in raptor migration counts.  At least around where I live, they are very common year round.  They can be a bit, shall we say, disgusting (check out their defense mechanism).  But I like them.

Here are a couple of shots I took at the Okehocking Nature Preserve (click for a full-sized view):