religion
mikethemadbiologist | February 26, 2007When I heard that Republican Senator and presidential candidate John McCain spoke at the Discovery Institute, I was disappointed but not surprised. In March, there's going to be a report released about antibiotic resistance in bacteria. A major finding of the report: roughly 40,000 people die every year from hospital-acquired antibiotic resistant bacterial infections.
The problem of antibiotic resistance is, fundamentally, a problem of evolutionary biology. Species of bacteria which had very few resistant strains (or none at all) now contain high frequencies of resistance strains (e.g…
pharyngula | February 26, 2007This message came by a roundabout route—a reader sent me a link to an Italian blog (translated) that was discussing a protest petition of a 'blasphemous' play that is being put on at…the University of Minnesota! The petition is titled "Blasphemy is not education":
I understand the University of Minnesota plans to stage an anti-Catholic play, "The Pope and the Witch" by Dario Fo, a communist playwright. … I believe this play is blasphemous and not a legitimate expression of academic freedom. I am deeply offended as a Catholic. Together with thousands of TFP Student Action members, I urge you…
mikethemadbiologist | February 26, 2007A recent Gallup Poll about support for the Iraqi Occupation notes something very interesting: Jews are more likely to oppose the war, even after party affiliation is taken into account. Gallup states, "It is unclear why Jewish Americans show such strong opposition to the war." My answer?
Because we're fucking smart.
Just kidding. Seriously, here are some reasons why I think Jews disproportionately oppose the war (full disclosure: I'm Jewish):
1) Back in 2001, when Bush referred to our anti-terrorism efforts as a crusade, many noted that Muslims would feel threatened by this language. But…
razib | February 26, 2007The comments for the post where I imply that Sam Harris is a religiously inclined individual addressed the topic of whether Buddhism is a religion or not. This is a common issue, and I tend to cause some irritation whenever I declare that Buddhism is a theistic religion, because that's not what you would read in books (or, Wikipedia). I'm generally a big fan of what books have to say, and defer to scholars in areas that I'm not familiar with, but, I've really come to the point where I simply don't think that Religious Studies really adds enough intellectual value for me. Christians believe…
pharyngula | February 24, 2007Look in your own backyard for the religious crazies. Here's a letter that was published in the St Cloud Times which I found simply unbelievable—it's a plea to people to obey the bloodthirsty skygod of the Bible, and it makes an awful argument.
... Down through the ages, God has continued to display his unmerited, undeserved favor toward mankind, and also his continued warnings. He has recorded in his word not only the good things, but the failures and weaknesses of men and women. ... He has faithfully shown us there is nothing new under the sun. One nation rises up and is used to bring…
pharyngula | February 24, 2007Researchers compared levels of aggression (measured in a test where participants get to blast each other with loud noises) between students at Brigham Young University (99% True Believers) and Vrije University in Amsterdam (50% God-Wallopers). They also compared aggression after reading a quotation that enjoined them to "take arms against their brothers and chasten them before the LORD". The results: getting God's permission increases levels of aggression.
The research sheds light on the possible origins of violent religious fundamentalism and falls in line with theories proposed by scholars…
pharyngula | February 23, 2007Sometimes it's the little things that are the most revealing, that expose the bankruptcy of an idea. For instance, this story from a Florida school where the principal and teachers cast a magic spell.
It had been a hard Friday at Brooksville Elementary School, with lots of misbehavior that didn't bode well for the start of state testing the following week.
So the principal and a few staff members appealed to a higher power.
They prayed and blessed their students' desks with prayer oil.
While the Christian prayers and anointing took place after school hours on Friday, Feb. 2, the oil was…
omnibrain | February 22, 2007
"and protect us from Atkins and his disciples. Ramen."
From the user Salad Is Slaughter.
He has won a copy of the Book God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist.
Thanks for all the great entries! And Thanks to the marketing team at Prometheus Books for picking the winner!
Go out and buy the book today!
pharyngula | February 22, 2007Am I supposed to believe religion is a force for morality, when I see so many examples of it more being a force for mindless obedience to arbitrary rules? This story out of Pakistan is disturbing in many ways.
Zilla Huma Usman, the minister for social welfare in Punjab province and an ally of President Pervez Musharraf, was killed as she was about to deliver a speech to dozens of party activists, by a "fanatic", who believed that she was dressed inappropriately and that women should not be involved in politics, officials said today.
Ms Usman, 35, was wearing the shalwar kameez worn by many…
pharyngula | February 22, 2007This letter to the New Zealand Herald was written to protest a claim that NZ was a "Christian nation". It's got a nice twist to it.
If my resistance to deem New Zealand to be a Christian nation makes me a traitor, as Brian Tamaki suggests, take me to the Tower, or the New Zealand equivalent, for it would be greatly preferable to living in such a country.
You might think, then, that I am one of the 48.8 per cent of non-Christian New Zealanders.
I am not. I am an Anglican priest serving an Auckland church. And no, I'm not Bishop Richard Randerson under a nom de plume.
As an immigrant from…
razib | February 21, 2007Sam Harris says:
I do not deny that there is something at the core of the religious experience that is worth understanding. I do not even deny that there is something there worthy of our devotion. But devotion to it does not entail false claims to knowledge, nor does it require that we indulge our cultural/familial/emotional biases in an unscientific way. The glass can get very clean-not sterile perhaps, not entirely without structure, not contingency-free, but cleaner than many people are ready to allow. One need not believe anything on insufficient evidence to experience the "ecstasies of…
pharyngula | February 20, 2007It's not looking good for the authors of a study that evaluated the efficacy of prayer. The authors were Rogerio A. Lobo, Daniel P. Wirth, and Kwang Y. Cha, and now look at what has happened to them (link may not work if you don't have a subscription to the CHE).
Doctors were flummoxed in 2001, when Columbia University researchers published a study in The Journal of Reproductive Medicine that found that strangers' prayers could double the chances that a woman would get pregnant using in-vitro fertilization. In the years that followed, however, the lead author removed his name from the paper…
pharyngula | February 20, 2007Ugh. Jim Wallis. That left-wing theo-nut.
Progressive politics is remembering its own religious history and recovering the language of faith. Democrats are learning to connect issues with values and are now engaging with the faith community. They are running more candidates who have been emboldened to come out of the closet as believers themselves.
What planet is he from? Have American politicians of any party been afraid to label themselves as religious at any time in the past century? We see the opposite problem: they all declare themselves best buddies with a god.
He also goes on to do…
pharyngula | February 20, 2007He really is stupid wanker—it's no wonder his followers have problems.
(via Atheist in a mini van)
pharyngula | February 19, 2007This looks like it could be a spectacularly vigorous discussion: Do Organized Religions Suppress Women's Rights? A Panel Presentation on Women, Faith and Society. It'll be held at the MCB on the UMTC campus next week — I'm tempted to go, even though I know the answer (yes) and the subject doesn't go far enough (religions suppress everyone's rights).
oracknows | February 19, 2007Apparently some librarians and parents are upset that a children's book (which happens to have won the Newberry Medal, the most prestigious award in children's literature) has, within its pages, the use of the word "scrotum." The book, The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patronhas, been banned in some school libraries, mostly in the South.
Money quote:
"I think it's a good case of an author not realizing her audience," said Frederick Muller, a librarian at Halsted Middle School in Newton, N.J. "If I were a third- or fourth-grade teacher, I wouldn't want to have to explain that."
Really, are…
oracknows | February 18, 2007It's truly depressing to see children indoctrinated in anti-science like this:
The part where a preacher has the kids singing along about how the Bible supposedly describes dinosaurs in the Book of Job has to be seen to be believed, and seeing little kids parroting antievolution anti-science is truly depressing. But worst of all is the kid who says he wants to be a biochemist and go to work for the Institute of Creation Research when he grows up.
(Via Bad Science.)
pharyngula | February 17, 2007A reader sent me a wonderful diagram from Wellington Grey, contrasting faith and science—I see that somebody sent it to Omnibrain, too.
Here's how science works—it's got that all-important feedback loop from real-world evidence to our interpretations, so it's grounded in something other than our fantasies, but it's also complicated and messy and constantly changing.
Here's faith. Wow. It's so simple. It's so clean. No wonder some people find it so appealing.
I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of people who'd look at these two cartoons and even while understanding both, would decide…