religion
evolvingthoughts | May 10, 2007
All I did was get my beloved Powerbook 12" serviced, and what happens? The Interlub goes wild with great stuff. Or was it always, and I only noticed because I was unable to blog? So, here is a rough and ready roundup of interesting things.
Before I do, I'd like to note that Paul Griffiths and I had a wonderful time last night talking to the Philosophy Students Association about Dawkins' The God Delusion. You, my loyal readers, already know my views on this, so I won't rehearse them here. But Paul made a comment I had to think about overnight. He does that. It was basically about religious…
jrosenhouse | May 9, 2007So I watched Nightline tonight, buoyed by the fact that the clips that appeared on the website earlier today were not too bad from the atheist standpoint (as I described here.) I should have known better. Having just watched the actual show, it is clear that they had no intention of giving any sort of accurate picture of what either side said. Instead, the goal was to play in to the standard script in which the fanatical Christians are presented as lovable, but simplistic, while the atheists are presented as dogmatic and obnoxious.
Almost nothing from the clips I viewed this afternoon…
jrosenhouse | May 9, 2007If you have any interest, clips from the big Nightline God debate are now online at the ABC News website. Mostly what you'd expect, though I think things went a bit better for the atheists than I had anticipated.
Representing the forces of darkness and ignorance were Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort. Having seen their staggeringly dopey infomercials on television, I was not optimistic that they would have anything intelligent to say here. They are, however, very polished in their presentation, which made me worry they might come off as persuasive. As it happens I needn't have worried.
The…
pharyngula | May 9, 2007
You can't trust that tyrant Terwilliger. He's an awful, awful man, and once he made school principal, he used his vast autocratic powers to make every Christian suffer. He threw them to the lions. He crucified them upside down. He beheaded them and shot them with arrows. He tied them to stakes and set them afire. He lashed them and flayed them. He burned their bibles and slapped them when they dared to pray in the lunchroom. He made them stop wearing offensive t-shirts that said other members of the student body were going to hell.
Oh, wait. He didn't do any of those things, except the last…
grrlscientist | May 9, 2007tags: Julia Sweeney, humor, streaming video
Some religious humor that might appeal to you.
Julia Sweeney performs a hilarious and moving excerpt from her new one-woman play, "Letting Go of God." Sweeney is a comedian and playwright, well-known both for her stint on Saturday Night Live (She created the character "Pat.") and for writing and performing the hit Broadway show, "God Said Ha!" (produced also as a film). (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 17:17)
razib | May 8, 2007Most of you know that I am generally skeptical of first order functional explanations of religion (I am more open to second order explanations which posit religion as one of the manifold social glues which bind together communities and facilitate sociality). That being said, I did find this interesting, from PLOS Biology, Mental Training Affects Distribution of Limited Brain Resources:
...We found that three months of intensive meditation reduced brain-resource allocation to the first target, enabling practitioners to more often detect the second target with no compromise in their ability…
mikethemadbiologist | May 7, 2007When rightwing CNN host Glenn Beck went Full Metal Godwin on Al Gore, I figured this was just garden-variety rightwing agitprop. But this post at Slacktivist about the "Left Behind" apocalyptic book series, by way of ScienceBlogling Josh, convinces me that Beck is just a flat out nutjob. From an interview between Beck and 'apocalyptic' writer Joel Rosenberg:
It's clear throughout the interview that CNN host Glenn Beck is more than a casual observer of LaHaye's books. He's a true believer. Consider this odd rant about EZ-Pass -- it's not the work of a tourist or outsider, but of a PMD […
pharyngula | May 7, 2007She beat Brownback. She trounced Tancredo. She even clobbered Coburn. America's Holiest Congressperson is Minnesota's own Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN).
Bachmann, an Evangelical Lutheran, and self-professed "fool for Christ," ran for Congress because God—and her husband—wanted her to. The representative publicly credited her campaign to her submission to her husband, who was channeling God's wishes for her.
Prior to this higher calling, Bachmann earned a law degree from Coburn, an affiliate of Oral Roberts University, and helped found a charter school where she reportedly worked to prevent the…
grrlscientist | May 6, 2007tags: evolution, religion, streaming video
A brief history of creationism, a streaming video below the fold.
pharyngula | May 5, 2007Frank Tipler claims to have proven the existence of god with phyics. Will this be the sort of answer we'll see in Ray Comfort's promised 13 minute proof?
Notice that we don't actually get to see the infamous equation. We see Tipler scribble a few words like "quantum" (does the word "quantum" actually appear imbedded in the formulas describing quantum mechanics?) and a few bits and pieces of math, and then the camera lingers on him writing "= god exists", but there isn't any substance shown. He says stuff like, "If you are using quantum mechanics and general relativity, you are forced to…
oracknows | May 5, 2007If you ever wonder about the wisdom of the Founding Fathers in separating church and state in the Constitution and banning the imposition of a state religion, just look to this story from Malaysia for the sorts of things that can happen when a nation is governed according to religious law:
A Muslim woman forcibly separated from her Hindu husband by Malaysia's Islamic authorities after 21 years of happy marriage wept inconsolably yesterday after a judge endorsed her decision to hand custody of six of her seven children to her former spouse.
In an unprecedented move for Malaysia - where Islamic…
pharyngula | May 4, 2007If you've been looking forward to that debate between Ray Comfort/Kirk Cameron and the Rational Response Squad, it has been rescheduled. It will occur tomorrow, 5 May, in New York, but you won't be able to see it until 9 May.
It will be streamed from ABC.com on Wednesday, 9 May, at 1:00pm EST.
Comfort claims he can prove the existence of god in 13 minutes. We've been waiting millennia for this amazing proof. I look forward to racing towards my nearest church (which happens to be Catholic) at 1:13 EST 5 days from now. Or do you think I should arrange to watch it with a priest so he can bless…
oracknows | May 3, 2007It figures.
What does a guy like Jim McGreevey, former Governor of New Jersey who resigned in disgrace nearly three years ago when it was revealed that he had cheated on his wife with a man and that he had tried to appoint his boy-toy to a government position for which he was utterly unqualified (Homeland Security Advisor) and for which he couldn't get the necessary security clearance because he is not a U.S. citizen, do next? Well, if it's New Jersey, he could teach ethics. But if that's unsatisfying, there's always one other thing he could do.
He could enter the seminary and become an…
grrlscientist | May 3, 2007tags: day of reason, religion, secular humanist, politics
In response to the federally-supported National Day of Prayer, which is an abuse of the constitution, a group of nontheists and traditional religious allies who value the separation of church and state, have declared today the National Day of Reason. This day is being observed on the first Thursday of May, which is the National Day of Prayer.
What is the purpose of the National Day of Reason? It exists to encourage the secular and religious organizations to effect positive change in their communities. The goal of this effort is to…
pharyngula | May 2, 2007I was going through all those new blogs from my open enrollment day, and found this little clip on Salt on Everything. The ending made me giggle.
evolvingthoughts | May 1, 2007
OK, Americans, a couple of years after the British saw it, you are being treated to Jonathon Miller's A Brief History of Unbelief, a three-part series on how atheism came to be possible in western society, such that it is now one of the larger "religious" divisions in our culture. I'm not mocking, as Australia hasn't seen it yet. But I got sent a review copy, so here are my thoughts, below the fold. It starts on 54 May on PBS, I'm told, so check your local schedules, as they say.
I really really really wanted to like this series. Miller is one of my TV heroes, and was famously a member of…
jrosenhouse | May 1, 2007Reviews of Hitchens' book are already appearing. Here's one from Bruce DeSilva of the Associated Press. I found two items of interest.
The first is an amusing instance of an error in word choice. DeSilva writes:
Hitchens is the reincarnation of H.L. Mencken, the penultimate social critic of the first half of the 20th century, who used words like gunshots and considered most Americans “boobs.” Of course, reincarnation is another notion that could induce paroxysms in both of them.
I suspect both gentlemen would also be driven to distraction by a writer who says “penultimate,” (which means…
jrosenhouse | May 1, 2007Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris have had things to themselves for too long. Now it's time for Christopher Hitchens to join the party. His new book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is now available.
So, my summer reading list just got one title longer. In general I have mixed feelings about Hitchens. He's a terrific writer, and his essays are always enjoyable to read even when I disagree with him. I've consistently been impressed by his writing on religion, most notably his columns for Free Inquiry magazine.
The trouble is, he very rarely defends an…
pharyngula | May 1, 2007Minnesota had a coagulation of reactionary Republicans at our capitol last week. Their goals were clearly stated, and were thoroughly repugnant, but at least they also had a small turnout.
The Minnesota Family Council, EdWatch, Citizens' Council on Health Care, and Minnesota Majority (formerly Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage) came to the Capitol Thursday to advocate "less government, less taxes and less government spending" and to oppose legislation for domestic-partner benefits, medical marijuana, stem-cell research and comprehensive sex education.
I struggle to understand how…
pharyngula | April 30, 2007So…is Benny Hinn like a Kiai Master? This video is disturbingly nuts, with ol' Hinn waving his hands at the True Believers and knocking them over. We need to smuggle some godless people in to one of his shows to just stand there and give him a quizzical look.
Or even, perhaps, sue the silly little rodent. Here is a story about one of those gullible believers falling down, injuring herself, and suing the pastor. I have no sympathy. Engage in stupid behavior and reap the rewards, I say.
But the pastor of this congregation … oh, he is a piece of work.
"The Bible, uh, ethics and God's word says…