religion
pharyngula | January 22, 2008Ali G interviews four people with opinions about religion. It's a bit hit or miss, but listen for the bit at the end.
Ali G wonders why so many nuns work as strippers on the side, and the easily offended Catholic priest says, "I don't think you can demonstrate that statistically…it's an absurd statement that you've just made. …
I would really prefer that you move off this topic because I find it offensive. It's not documented by any kind of evidence. It's hearsay."
Hilarious irony there.
grrlscientist | January 21, 2008tags: creationism, mastodon skull, Mt Blanco Fossil Museum, fossils
The Mount Blanco creationist "museum" in Crosbyton, Texas managed to raise the funds to save their facility from extinction by selling their 40,000 year old mastodon skull at auction. The skull, named "Lone Star", was estimated to be worth $160,000 and sold for $191,200. The "museum", which claims that humans and dinosaurs co-existed and that the universe, the earth and everything on it were created six thousand years ago, will use these funds to continue spreading lies to the public regarding the nature and origins of life…
terrasig | January 21, 2008
From "Lesser Known Wise and Prophetic Words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr." by liberal writer and California Democratic Party delegate, Deborah White:
"Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values.
The two are not rivals. They are complementary.
Science keeps religion from sinking into the valley of crippling irrationalism and paralyzing obscurantism. Religion prevents science from falling into the marsh of obsolete materialism and moral…
gregladen | January 19, 2008This is Part 1 because there is more than one part. But I'm only going to do one of them, so it is Part 1 of 1. There is more than one "kind" of home schooler, home schooling parent, home schooling family, etc., and thus there are multiple attitudes. But a good chunk of the home schooling population, represented by these excerpts from their own rhetoric, are more than a little annoying, and are the reason why we should always be suspicious of home schooling and home schoolers until we see their credentials.
Home Schooling Is a Good Choice for Christian Parenting
If you want to impart a…
grrlscientist | January 19, 2008tags: creationism, mastodon skull, Mt Blanco Fossil Museum, fossils
The volkswagon-sized Mastodon skull, which the museum named "Lone Star," is thought to be the largest four-tusk mastodon skull ever found. It was discovered near La Grange, Texas, and was sold in 2004 to Joe Taylor, owner and curator of the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum.
A creationist "museum" in Crosbyton, Texas is in dire financial straits so they are going to put a mastodon skull up for auction tomorrow. The skull is estimated to be worth $160,000 or more, and should help the "museum" to keep its doors open a little longer…
gregladen | January 19, 2008Education committees are beginning to review the science standards for Texas Schools this month. There are indications that efforts will be made to weaken the standing of evolution, or insinuate creationism, creation science, or intelligent design into the standards.
The current Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards includes a statement that sudents must learn "the theory of biological evolution." The standards also specify that students must apply critical thinking, address "strengths and weaknesses" in theories.
This does not sound like a bad idea, but it is exactly the kind of…
mikethemadbiologist | January 19, 2008I happy to see that others are coming around to the idea that the abortion debate is ultimately about the establishment of religion (italics mine):
She [Keenan] was saying more that the people in the mushy middle feel like they're in a moral quandary about abortion, because it's all mixed up with various other issues about sex, commitment, self-image, family, ickiness, and other touchy subjects and thus most people refuse to really think the issue through and come to the correct conclusion: Anything so complex and personal should be a matter of personal conscience. The term "moral complexity…
gregladen | January 18, 2008Pope Benedict XVI last night called off a visit to Rome's main university in the face of hostility from some of its academics and students, who accused him of despising science and defending the Inquisition's condemnation of Galileo.
The Pope is a Dope, says Rome U
The controversy was unparalleled in a country where criticism of the Roman Catholic church is normally muted. The Pope had been due to speak tomorrow during ceremonies marking the start of the academic year at Rome's largest and oldest university, La Sapienza. But the Vatican said last night it had been "considered opportune to…
oracknows | January 18, 2008Things are crazy now for me, both at home and at work. I mean really, really crazy. So crazy that even I, one of the most verbose bloggers out there, am forced to take two or three days off from my little addiction--I mean habit. Consequently, having foreseen that this time would come around these dates, I, Orac, your benevolent (and, above all verbose) blogger have thought of you, my readers. I realize the cries and lamentations that the lack of fresh material inevitably causes. That, I cannot completely obviate. However, I can ease the pain somewhat, and I can do this by continuing my…
omnibrain | January 18, 2008According to Nicholas Epley from the University of Chicago:
"Biological reproduction is not a very efficient way to alleviate one's loneliness, but you can make up people when you're motivated to do so," said Nicholas Epley, Assistant Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. "When people lack a sense of connection with other people, they are more likely to see their pets, gadgets or gods as human-like."
In his experiments he showed that the lonelier a person was the more likely they were to believe in supernatural entities such as God, angels…
pharyngula | January 18, 2008The North looks ever more attractive — read this excellent article on the collapse of organized religion in Canada. The numbers of church members is simply plummeting up there, a state we can only dream of bringing to pass here in the US (numbers are declining here, too, but we can hope that this is an inevitable descent and that Canada is only leading us by a few years.)
One interesting hypothesis for why it's happening is that we can thank, in part, feminism.
Women the traditional mainstays of institutional religion in huge numbers abruptly rejected the church's patriarchal exemplar of…
gregladen | January 18, 2008[Post Revised]
According to one story:
After a public hearing Thursday evening to discuss a possible change in the way science courses are taught in public schools, the Clay County [Florida] School Board voted unanimously to support a change in the state science curriculum that would use the word evolution in the classroom.
The state Board of Education will scheduled to vote Feb. 19 on the change, which would require more in-depth teaching of evolution and other scientific topics while setting specific benchmarks for students to meet.
Source is here.
But according to other sources, things…
oracknows | January 17, 2008Things are crazy now for me, both at home and at work. I mean really, really crazy. So crazy that even I, one of the most verbose bloggers out there, am forced to take two or three days off from my little addiction--I mean habit. Consequently, having foreseen that this time would come around these dates, I, Orac, your benevolent (and, above all verbose) blogger have thought of you, my readers. I realize the cries and lamentations that the lack of fresh material inevitably causes. That, I cannot completely obviate. However, I can ease the pain somewhat, and I can do this by continuing my…
oracknows | January 17, 2008Things are crazy now for me, both at home and at work. I mean really, really crazy. So crazy that even I, one of the most verbose bloggers out there, am forced to take two or three days off from my little addiction--I mean habit. Consequently, having foreseen that this time would come around these dates, I, Orac, your benevolent (and, above all verbose) blogger have thought of you, my readers. I realize the cries and lamentations that the lack of fresh material inevitably causes. That, I cannot completely obviate. However, I can ease the pain somewhat, and I can do this by continuing my…
evolvingthoughts | January 17, 2008
Shelley at Restrospectacle gives a poem she learned in school, an excellent piece by A. E. Housman, So I got to thinking - what poem sticks with me? Is it the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, by Eliot, who I think is a wonderful poet? Shakespeare? Kit Marlowe? I mulled and mulled for, oh, five seconds before I recall the first poem that ever really gripped me, by another Marlowe.:
To his Coy Mistress
by Andrew Marvell
Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love's day;
Thou by the Indian Ganges'…
oracknows | January 17, 2008Things are crazy now for me, both at home and at work. I mean really, really crazy. So crazy that even I, one of the most verbose bloggers out there, am forced to take two or three days off from my little addiction--I mean habit. Consequently, having foreseen that this time would come around these dates, I, Orac, your benevolent (and, above all verbose) blogger have thought of you, my readers. I realize the cries and lamentations that the lack of fresh material inevitably causes. That, I cannot completely obviate. However, I can ease the pain somewhat, and I can do this by continuing my…
nisbetmc | January 17, 2008Media Matters for America, a liberal media watch dog organization, has released an analysis of sourcing patterns of religious leaders in news coverage. From the intro to the report:
Religion is often depicted in the news media as a politically divisive force, with two sides roughly paralleling the broader political divide: On one side are cultural conservatives who ground their political values in religious beliefs; and on the other side are secular liberals, who have opted out of debates that center on religion-based values. The truth, however is far different: close to 90 percent of…
evolvingthoughts | January 16, 2008
This isn't something I would often write, but I think that the recent protest against the Pope speaking at the secular university La Sapienza in Rome is misplaced.
Critics say that the Pope, when he was of more humble rank, had in 1990 defended the Inquisition's judgement against Galileo in 1633.
Signatories to the letter protesting the planned visit recalled a 1990 speech in which the pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and head of the Roman Catholic Church's doctrinal watchdog, seemed to justify the Inquisition's verdict against Galileo in 1633.
In the speech, Ratzinger quoted an…
gregladen | January 15, 2008From Americans United for the Separation of Church and State:
A church-produced evangelical Christian movie is aimed at evangelism and is inappropriate for public schools, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has told Alabama educators.
After receiving complaints, Americans United has urged officials at Tuscaloosa City Schools to stop showing the film "Facing the Giants."
"This movie is not educational; it's evangelistic," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "Parents and taxpayers expect our public schools to teach, not preach."
In a Jan. 15…