religion
oracknows | October 25, 2007I approach this topic with a bit of trepidation. I say this not because I'm unsure that I'm correct in my assessment of the article that I'm about to apply some Respectful Insolence⢠to. Rather, it's because the last time I brought up anything having to do with abortion, it got ugly. The topic is such a polarized one that virtually anything one says is sure to attract vitriol. Regardless, though, this article by Dennis Byrne, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune and the "study" to which it refers, are so appallingly idiotic that even fear of touching the third rail of American politics will…
jrosenhouse | October 24, 2007Another day, another debate between Christopher Hitchens and a defender of the faith. This time it was Dinesh D'Souza. The video of the procedings can be found here.
It was a frustrating debate. Through most of it I felt D'Souza and Hitchens were talking about different things. Hitchens focused primarily on whether the major claims of Christianity are true, and he was his usual funny and trenchant self in doing so. D'Souza addressed very few of Hitchens' points in this regard, and instead focused on why Christianity is a force for good in society. I think Hitchens won in a rout on the…
evolvingthoughts | October 23, 2007
Much to do about the sexual inclinations of a fictional character in the most successful (and I still think, despite the lack of editorial control, one of the classic) children's stories. PZ Mungle has this to say:
I really, honestly, truly do not give a good goddamn if Dumbledore is gay. He's a fictional character, the author is getting a little too freakily obsessive over her characters, and it doesn't affect me one way or the other how the character swings. So Rowling says he's gay. Eh. Move on.
Now it is my considered opinion that the only time a person's sexual inclinations are of…
pharyngula | October 23, 2007Do we have to wait until he's elected to impeach him? 'Cause right now I'd like to see Huckabee kicked off the campaign trail and sent back to repeat grades 6-12.
Oh, I believe in science. I certainly do. In fact, what I believe in is, I believe in God. I don't think there's a conflict between the two. But if there's going to be a conflict, science changes with every generation and with new discoveries and God doesn't. So I'll stick with God if the two are in conflict.
So when he's faced with two claims, he'll follow the one that ignores all the evidence and sticks to its guns in the face of…
pharyngula | October 23, 2007Here's an article that deserves a prize. It's wall-to-wall praise-Jebus babble, giving the Lord of the Universe credit for getting the Colorado Rockies baseball team into the World Series—have a puke bucket handy if you actually try to read the whole thing.
"You look at some of the moves we made and didn't make," general manager Dan O'Dowd said in the only interview he has given on the subject, long before the Rockies' remarkable ascension over the past few weeks. "You look at some of the games we're winning. Those aren't just a coincidence. God has definitely had a hand in this."
And that's…
grrlscientist | October 22, 2007tags: humor, cartoon, abortion, anti-choice, women, religion, blogging
Image: Jesus and Mo.
evolvingthoughts | October 22, 2007
I am attempting to classify the various explanations of the existence of religion, so chime in the comments.
They are:
1. The intentionality explanation
Human beings are agents and highly adapted to social life. As a result, our cognition tends to take what Dennett calls the "intentional stance". That is, we ascribe intentions to non-agent processes. In earlier terminology, this was called "anthropomorphism", or the treating of non-human things as if they were human.
One will often read explanations of religion as the anthropomorphisation of natural processes like spring, rain,…
mikethemadbiologist | October 21, 2007Get ready for some more conservative cognitive dissonance: man finds Jesus and comes to believe that the occupation of Iraq is immoral:
A U.S. soldier who said his Christian beliefs compelled him to love his enemies, not kill them, has been granted conscientious objector status and honorably discharged, a civil liberties group said on Tuesday.
Capt. Peter Brown -- who served in Iraq for more than a year and was a graduate of the elite U.S. military academy West Point -- said in a statement issued by the New York Civil Liberties Union that he was relieved the Army had recognized his beliefs…
mikethemadbiologist | October 20, 2007A few days ago, I posted an excerpt from Hanna Rosen's God's Harvard which is about Patrick Henry College, which can be thought of as theopolitical conservative training facility. Before I get to a mindboggling display of cynicism, I want to make one thing: if someone wants to believe this lunacy, that's fine, but the moment it becomes a political agenda for governing our country, it's fair game. Onto the cynicism:
"I read that President Bush is coming to speak for Kilgore." "Yes, well, that can be a sign that the campaign is in trouble," Shant pointed out. ''And last time Bush came,…
oracknows | October 20, 2007I can't say I saw this one coming, but it turns out that Albus Dumbledore is gay:
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has revealed that one of her characters, Hogwarts school headmaster Albus Dumbledore, is gay.
She made her revelation to a packed house in New York's Carnegie Hall on Friday, as part of her US book tour.
She took audience questions and was asked if Dumbledore found "true love".
"Dumbledore is gay," she said, adding he was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, who he beat in a battle between good and bad wizards long ago.
The audience gasped, then applauded. "I would have told you…
pharyngula | October 19, 2007Those sneaky rascals at the Templeton Foundation have asked one of those ridiculous questions that gets some otherwise rational people stumbling over themselves to give an inoffensive answer: does the universe have a purpose? Of course, the irrational people have no trouble piping up with a happy "Yes!", which should clue everyone in, as Larry notes, that it's a gimmick question designed to provoke a range of waffly answers … and waffles, especially the tepid, limp kind, are the stock-in-trade of the Templeton House of Waffles.
I'd say "no, there is no evidence of universal purpose and no…
pharyngula | October 18, 2007Or in this case, perhaps, unskew one. Take a look at this poll that asks, Does Islam Oppress or Liberate Women? The leading answer so far is "Islam is generally liberating to women, freeing them from sexual pressures that exist elsewhere. "
Yeah, if by "liberating" you mean "compelling them to wear a bag over their head, not allowing them to drive or hold various public positions, and in some cases, gouging out chunks of their genitalia with a piece of broken glass."
oracknows | October 18, 2007Whatever criticisms I may have had for prominent atheists like Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris otherwise, one area that I'm totally down with both of them on is their criticism of the undue respect and consideration we as a society give to religious ideas. This consideration is rarely, if ever, based on the merit of the ideas, but rather solely because they are religious ideas. Many of these ideas, if they were not based on religion, wouldn't be given anywhere near the respect or deference that they are now. But, because they are based on a faith in the supernatural, for some reason we as a…
jrosenhouse | October 17, 2007From the public editor of The Sacramento Bee:
There they were, two stories on the Metro cover last Monday about a common topic: religion and beliefs.
Yet they were as opposite as night is to day.
The headlines said it all.
“Atheists stand proud,” said one. “Church's members unite to aid schools,"”said the other.
The juxtaposition of these stories caused a controversy. Can you guess what it was about?
Having gotten this far into the essay, I expected to read how atheist groups objected to the headlines. Placing atheists standing proud right next to Christians selflessly raising money for…
oracknows | October 17, 2007One of my favorite phenomena that represents better than perhaps any other how humans are wired to look for patterns, whether there is a pattern there or not, is the phenomenon known as pareidolia. As a Catholic-turned-sort-of-heathen, in particular I like Virgin Mary pareidolia, and have blogged about multiple such incidents. Of course, the Virgin Mary is not the only sort of image seen in pareidolia. Jesus shows up quite frequently as well.
Now, would you believe that the late Pope John Paul II is showing up in flames? No, really:
This fiery figure is being hailed as Pope John Paul II…
razib | October 16, 2007Sort of. I assume that part of this is delivery and the nature of a short interview format. But, I think it is important to highlight a point of mild disagreement between Steven Pinker and Rebecca Goldstein in their Salon interview:
PINKER: Exactly. I would be opposed to a requirement on astrology and astronomy, or alchemy and chemistry. Not because I don't think people should know about astrology. Astrology had an important role in the ancient world. You can't understand many things unless you know something about astrology -- the plays of Shakespeare and so on. What I'm opposed to is…
mikethemadbiologist | October 16, 2007Once again, the science framing wars have flared up. While I'm not allergic to the concept of framing as some are, one of the major reasons why I'm not a big fan of dwelling on the topic is that obsessing over language reminds me of the late 80s and 90s when the Left won the battle of words, and the fundamentalist Uruk-hai took over the damn country.
I've been doing some thinking about the 'progressive' concern with media communication (including my own)--and it is important, no doubt about it. But, as the 2006 elections have shown, if words aren't turned into the exercise of power, there…
evolvingthoughts | October 15, 2007
They are now toadies of the Exclusive Brethren, who fund campaign advertisements for the Liberal Party.
Add to this Cardinal George Pell's support, Catholic minister Tony Abbott's attempts to control who can use RU486 on an individual basis (i.e., never), Peter Costello's links with Hillsong, the Assemblies of God megachurch and organisation that founded Family First... it's starting to look very much like the Conservatives are becoming the Christian Right of the United States. What with the demonisation of Muslims, gays, and Africans and all...
Hey, guys, in case you haven't noticed,…
mikethemadbiologist | October 14, 2007Knute Berger relays the following email from Ed Lazowska, the former co-chair of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (italics mine):
The years of the [George W.] Bush administration have been a black time for science in this nation. I speak with the experience of having co-chaired the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee for Bush, and having chaired the Defense Department's DARPA [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] Information Science and Technology Study Group during his presidency. Funds for research, the seed corn of our future competitiveness…
oracknows | October 13, 2007I don't do this very often, but this picture of Pope Benedict XVI struck me as amusing:
One suggested caption is here.
Not bad, but surely my readers can do better than that. Add your own caption!