To believe in God or not to believe in God..that really isn't the question...

Newsweek carried an intriguing debate between Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest and Sam Harris, a renowned atheiest who wrote the book, "A Letter to a Christian Nation," that I really want to read.
These types of subjects come up around this time because of Easter and Passover and whatnot. I'm rather happy though that Newsweek especially does a pretty good job in being thorough about religious topics. The interview between Warren and Harris shows that, as does editor's Jon Meachem's great article.
Here's the link here:

Warren/Harris debate

I do have to say that Rabbi Marc Gellman is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. He has such a strong pragmatism that is rooted in rich spiritual ideals. He responds to the debate and the article with the concept that both are right. In the end, what you believe in God really is contingent about what you believe about life, the world and yourself.

Here's his response:

Gellman's response

Have a great Easter and Passover, and no matter you're beliefs, have a good weekend.

Grades, grades, go away...

I am now firmly convinced that graduate school shouldn't have grades. Here's why:
There comes a point, at least I hope there comes a point, where people should be "graded" on true analysis and comprehension. A professor should be able to engage a student on any particular topic with feedback and commentary, but in the end, the end result shouldn't be some dumb letter.
I understand the need of it for high school and maybe for undergrad. But this is grad school, you're here because you want to be here and you're paying a hell of a lot of money to learn. In the end, I'm here for the entire education, not for a piece of paper. Because of that, I want to feel like I can write how I feel I should write and engage the issues that need to be engaged...and not worry about the damn grade.
For example, I wrote a 30-page paper for my corporate communication class. I'm not sure how well I did, but I can tell you that I and the rest of my classmates are worried like hell about the grade we're gonna get. That's too bad. I would rather the professor write all over my paper and dismiss my arguments and my rhetoric, then I can respond and have a discussion instead of write a paper, get a grade and that defines my standing in the class.

It's almost as if there's the underlying idea that you're going to get graded on how well you did in life. It's not just a pass/fail, credit/no credit ideal, but somehow God/higher power/keeper of the Great Beyond is giving out a report card. You lived a B-plus life. How the hell can you live a B-plus life? Had the potential, but didn't make a full effort? You didn't answer the questions correctly or didn't format your M.A.Y.A. years right?

Wouldn't be the worst: you get up to Heaven and God tells you that the content was good, but the formatting wasn't correct. I'm sure there an existential metaphor there somewhere...