Download or read book Believe in People written by Charles Koch and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2020-11-17 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A surprising take on how you can help tackle the really big problems in society–from one of America’s most successful entrepreneurs. People are looking for a better way. Towering barriers are holding millions of people back, and the institutions that should help everyone rise are not doing the job. Crumbling communities. One-size fits all education. Businesses that rig the economy. Public policy that stifles opportunity and emboldens the extremes. As a result, this country is quickly heading toward a two-tiered society. Today’s challenges call for nothing short of a paradigm shift – away from a top-down approach that sees people as problems to be managed, toward bottom-up solutions that empower everyone to realize their potential and foster a more inclusive society. Such a shift starts by asking: What would it mean to truly believe in people? Businessman and philanthropist Charles Koch has devoted his life to answering that question. Learn what he’s discovered during his 60-year career to help you apply the principles of empowerment in your life, in your business, and in society. By learning from the social movements and applying the principles that have enabled social progress throughout history, Koch has achieved more than he dreamed possible – building one of the world’s most successful companies and founding Stand Together, one of America’s most innovative philanthropic communities. Stand Together CEO Brian Hooks and Koch show how the only way to solve the really big problems – from poverty and addiction to harmful business practices and destructive public policy – is for each and every one of us to find and take action in our unique role as part of the solution. Full of compelling examples of what works – including several first-person accounts from individuals whose lives have been transformed – Koch and Hooks’ refreshing approach promotes partnership instead of partisanship and speaks to people from different perspectives and all walks of life. They show that no injustice is too tough to overcome if you share a deep belief in people, are willing to unite with anyone to do right, and work to empower others from the bottom up.

Download or read book Can We Believe in People written by Stephen R. L. Clark and published by Angelico Press. This book was released on 2020-05-13 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The view that humanity is “in the image and likeness of God” has influenced the past two millennia of European history, and retains its significance despite the apparent decline of theism as a major social factor. Human beings are understood to be in some way “special,” deserving of “respect,” capable of understanding (even remaking) the universe. The aim of the author—drawing on a wide range of resources ancient and modern—is to clearly delineate this view: its apparent justifications, its implications, and what can and should be said to challenge it. Can We Believe in People? preserves a strong account of human reason and human dignity while yet fully acknowledging the claims of other terrestrial and extraterrestrial life.

Download or read book How We Believe written by Michael Shermer and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2000-11 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent polls report that 96% of Americans believe in God. Why is this? Why, despite the rise of science, technology, and secular education, are people turning to religion in greater numbers than ever before? Why do people believe in God at all?

Download or read book Why We Believe written by Agustin Fuentes and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wide-ranging argument by a renowned anthropologist that the capacity to believe is what makes us human Why are so many humans religious? Why do we daydream, imagine, and hope? Philosophers, theologians, social scientists, and historians have offered explanations for centuries, but their accounts often ignore or even avoid human evolution. Evolutionary scientists answer with proposals for why ritual, religion, and faith make sense as adaptations to past challenges or as by-products of our hyper-complex cognitive capacities. But what if the focus on religion is too narrow? Renowned anthropologist Agustín Fuentes argues that the capacity to be religious is actually a small part of a larger and deeper human capacity to believe. Why believe in religion, economies, love? A fascinating intervention into some of the most common misconceptions about human nature, this book employs evolutionary, neurobiological, and anthropological evidence to argue that belief—the ability to commit passionately and wholeheartedly to an idea—is central to the human way of being in the world.

Download or read book How We Believe written by Michael Shermer and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2003-10-01 with total page 543 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new edition covering the latest scientific research on how the brain makes us believers or skeptics Recent polls report that 96 percent of Americans believe in God, and 73 percent believe that angels regularly visit Earth. Why is this? Why, despite the rise of science, technology, and secular education, are people turning to religion in greater numbers than ever before? Why do people believe in God at all? These provocative questions lie at the heart of How We Believe , an illuminating study of God, faith, and religion. Bestselling author Michael Shermer offers fresh and often startling insights into age-old questions, including how and why humans put their faith in a higher power, even in the face of scientific skepticism. Shermer has updated the book to explore the latest research and theories of psychiatrists, neuroscientists, epidemiologists, and philosophers, as well as the role of faith in our increasingly diverse modern world. Whether believers or nonbelievers, we are all driven by the need to understand the universe and our place in it. How We Believe is a brilliant scientific tour of this ancient and mysterious desire.

Download or read book What Do We Believe written by Andrew Rappaport and published by . This book was released on 2017-10-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Why We Believe in God s written by J. Anderson Thomson and published by Pitchstone Publishing (US&CA). This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking volume, J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., MD, with Clare Aukofer, offers a succinct yet comprehensive study of how and why the human mind generates religious belief. Dr. Thomson, a highly respected practicing psychiatrist with credentials in forensic psychiatry and evolutionary psychology, methodically investigates the components and causes of religious belief in the same way any scientist would investigate the movement of astronomical bodies or the evolution of life over time—that is, as a purely natural phenomenon. Providing compelling evidence from psychology, the cognitive neurosciences, and related fields, he, with Ms. Aukofer, presents an easily accessible and exceptionally convincing case that god(s) were created by man—not vice versa. With this slim volume, Dr. Thomson establishes himself as a must-read thinker and leading voice on the primacy of reason and science over superstition and religion.

Download or read book Give Me an Answer written by Cliffe Knechtle and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 1986-03-31 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cliffe Knechtle offers clear, reasoned and compassionate responses to the tough questions skeptics ask.

Download or read book Can We Believe It written by George Arthur Frederick Seber and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2016-03-21 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many people today believe that Christianity will not stand up to a scientific or intellectual investigation, and that science has all the answers. Such an attitude shows an ignorance of the wealth of available philosophical arguments and scientific information that Dr. Seber taps into in this book. Initially, he shows that mathematics and science are limited in what they can prove in spite of modern advances. He then summarizes his material using basic questions as ten chapter headings: Does God exist, is there a spiritual dimension, do we have free will, is the Bible reliable, who is Jesus, do miracles occur, why does God allow suffering and evil, is Christianity a blessing or a curse to society, what about evolution, and how can we get to know God? The reader may have other questions and a number are considered within each chapter, such as problems with philosophical materialism and atheism. He draws his material from many sources including statistics, physics, cosmology, genetics, philosophy, history, biochemistry, theology, psychology, archaeology, and biology. Comparatively, new subjects like epigenetics, chaos theory, and quantum mechanics, that many people are not aware of, are brought into the picture. These topics change our thinking about reality.

Download or read book Can We Be Good Without God written by Robert Buckman and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2010-06-28 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent neurological studies have shown that there are regions of the brain that seem predisposed to create beliefs. Are we hardwired to believe? And if so, why do beliefs sometimes inspire major contributions to society, while on other occasions they precipitate horrendous acts of destruction?In this provocative and stimulating study of the connection between belief and behavior, Dr. Robert Buckman begins by reviewing the history of religious belief, showing the many shared themes among religions of diverse cultures. He then explains little-publicized data from neuroscience on the limbic system and the right-hand temporal lobe of the brain, which when stimulated consistently produces deep-seated spiritual feelings. Recent experiments reveal that this portion of the brain may underlie the development of many common religious beliefs, and perhaps the more aggressive and destructive behaviors associated with some of them. Buckman also summarizes evidence regarding pheromones and their effect on the limbic system, as a possible mechanism for certain types of crowd behavior, whether in a religious or secular context.Finally, considering the long historical relationship between religion and ethics, Buckman asks whether we can develop better, nontheistic belief systems that avoid the destructive aspects of traditional religious beliefs. He then describes ways in which we can become aware of, and perhaps, correct our ôlimbic urgesö when they threaten to lead to destructive behavior. This ambitious work, covering important areas of social anthropology, comparative religion, neurology, and psychology, provides many insights into the mechanisms of belief.Robert Buckman, M.D. (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a cancer specialist, professor in the department of medicine at the University of Toronto, the current president of the Humanist Association of Canada, and the author (with Karl Sabbagh) of Magic or Medicine?

Download or read book Proving History written by Richard C. Carrier and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2012-04-03 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This in-depth discussion of New Testament scholarship and the challenges of history as a whole proposes Bayes’s Theorem, which deals with probabilities under conditions of uncertainty, as a solution to the problem of establishing reliable historical criteria. The author demonstrates that valid historical methods—not only in the study of Christian origins but in any historical study—can be described by, and reduced to, the logic of Bayes’s Theorem. Conversely, he argues that any method that cannot be reduced to this theorem is invalid and should be abandoned. Writing with thoroughness and clarity, the author explains Bayes’s Theorem in terms that are easily understandable to professional historians and laypeople alike, employing nothing more than well-known primary school math. He then explores precisely how the theorem can be applied to history and addresses numerous challenges to and criticisms of its use in testing or justifying the conclusions that historians make about the important persons and events of the past. The traditional and established methods of historians are analyzed using the theorem, as well as all the major "historicity criteria" employed in the latest quest to establish the historicity of Jesus. The author demonstrates not only the deficiencies of these approaches but also ways to rehabilitate them using Bayes’s Theorem. Anyone with an interest in historical methods, how historical knowledge can be justified, new applications of Bayes’s Theorem, or the study of the historical Jesus will find this book to be essential reading.

Download or read book Why People Don t Believe written by Paul Chamberlain and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion is increasingly seen as a dangerous source of violence in the world, breeding a fear of faith in a very vocal group of critics. Most Christians are blissfully unaware of the litany of allegations being brought against religion, including that it is the cause of intolerance, imperialism, irrationality, bigotry, and war, to name a few. But ignorance is not the answer. In Why People Don't Believe, Paul Chamberlain strives to represent the concerns and challenges raised against religious faith, particularly those raised against Christianity, to help readers understand them. He then thoughtfully responds to these criticisms, honestly evaluating whether they have merit. Lastly, he outlines the many good and humane contributions Christianity has made to the world throughout the past 2,000 years. Anyone who is troubled by today's headlines involving religious violence or who wants to be able to respond intelligently to critics will find Why People Don't Believe a welcome, hopeful book.

Download or read book Coffee for Your Heart written by Holley Gerth and published by Harvest House Publishers. This book was released on 2017-07-01 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Start Your Day in the Very Best Way Discover more joy, peace, and purpose every morning as you listen to the voice of the One who delights in you! In Coffee for Your Heart, bestselling author Holley Gerth shares 40 encouraging and powerful reminders of how God sees you as His beloved daughter. You are... wonderfully made chosen irreplaceable strong never alone ...and so much more! This noisy world can make it hard to hear the assurances of God. Let His voice be the loudest one in your life as He stirs up your hope and confidence each new day. "Take a deep breath, grab a cup of something cozy, and let God's love fill your heart with whatever you need most today." —Holley Previously published as God's Heart for You.

Download or read book Lies We Believe About God written by Wm. Paul Young and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the bestselling novel The Shack and the New York Times bestsellers Cross Roads and Eve comes a compelling, conversational exploration of twenty-eight assumptions about God—assumptions that just might be keeping us from experiencing His unconditional, all-encompassing love. In his wildly popular novels, Wm. Paul Young portrayed the Triune God in ways that challenged our thinking—sometimes upending long-held beliefs, but always centered in the eternal, all-encompassing nature of God’s love. Now, in Wm. Paul Young’s first nonfiction book, he invites us to revisit our assumptions about God—this time using the Bible, theological discussion, and personal anecdotes. Paul encourages us to think through beliefs we’ve presumed to be true and consider whether some might actually be false. Expounding on the compassion fans felt from the “Papa” portrayed in The Shack—now a major film starring Sam Worthington and Octavia Spencer—Paul encourages you to think anew about important issues including sin, religion, hell, politics, identity, creation, human rights, and helping us discover God’s deep and abiding love.

Download or read book Can We Still Believe the Bible written by Craig L. Blomberg and published by Brazos Press. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Challenges to the reliability of Scripture are perennial and have frequently been addressed. However, some of these challenges are noticeably more common today, and the topic is currently of particular interest among evangelicals. In this volume, highly regarded biblical scholar Craig Blomberg offers an accessible and nuanced argument for the Bible's reliability in response to the extreme views about Scripture and its authority articulated by both sides of the debate. He believes that a careful analysis of the relevant evidence shows we have reason to be more confident in the Bible than ever before. As he traces his own academic and spiritual journey, Blomberg sketches out the case for confidence in the Bible in spite of various challenges to the trustworthiness of Scripture, offering a positive, informed, and defensible approach.

Download or read book Good Without God written by Greg Epstein and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010-10-26 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inspiring and provocative exploration of an alternative to traditional religion Questions about the role of God and religion in today's world have never been more relevant or felt more powerfully. Many of us are searching for a place where we can find not only facts and scientific reason but also hope and moral courage. For some, answers are found in the divine. For others, including the New Atheists, religion is an "enemy." But in Good Without God, Greg Epstein presents another, more balanced and inclusive response: Humanism. He highlights humanity's potential for goodness and the ways in which Humanists lead lives of purpose and compassion. Humanism can offer the sense of community we want and often need in good times and bad—and it teaches us that we can lead good and moral lives without the supernatural, without higher powers . . . without God.

Download or read book What We Believe but Cannot Prove written by John Brockman and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than one hundred of the world's leading thinkers write about things they believe in, despite the absence of concrete proof Scientific theory, more often than not, is born of bold assumption, disparate bits of unconnected evidence, and educated leaps of faith. Some of the most potent beliefs among brilliant minds are based on supposition alone -- yet that is enough to push those minds toward making the theory viable. Eminent cultural impresario, editor, and publisher of Edge (www.edge.org), John Brockman asked a group of leading scientists and thinkers to answer the question: What do you believe to be true even though you cannot prove it? This book brings together the very best answers from the most distinguished contributors. Thought-provoking and hugely compelling, this collection of bite-size thought-experiments is a fascinating insight into the instinctive beliefs of some of the most brilliant minds today.