Whether we like it or not, there’s a certain amount of marketing involved in promoting parties, platforms, and candidates. It’s occurred to me that the Libertarian Party needs a mascot. The Democrats have a donkey. Republicans have an elephant. The Libertarians don’t have a mascot. I propose a snake. Specifically, it’s the eastern diamondback rattlesnake found in the Gadsden flag.
Thoughts?
I met my wife three years ago in northern Quebec, and at the time she could barely speak English and I could barely speak French. Now that we are both proficient in each other’s language, one of the great joys of our married life has been to introduce each other to the literature of our respective languages. I will never forget the day she finished “To Kill a Mockingbird.” She fell in love that day with the English language and has explored dozens of authors since, from C.S. Lewis to J.D. Salinger to Margaret Atwood.
Now my wife is thinking of becoming Roman Catholic (she was one of the few Evangelical Baptists in Quebec when I met her). She has asked me for books to read that will give her sense of what the RC religion is all about. This has got me asking myself: what is the “To Kill a Mockingbird” of modern Catholic literature–by which I mean the most gripping, readable book that should be every newcomer’s first introduction to the RC faith? She is presently reading Ste-Therese of Lisieux’s “Story of a Soul,” which, though excellent, is not exactly Catholic 101. She is already a well-read Christian, and has basically exhausted C.S. Lewis.
Any suggestions?
This poster is awesome. Okay, yeah, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Franklin probably were not thorough atheists, but they certainly had the fortitude to reject religious claims based on their own reasoned analysis. Darwin probably wouldn’t classify as a thorough atheist either, but he recognized the value of skepticism, too.
The lesson to take is that you don’t have to fall lock-step into any religious tradition to be a great person or do great things. Exercise your own mind and never underestimate your own ability to see through the lies of others, even when they tell them forcefully, with great conviction. And watch out, because you might be lying to yourself, too.
Found via Pharyngula.