Suggestions for January's Theme anyone?

Given it's the dominant subject at the moment, I'm going to go with:

Religion (pro.)

Anti-Religion can wait until February. (When I'm hoping to visit NYC! So far the chance of this happening is 50%)

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The one, the only, the undisputed king of the world.

I'm down with the religion theme.

Are we going to focus on one religion specifically?  Or is it more of a creation vs. evolution thing?

Religion could almost be a series.  Islamic, Catholic, Morman, Buddhist, Hindu, Atheist, etc.

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Travis Merkel

Microsoft Code Monkey and Head Chef
Redmond, WA

Yep, we're on it anyway :D But you could expand to religion, philosophy and ideology. That might be too broad, so you'd need to focus on a subject that could be approached from all these angle.

My suggestions:

- Does it matter if there is a God?

- (along the same line) Creation or evolution, how did the universe came to be: interesting questions, but is it essential to definitively answer them?

 

I really need to hit the sack, so I'll leave it at that.

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Erwin Blonk
IT admin and troubleshooter
The Netherlands (for now)

If I could jump ahead and suggest a book...

I recently thought about this book when I read Rory's post, "A Short and Thought-Provoking Quote about God" (http://neopoleon.com/home/blogs/neo/archive/2006/12/06/23113.aspx). It's been 20 years since I've read this book, so I don't really remember what it's about, but I think I remember what the title refers to. I'd put it under the pro-religion category (or pro-spirituality), and if I remember correctly, it may even relate to your suggestion, "Does it matter if there is a God?" Also, it's short and inexpensive. This is it:

http://shrinkster.com/l0n

P.

I would vote for your suggestion.  Looks interesting, relevent, and well received (although that's not always a good thing ).

At any rate, we're now into January, so we should probably decide relatively soon.

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Travis Merkel

Microsoft Code Monkey and Head Chef
Redmond, WA

I would second that vote.  I'll probably pick up a copy even if it isn't the selection. 

Unfortunately I don't have time to read right now but I want to express an opinion if it is possible. I suggest that Rory should make a short description of every book prior to opening the discussions  so we may express a tiny opinion even if we don't have time reading it or we don't find the book.

I book I've read about a year ago and enjoyed was made into a movie: Perfume - The story of a murderer (or "Das parfum" in German). The book was written by Patrick Suskind and is a good read. I've seen some glimpses of the movie, and it may be a good one but I don't think it can match the book. The characters and situations in the book can be seen allegorically, they can be interpreted in many different ways. The movie just takes all the action literally and this makes  it  so much  poorer than the book. This is not a book for the club but I would like to hear some opinions from other readers.

I think one of the most popular and inspiring books for Christians, both  catholic and orthodox is this one. I've read it many years ago.

I don't think I've read any outrageous books. Maybe some outrageously stupid ones (unfortunately).

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