religion
razib | September 28, 2009Neuroanatomical Variability of Religiosity:
We hypothesized that religiosity, a set of traits variably expressed in the population, is modulated by neuroanatomical variability. We tested this idea by determining whether aspects of religiosity were predicted by variability in regional cortical volume. We performed structural magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in 40 healthy adult participants who reported different degrees and patterns of religiosity on a survey. We identified four Principal Components of religiosity by Factor Analysis of the survey items and associated them with regional…
razib | September 28, 2009I remember back in the early 1990s that there was some talk about the United States going from a plural majority Protestant nations, to a Roman Catholic one at some point in the early 21st century. This in itself wouldn't be that big of a deal today, Canada already has more Catholics than Protestants (44% of the adult population is Catholic), and it has retained the dominance of Anglo-Protestant culture (also, the influence of Roman Catholicism in Quebec collapsed during the 1960s). But here in the United States things haven't quite worked out. Latinos have become rapidly de-Catholicized, and…
pharyngula | September 28, 200930 September is going to be International Blasphemy Day, and I suspect Donohue will be turning purple while his head twirls around on his neck. It should be entertaining: he's already sending out press releases to complain.
BLASPHEMY DAY TARGETS CHRISTIANITY
The Center for Inquiry will launch the first International Blasphemy Day on September 30, the anniversary of the 2005 publication of the Danish cartoons that so inflamed Muslims worldwide. Billed as a free speech event designed to oppose such things as a Muslim-sponsored U.N. resolution banning criticism of religion, the day has drawn…
gregladen | September 28, 2009If you really want him to exist. If he wants you to want him to exist. Or to want you to think that he wants him .... Oh, never mind, just watch.
Hat Tip Colloquy
oracknows | September 28, 2009I promised last week in a post in which I described Bill Maher's latest pro-quackery remarks (this time, supporting cancer quackery), today is the day that I'm going to ask you, my readers, for some help. As I complained a while back, Bill Maher, who is anything but a rationalist or a booster of science (at least when it comes to medicine) is being awarded the Richard Dawkins Award by the Atheist Alliance International at its convention this weekend in Los Angeles.
As I said before, given that (1) the award lists "advocates increased scientific knowledge" as one of its criteria; (2) that…
jrosenhouse | September 27, 2009Here's Kevin Padian, paleontologist and President of the National Center for Science Education, commenting on the science/religion issue:
The two kinds people who believe that religion and evolution can not coexist are extreme atheists and extreme religious fundamentalists. Everyone else doesn't really have a problem. [A majority] of Americans believe that a belief in god is compatible with evolution.
This is from an article in People magazine commenting on the plan by Kirk Cameron and Ray Confort to distribute doctored versions of The Origin of Species on college campuses this November. (…
gregladen | September 27, 2009Guys. There may be times when you feel your wife or long-term girlfriend has been sleeping with another man. You may suspect she is even pregnant from this activity, and you are not the father. There is a way to fix this, using traditional medicines and some magic, so that your wife/girlfriend will have a spontaneous abortion if you are not the father of the child. You will need an ancient Canaanite or Hebrew priest to help mix up the concoction, and you have to go find The Lord himself (Plan ahead! He is not always available!) to help out as well, but overall, the procedure is not that…
grrlscientist | September 26, 2009tags: religion, Bible, humor, satire, Dara O'Briain, streaming video
Comedian Dara O'Briain provides a few comedic insights on on God and the Bible. Video clip taken from Live at the Theatre Royal 2006.
pharyngula | September 26, 2009It's a fine story, taken from the press conference I gave on Thursday, except for two things.
The comments are a mix of the sane and the deranged. Fargo has some interesting people living up there—a lot of smart, sensible, rational people, and some some very noisy lunatics. It's strange how the lunatics rarely show up for any of my talks, however, but they always have the most vivid opinions of them.
The other problem is the end. The writer just had to do the usual thing of looking for a dissenting voice and giving them the unquestioned last word.
The Rev. Jeff Sandgren, pastor at Olivet…
oracknows | September 26, 2009Sadly, this is not too far from how religious disputes seem to be settled. The only difference is that there's less violence here than there is in real life:
Hmmm. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if religious conflicts could be resolved by an Ultimate Praying Challenger, rather than the usual way. As the reporter said, "Who's closer to God now, bitch?"
Hat tip to Stupid Evil Bastard.
gregladen | September 25, 2009You've certainly heard of the ARIS 2008 survey from Trinity College. One of the more interesting aspects of the survey is the demonstration that there is a sex difference in patterns of religions identification. Below I give some links where this has been discussed, but I want to note that in many discussions one of the first things people say ... quite reasonably ... is that the differences seem small and potentially well within the normal sampling error of a survey.
The reason people think that is because they are accustom to survey data in relation to political polling where sample error…
jrosenhouse | September 23, 2009Andrew Sullivan takes another stab at the theodicy question. His new gambit plays off of this heartbreaking report of a young child with CIPA (Congential Insensitivity to Pain). As a result of not being able to feel pain, the child is constantly hurting herself without realizing it. Sullivan's take:
Maybe one can imagine a physical existence where pain does not exist. But not on this planet, where pain has helped organisms survive and prosper, and where suffering has often prodded humankind's spiritual dimension. This complex interaction between good and bad - captured graphically in the…
gregladen | September 22, 2009This poll has many tens of thousands of responses so far. PZ turned it from 60-30 yes/no to 30-60, but his minions, though vast, are not vast enough.
So, all 11 of you: Get over there and vote! Like the charge of the light brigade!!!
jrosenhouse | September 22, 2009There is bloggery afoot on ye olde problem of evil. Russell Blackford got the ball rolling with this post, an admirably succinct essay on why evil and suffering pose serious problems to tradtional notions of Christian theism. Andrew Sullivan demurred here, and then elaborated here. Jerry Coyne was unimpressed with both posts. Coyne weighed in further, as did Sullivan here.
Okay, I think that is all of them. Regular readers of this blog are aware that I regard the problem of evil and suffering as a slam dunk against traditional notions of Christian theism. Theologians have squirmed and…
gregladen | September 22, 2009You know, if the Rapture happens, God is going to take PZ first, so he can make PZ collect tickets at the Pearly Gates, then after everyone is in, including all of PZ's nemesi, St. Peter slams the door on him and makes him stand on a cloud forever.
So, I checked to see if PZ is still there, given that yesterday was the predicted start of the Rapture and all, and he's still there.
How could the bible be wrong?
gregladen | September 21, 2009Imagine finding the following quote on the wall of your teenage child's social studies classroom:
"No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God."
- George H.W. Bush
What would you do?
pharyngula | September 21, 2009Shorter Andrew Sullivan: I've been taught that evil is part of god's good plan, therefore evil doesn't perturb my faith.
It's all very circular and very silly. Jerry's right: theodicy is one of those confusing issues that simply disappears cleanly if you get rid of the god-junk that clutters up the discussion.
omnibrain | September 21, 2009
I was reading an article this morning that I found on fark (yeah yeah...) and for once I actually read the comments underneath the main article. I was pretty surprised on the consistency of the attribution errors that the religious folks were making and thought it would be something interesting to share here and get your thoughts.
For the setup here's the (really pretty amazing!) story:
On the hike, Cole started fooling around by walking in the water. It was not incredibly steep, but the water had lots of slippery algae and rocks.
To Johnson, it looked dangerous. She pleaded with her…