As Dr. Mercer posits, the fundamentalist is fundamentally driven by anxiety layered over a fragile sense of self-identity constructed upon a system of beliefs that is both logically inconsistent and highly suspect in light of modern science. As a result, the fundamentalist completely rejects modernity while battling mightily in the arena of national politics and culture to bring about a world that aligns more closely with the fundamentalist worldview.
Focusing on Christian fundamentalists, the author puts Christian fundamentalism in its historical and theological contexts. At the same time, Mercer calls upon cognitive theory to explain that the fundamentalist's life story is not particular to Christianity or any other religious belief system but that fundamentalist Catholics, Muslims, Jews, and those of all other faiths share a common psychological profile. Indeed, Mercer insists that if the Christian terminology were eliminated from contemporary fundamentalist Christian rhetoric, what would remain would be a framework that fundamentalists from other religions would find quite familiar and even comforting. In other words, the structure of the fundamentalist worldview, and the psychology beneath it, is pretty much the same across religions. It is a controversial thing to say about Christian fundamentalism, a thesis that has already proved contentious in the author's public appearances, and one that is sure to generate considerable attention and passionate debate as the U.S. populace continues to divide into opposing camps.

Slaves to Faith: A Therapist Looks Inside the Fundamentalist Mind

History

Mercer, Calvin

World

Praeger

Should technology be used to improve human faculties such as cognition and longevity? This thought-provoking dialogue between "transhumanism" and religion examines enhancement technologies that could radically alter the human species.
"Transhumanism" or "human enhancement" is an intellectual and cultural movement that advocates the use of emerging technologies to change human traits. Although they may sound like science fiction, the possibilities suggested by transhumanism are very real, and the questions they raise have no easy answers. If these enhancements―especially major ones like the indefinite extension of healthy human life―become widely available, they would arguably have a more radical impact on humankind than any other development in history.
This book comprises essays that explore transhumanism and the issues that surround it, addressing numerous fascinating questions posed by scholars of religion from various traditions. How will "immortality" or extreme longevity change our religious beliefs and practices? How might pharmaceuticals enhance spiritual experiences? Will "post-human" technologies be available to all persons, or will a superior "post-human race" arise to dominate the human species? The discussions are as intriguing as the future they suggest.
 • Introduces some of the hardest and most pressing issues that will determine the future of the human race
• Examines current scholarly questions and thoughts about transhumanism
• Asks new questions relative to the intersection of human enhancement and religion
• Explores what it means to be human in a technologically changing world

Religion and Transhumanism: The Unknown Future of Human Enhancement

Religion & Spirituality

Religious Studies

There Ought to be a Law-A Bright Day at the State Capitol is a fun, informational picture story book for ages 6-9 about how bills become laws. The illustrated story takes Eliza and Martin on a visit to the state legislature. 
At the Capitol, in a playful, yet serious, way they create an anti-bullying bill, with a free ice cream amendment, and take it through the 12 steps required to become a law. Eliza and Martin learn all about the state Capitol and its workings, meeting interesting people along the way. The youth see the role government plays in their lives. The story helps Eliza and Martin think about and appreciate rules in their own home, school, and community.\nGrab your copy now and let the adventure begin!

There Ought to Be a Law

Children's Books

PITTMAN, PORTIA BRIGHT

Education & Reference

Bright Books

Debería haber una ley: Un día brillante en el Capitolio del estado (Spanish Edition)

Bright Pittman, Portia

Portia Bright Pittman

Product Description \nWe live in an age of rapid technological advancement. Never before has humankind wielded so much power over our own biology. Biohacking, the attempt at human enhancement of physical, cognitive, affective, moral, and spiritual traits, has become a global phenomenon. This textbook introduces religious and ethical implications of biohacking, artificial intelligence, and other technological changes, offering perspectives from monotheistic and karmic religions and applied ethics. These technological breakthroughs are transforming our societies and ourselves fundamentally via genetic modification, tissue engineering, artificial intelligence, robotics, the merging of computer technology with human biology, extended reality, brain stimulation, and nanotechnology. The book also considers the extreme possibilities of mind uploading, cryonics, and superintelligence. Chapters explore some of the political, economic, sociological, and psychological dimensions of these advances, with bibliographies for further study and questions for discussion. The technological future is here – and it is up to us to decide its moral and religious shape.\nReview 
“It is vital that we begin to analyze these difficult questions before, not after, they become reality.” (Bill McKibben, Schumann Distinguished Scholar, Middlebury College, USA, and author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?) 
“Human yearning to prevent morbidity and mortality is so intense that we mostly put it out of our minds, in any way that works―including religion, for some people. But this is just one of many ways to relate to our future and our, and higher powers’, control over it. This outstanding textbook comprehensively surveys the ecosystem of such thinking. Whatever your stance on these issues, you'll find extensive food for thought here.” (Aubrey de Grey, Chief Science Officer, SENS Research Foundation) 
“Mercer and Trothen have laid down the intellectual infrastructure to enable theology to make a smooth transition into the transhuman future. And precisely because the book is firmly grounded in the religious world-view, it should also prove attractive to secular ethicists who approach their topic from a deep metaphysical perspective that wonders how the ongoing developments in science and technology are transforming what it means to be 'human.'” (Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology, University of Warwick, UK, and author of Humanity 2.0) 
“Like a weather reporter daily checking our atmospheric pressure, for nearly two decades Mercer and Trothen have been monitoring biohacking at the frontier of the human and the posthuman. They forecast a coming storm of theological and ethical conundrums. Religion and the Technological Future tells us how to ready ourselves for the storm.” (Ted Peters, Co-editor of Theology and Science and Distinguished Research Professor of Systematic Theology and Ethics, Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, Graduate Theological Union, USA) “ 
Religion and the Technological Future is the first comprehensive and deeply-considered textbook on the intersection of religious thought and twenty-first century technology. It's lively prose brings to life the intellectual, political, and ethical debates that frame our progress into the next stage of human culture. Mercer and Trothen take their years of leadership in the study of radical enhancement and transform that into a textbook that will inspire thoughtful engagement from students, scholars, and the general public.” (Robert M Geraci, Professor of Religious Studies, Manhattan College, and author of Apocalyptic AI: Visions of Heaven in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality) 
 “This timely textbook provides a valuable overview of the profound challenges and potential benefits that contemporary technology poses to humanity. Written by pioneering scholars in the field of religion and technoscience, this book introduces

Religion and the Technological Future: An Introduction to Biohacking, Artificial Intelligence, and Transhumanism

Trothen, Tracy J.

Science & Math

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

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Books by Mercer, Calvin