religion
omnibrain | December 18, 2006Got an hour or two? Check out the 2 part documentary, The God Delusion with Richard Dawkins
Part 2 is below the fold, as are the results of the Omni Brain user survey on religion (well it's really a single question).
Would you call yourself religious?
yes 13.6%
no 86.4%
pharyngula | December 18, 2006There's just no way around it any more. IF:
If you're from Colorado, and
if you're a fundamentalist Christian,
then you must be gay.
There's nothing at all wrong with that, of course, and you should just stop living a lie and come out with it.
We should have known, I think. The bright lights, the adoring audiences, the singing, the showmanship…being a pastor at one of these fundie megachurches is just like having a hit show on Broadway.
jrosenhouse | December 18, 2006The New York Times has has this remarkable article about the high school teacher in New Jersey who was using his class as a mission field:
Before David Paszkiewicz got to teach his accelerated 11th-grade history class about the United States Constitution this fall, he was accused of violating it.
Shortly after school began in September, the teacher told his sixth-period students at Kearny High School that evolution and the Big Bang were not scientific, that dinosaurs were aboard Noah's ark, and that only Christians had a place in heaven, according to audio recordings made by a student whose…
mikethemadbiologist | December 18, 2006You might have heard about the $500 million that El Jefe Maximo is trying to raise for his presidential library. Apparently, no price is too great for the rehabilitation of his 'legacy.' It was supposed to be housed at Southern Methodist University. One problem, though: the Methodists--Bush's own church--don't want to house the library.
pharyngula | December 18, 2006Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, the authors of the Left Behind series, have made disparaging comments about violent video games. Now that they've got a violent video game based on their novels, though, they're saying "It's not more violent than the Old Testament." Set the bar low, will ya?
(A "Christian hypocrisy alert" isn't exactly breaking news, is it?)
oracknows | December 18, 2006You may recall how I've criticized the infiltration of woo into medical school and medical education in general. Such an infiltration threatens the scientific basis behind the hard-won success of so much of modern medicine over the last century. Unfortunately, woo isn't the only threat to scientific medicine. Now, there is a growing movement that insists that doctors should ask you about your spiritual life and make religious practices a part of medicine, as Dr. Richard P. Sloan described in an editorial in the L.A. Times that I can't believe I missed:
HOW WOULD you like your doctor, at your…
pharyngula | December 18, 2006David Paszkiewicz, the history teacher recorded while proselytizing to his students, has made the NY Times. Here's the familiar part:
Shortly after school began in September, the teacher told his sixth-period students at Kearny High School that evolution and the Big Bang were not scientific, that dinosaurs were aboard Noah's ark, and that only Christians had a place in heaven, according to audio recordings made by a student whose family is now considering a lawsuit claiming Mr. Paszkiewicz broke the church-state boundary.
"If you reject his gift of salvation, then you know where you belong,"…
oracknows | December 16, 2006We often hear atheists like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and P. Z. Myers castigating the excesses and irrationality of religion. (Heck, I'm often game for joining in when it comes to fundamentalist religion.) While discussing the recent Holocaust denial conference in Iran, Massimo Pigliucci makes a good point when he argues that focusing on just religion is missing the broader context:
The answer, I think, is similar to that of the other unnerving question raised by this week's events: how can some people deny one of the best documented (and recent) historical events of all times? I mean,…
jrosenhouse | December 15, 2006Writing for The Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby offers a typically muddled argument against atheism. The column's title: “Atheism's Bleak Alternative”. Most of the column describes various atrocities perpetrated by secularists against religious people, particularly in England. But it's the last three paragraphs that really merit a response:
What is at stake in all this isn't just angels on Christmas cards. What society loses when it discards Judeo-Christian faith and belief in God is something far more difficult to replace: the value system most likely to promote ethical behavior and sustain a…
mikethemadbiologist | December 14, 2006One is from Nicholas Kristof and one is from batshit lunatic Ron Moore (the former judge who placed a Ten Commandments megalith in the Alabama Supreme Court). First, Kristof:
Now that the Christian Right has largely retreated from the culture wars, let's hope that the Atheist Left doesn't revive them. We've suffered enough from religious intolerance that the last thing the world needs is irreligious intolerance.
Now Christopath Roy Moore:
Enough evidence exists for Congress to question [Muslim Keith] Ellison's qualifications to be a member of Congress as well as his commitment to the…
oracknows | December 14, 2006Given the interest in questions of religion, faith, and atheism among so many of my fellow ScienceBloggers, I'm a bit surprised that none of them picked up on this interesting tidbit of a story:
Pythons were probably the first idols to be worshipped by man, archaeologists said after unearthing evidence of a ritual dating back 70,000 years.
A rock shaped like an enormous python's head, discovered in a cave in the Tsodilo hills of Botswana, puts back the date of the first known human ritual by 30,000 years, they say.
Behind the rock, which was covered in man-made indentations, was a chamber…
razib | December 13, 2006Juan Cole has a Ph.D., while I have overdue library book fines (never over $10 at one time though!). He has a map, and so do I. Look below the fold (some explanations as well).
What do the labels mean? Here are some rough, rough, generalizations. Muslim readers are encouraged to offer their opinion so long as they don't call takfir.
Sunni - catchall for groups within the Muslim mainstream who aren't Shia and adhere to four primary schools of shariat (Islamic Law)
Salafi - originally Sunni reformists who attempted to go back to first principles. Some were originally quite modernist, but…
pharyngula | December 13, 2006Here's another article on that freaky Left Behind video game. The rationalizations for the ability to kill people violently in the game are fascinating.
Left Behind Games' president, Jeffrey Frichner, says the game actually is
pacifist because players lose "spirit points" every time they gun down
nonbelievers rather than convert them. They can earn spirit points again by
having their character pray.
Isn't the most wonderful version of pacifism ever? Go out, butcher a few people, engage in a warlike campaign…and as long as you beg an invisible man's forgiveness afterwards, you can still call…
mikethemadbiologist | December 12, 2006
Congressman Walter Jones, at a press conference calling for displays of nativity scenes on public property (because that is the most important issue facing the Republic):
There is no future for America unless the Judeo-Christian foundation of America is protected.
Nativity scenes aren't exactly, well, Judeo. I should know: I'm a Judeoist.
clock | December 12, 2006Of Religion and Morality (December 02, 2005)
------------------------------------------
From I Am An Atheist, via Pratie Place, come these "commandments":
As an atheist you have a number of rights and responsibilities. These include (but are not limited to):
1. Have no gods.
2. Don't worship stuff.
3. Be polite.
4. Take a day off once in a while.
5. Be nice to folks.
6. Don't kill people.
7. Don't fool around on your significant other.
8. Don't steal stuff.
9. Don't lie about stuff.
10. Don't be greedy.
Remember, theists will condemn you for living by this code because you are doing…
pharyngula | December 10, 2006Our country, with the approval and encouragement of George W. Bush, has been carrying out a program of religious indoctrination and the unconstitutional endorsement of evangelical Christianity. Federal money has been funneled into "faith-based" programs that make religious dogmatists prosper, and have no other actual, real-world value. The clearest examples are the prisons, where con artists like Chuck Colson have been engaged in a kind of ministry that is actually religious extortion and bribery.
The cells in Unit E had real wooden doors and doorknobs, with locks. More books and computers…
clock | December 7, 2006Or the Carnival of the Godless? You can mine this site for ideas. Ooooh, scientific materialism! Scary! Papa Jeebus, protect me, please, because I am a coward!
mikethemadbiologist | December 4, 2006I visited the Smithsonian this Thanksgiving, and in the Sackler Museum is an exhibit of very old bibles (both Christian and Jewish).
Actually, there are very few complete bibles more than 1,200 years old on display; most 'bibles' older than that are fragments, often a chapter or less. I started reading some of the older Hebrew Bible fragments--one was about 1,800 years old. By that time, Hebrew was essentially written in the same script it is today. It turned out to be the part where Abraham banishes Hagar and Ishmael.
What was odd, is that, while reading it, one of the docents…
grrlscientist | December 4, 2006Speaking of genitalia .. muslim women are now allowed to keep theirs intact. Finally, ten of the highest ranked muslim scholars from all over the world met under the patronage of the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Prof. Dr. Ali Goma'a at the Azhar University on 22-23 November. After listening to several international physicians, they pronounced the sensational decision to classify the custom of female genital mutilation (FGM) as punishable aggression and crime against humanity. As a result, female genital mutilation can no longer be practiced by Muslims. Now awareness of this decision has to be spread…
mikethemadbiologist | December 4, 2006Massachusetts' Gov. Mitt Romney's ongoing effort to turn Massachusetts into Mississippi has entered a new phase: embryonic stem cell research. In Romney's last-ditch desperate attempt to buff up his Republican credentials, he has appointed a budget planner to be executive director of a board overseeing state funding for stem cell research. From the AP:
Aaron D'Elia, a 35-year-old assistant secretary in the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, was approved Thursday by the board by a 4-1 margin to head the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. The post pays $125,000 annually.…