Posts tagged science
‘Agatha All Along’ Gives An Unusually Accurate Picture Of Witchcraft

(REVIEW) Despite its flaws, “Agatha All Along” gives a refreshingly honest look at grief, relationships, the false promises of power and selfishness. In a world that churns out superhero movies with nothing to say, this is a welcome thing. In a world that tries to idealize the witch lifestyle, this show gives a far more accurate take than most forms of media have the guts to. The world of “Agatha” is one without hope in the face of death.

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Mothers Who Keep Their Fatal Pregnancies Turn To Faith: ‘Who am I to kill this baby?’

No publicity has gone to women who have chosen a different path. The Catholic Church, for example, opposes aborting the handicapped unborn on the grounds that all life — no matter how disabled — has “inherent dignity.” This debate has been reignited as Vice President Kamala Harris, who favors expanding abortion rights, runs for president.

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Watch: How An Indian Mother Overcame A Societal Taboo

In 2020, Swagata Majumdar faced the unimaginable grief of losing her twins. The grief of losing her children became overwhelming. She also realized that child loss is a significant taboo in India, leading to the isolation of bereaved mothers. Determined to challenge this stigma and support others, she started a support group for mothers who have lost a child.

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Could New Science Verify The Famous Shroud of Turin?

(ANALYSIS) The Shroud of Turin, the world’s most famous and most-examined artifact, is revered by devotees as the actual burial cloth that covered Jesus Christ’s body after his crucifixion. Many will consider that inconceivable, but is there reason to accept the claim? Or is this celebrated cloth merely a pious artwork, or a clever fraud, that originated in medieval times?

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Growing Number Of Single Women In Islamic Nations Freezing Their Eggs

Over the last five years, a growing number of single Muslim women in their mid-30s in Islamic countries — including the UAE, Qatar and Egypt, among others — have been choosing to freeze their eggs to ensure motherhood later in life. It was previously not seen as an option in these countries — owing primarily to cultural beliefs and religious restrictions.

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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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Most Americans Believe God Played A Role In Human Origins

A majority of U.S. adults believe humans came about because of divine intervention, but there’s disagreement over what that involvement looked like. A Gallup survey finds 37% of Americans believe God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so.

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Most Americans Approve Of IVF, But Divided Over Embryo Destruction

U.S. adults support in vitro fertilization in general but are more divided about destroying embryos created in the process. The assisted reproductive technology procedure involves fertilizing an egg with sperm in a lab dish and then implanting the egg in a woman seeking to get pregnant. Around 2 percent of births each year in the U.S., or almost 100,000, involve IVF.

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Christian Bioethicists Help Students Consider The Moral Complexities Of IVF

As the number of U.S. frozen embryos has grown to estimates beyond a million, their moral status has become the crux of discussion among bioethicists.  Vic McCracken, professor of ethics and theology at Abilene Christian University, co-teaches the medical bioethics course with Cynthia Powell, who directs ACU’s Center for Pre-Health Professions. Every year the class includes students who were born through IVF.

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Families, Doctors And Judges Grapple With In Vitro Fertilization

IVF was invented in 1978 by British physiologist Sir Robert Edwards. Since then, some eight million IVF babies have been born.  People of faith have sometimes felt conflicted regarding the process or its consequences for unused embryos. Yet, IVF has found widespread support for what many call a pro-life practice. IVF allows babies to be born who would not have life without it. 

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Pro-Life Voters And The New Trump Platform

(OPINION) There is a new challenge for pro-life voters as we approach the 2024 elections. On the one hand, it’s impossible for a truly pro-life voter to vote for a Democratic presidential candidate given the radical, pro-abortion stance of that party. That holds true as well for the positions of President Biden, which continue to lurch farther to the left. But now that the RNC has embraced the watered down platform crafted by the Trump team, do we acquiesce and vote GOP?

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Supreme Court Rejects Bid To Ban Abortion Pill Mifepristone

The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously reversed the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals and told opponents of the Food and Drug Administration their argument over the safety of mifepristone, commonly known as the abortion pill, should be taken up with the Biden Administration rather than the courts.

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Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’: Extraterrestrial Threats And The Death Of Atheism

(REVIEW) The new series “3 Body Problem” is a secular show that wrestles with how the failures of the secular project have threatened the modern world and wrestles compellingly with nonreligious answers on how to solve them. Hollywood has recently begun to spotlight the evils of overtly atheist regimes. This year, “3 Body Problem” takes on Maoist China.

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Total Solar Eclipse: How Religions React To The Celestial Event

From ancient civilizations to the world’s major religions, humans have sought to understand celestial phenomena in ways that reflect their spiritual beliefs and cultural traditions. Whether viewed as omens, manifestations of divine power or just a natural occurrence, eclipses continue to inspire wonder, reminding us of the interconnectedness of the cosmos and our place within it.

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How Alabama Supreme Court’s Ruling On Life Affects IVF

(EXPLAINER) The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) healthcare system announced that it was pausing all in vitro fertilization (IVF) fertility treatments. This pause is due to the perceived fear of prosecution and lawsuits in light of the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday, Feb. 16, stating that human beings in the embryonic stage have the same legal rights and protections as children who are born.

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Rise Of The ‘Nones’: What Do America's Nonreligious Really Believe?

A new report on “nones” — one of the largest ever conducted on this fast-growing demographic — attempts to drill down into what these Americans believe, their feelings towards organized religion and politics. The decades-long rise of the “nones” has been one of the most talked about phenomena in the United States.

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Coronavirus news coverage: Is there room for both science and Catholic voices?

(OPINION) What does the phrase “follow the science” mean for journalism and particularly the impact of Catholic voices in news stories? That Catholics, and traditional religious believers in general, are seen as anti-science puts them in direct contradiction with what these politicians say and want.

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