Ronald V. Huggins

Thesis: Ayn Rand only has herself to blame if people misunderstand  what she means by the word "Selfishness," as used in her phrase  The Virtue of Selfishness.   Ayn Rand’s title  The Virtue of Selfishness  is very off-putting and has resulted in widespread misunderstanding concerning her views.  This is because it is assumed that by the word “selfishness,” she meant what that word usually means. That is not, however, the case. To some degree she only has herself to blame for this misunderstanding.  In the introduction to that book, Rand asserted that “the exact meaning and dictionary definition of the word ‘selfishness’ is: concern with one’s own interests. This concept does not include a moral evaluation.”  That simply isn’t true. Rand made this statement in 1964.  At the time one of the most authoritative dictionaries of the English language was the Merriam-Webster’s Third International...

[ Those interested in this post may also want to see my other posts  Why is the Hare Krishna Mantra (Māha-Mantra) sung to the tune of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land"? ,  Does Apologist Ravi Zacharias know the Difference Between Krishna and Shiva? Or Between the Two Great Epics of India, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana?,   An Example of Christopher Hitchens's Plagiarism ,  A Brief Cautionary Note: Calling Wittoba a Crucified Savior Shows Ignorance of that God, His Cult, and His Myth ,  A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada & ISKCON Links Page ,   When did Eastern Religious Texts become Available in the West?  A Links-Resource Page .] Indra, the great Vedic King of the Gods and Rain God, a virgin born crucified savior?  You're kidding right?  Not apparently Episcopal Bishop John Shelby in his book   Born of Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus   (HarperSanFrancisco, 1992), where we read tha...

The above hymn is from the early LDS publication  Times & Seasons  6.2 (Feb 1, 1845): 799. Recently, while studying material written by a mid-twentieth century LDS apologist, I was struck by the fact that the impression he had of historic Christianity didn’t come from reading the Bible or other Christian books, nor from contact with members of historic Christian churches.  It came rather from a single Mormon source, the parody of Christian theology presented in the preaching of the so-called "Sectarian Minister" in the LDS Temple ritual.  That stalk character, long represented as a money grubbing lackey of the devil, was, I believe, finally retired, put out to grass, in the 1990s.  He was not always a part of the Temple ritual. At an earlier stage several sectarian preachers were present. Before his retirement from the Temple ritual, the "Sectarian Minister" was presented as preaching to father Adam at the bidding of the devil, who was represented...

Visitors to this page in the past will have been familiar with its partly chronological, partly name list. I am in the process of updating and organizing it in the form of a name list.  All the original material is still here and many updates are included. Your patience is appreciated. GENERAL DISCUSSIONS For many years, respected Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfeld has been a strong voice against tolerating the misbehavior of spiritualizing sexual preditors. Kornfeld's seminal article is “Sex Lives of the Gurus,”  Yoga Journal (July-Aug, 1985): 26-28, 66 , which can be accessed along with the rest of the issue with this link. Jack Kornfeld is the founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center , whose Teacher Code of Ethics , which includes a statement about appropriate sexual behavior. Geoffrey D. Falk, Stripping the Gurus: Sex, Violence, Abuse and Enlightenment . A work by an author who has no sympathy for spirituality but which covers a lot of ground and is therefore also a valua...