religion
pharyngula | August 2, 2009I have to wait for these Chaser videos to migrate to YouTube — people keep sending me links to the Australian broadcasters site, but they don't let us Americans see them. Here, though, is one in which they journeyed to Texas to see if we Americans take the bible as literally as some claim. We failed, fortunately.
pharyngula | August 2, 2009Last year, Kara Neumann died of juvenile diabetes. Her death was slow and painful, and entirely unnecessary — her parents believed in the power of prayer and allowed her obvious symptoms to go untreated except for entreaties to an invisible and inert god. They weren't opposed to technology in general, since they did sent out an email to an online ministry requesting 'emergency prayer', but they did neglect the only technology that mattered, a simple injection of insulin.
There was some concern at that time that there was actually a loophole in Wisconsin law that seems to say that Christianity…
grrlscientist | August 2, 2009tags: religion, humor, funny, bible, Lewis Black, streaming video
Lewis Black takes a look at religions and explains them to the public .. he uses some rather colorful language, too [5:56]
grrlscientist | August 2, 2009tags: religion, humor, funny, bible, The Chasers, streaming video
According to the polls, 63% of Americans believe the bible is literally true. But apparently, they are either lying or too stupid to know what is actually in the bible, as you will see in this video [5:56]
gregladen | August 1, 2009A central Wisconsin man accused of killing his 11-year-old daughter by praying instead of seeking medical care was found guilty Saturday of second-degree reckless homicide.
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pharyngula | August 1, 2009I think I'm going to have to order this book, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Jeff Sharlet, on the basis of this interview. I know, it's Bill Maher, who drives us frothing mad with his inconsistencies, but ignore Maher and just pay attention to the story Sharlet is telling.
pharyngula | July 31, 2009We are often told that religion is a different way of knowing, that it can provide us with a different perspective and different information. I have not believed this at all, because no one has ever been able to give me an example of actual, useful information obtained from a religion, that could not have been generated by a reality-based approach.
Until now.
This is a question that I had never even considered before; it was unexpected and surprising. I think I've finally experienced an insightful religious question.
Are you allowed to eat a mermaid?
Apparently, the Koran or some of its…
terrasig | July 31, 2009I absolutely guarantee that the President wanted a fine, handcrafted American ale. But I am certain that the conservative press would've jumped this as an "elitist" choice as they did his campaign comments on arugula.
Instead, he chose Bud Light.
The President had a choice to promote the craft-brewing industry in the US - the most noble and patriotic of pursuits shared by our Founding Fathers.
Instead, craft brewers across the country - nay, perhaps the world - let forth a collective "D'oh" upon the announcement of the President's watered-down choice.
There has been much ado about President…
gregladen | July 29, 2009In which I explain how Abrahamic religious tradition, ingrained in Western society since before its very history began, explains some of the special ways in which we can be so dumb.
Leviticus, the ancient Biblical law, does not give us a lot of room for negotiation, and I think this may help explain the illogical way in which most Westerners approach the realities of society and culture. Leviticus asserts that human behavior intersects with the law of god in a black and white fashion. We tend to see our fellow human beings as wonderful or terrible.
A recent news story serves as an…
pharyngula | July 29, 2009Sam Harris wrote an op-ed criticizing Francis Collins' nomination to head the NIH titled "Science is in the details". Now Ken Miller has written a short letter in reply, and I think he would have done well to have heeded that title.
Dr. Collins's sin, despite credentials Mr. Harris calls "impeccable," is that he is a Christian. Mr. Harris is not alone in holding this view. A leading science blogger, also attacking Dr. Collins, demonstrated his own commitment to reasoned dialogue by calling the scientist a "clown" and a "flaming idjit." When reason has such defenders, Heaven help us.
No, that…
pharyngula | July 29, 2009Heresy is so easy to do, you don't even have to try. My wife is off helping kids at Camp Quest, which is, apparently, a horrible, awful, evil act. Just ask the Jebus-lovers of Rapture Ready, who were recently all agog at the opening of a godless summer camp in England. Here are a few of their reactions, stripped of the animated smiley faces and garish signatures they like over there.
Poor kids! What will they sing about?
Give peace a chance?!?
They could sing about sex and drugs and rock and roll, I suppose…but songs about peace sound like they'd be very nice. Why would a Christian find…
oracknows | July 28, 2009In discussions of that bastion of what Harriet Hall (a.k.a. The SkepDoc) likes to call "tooth fairy science," where sometimes rigorous science, sometimes not, is applied to the study of hypotheses that are utterly implausible and incredible from a basic science standpoint (such as homeopathy or reiki), the National Center of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), I've often taken Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) to task. That's because Senator Harkin is undeniably the father of that misbegotten beast that has sucked down over $2.5 billion of taxpayer money with nothing to show for it. It's…
pharyngula | July 27, 2009Sam Harris has published a piece in the New York Times decrying the appointment of Francis Collins to head the NIH. It's strong stuff; he points out that Collins isn't just a Christian, he's an active science-denier who has set aside whole blocks of scientific inquiry as inaccessible to study because they are a product of a divine being. As he asks at the end, "Must we really entrust the future of biomedical research in the United States to a man who sincerely believes that a scientific understanding of human nature is impossible?"
The strongest part of the essay, in my opinion, was that…
pharyngula | July 26, 2009Some leaked documents from the Church of Scientology reveal their priorities — these are papers they require new staffers to sign, and there is no way anyone in their right mind would sign them. The gist is that they want your promise that you are financially solvent, so that nothing can cause you to pull back from your "commitment to the church", and then there are a whole lot of threatening agreements: you'll have to pay a 'penance' to the church if you leave, you can never, ever sue or hold the church liable for anything, and the church is not under any circumstances obligated to fulfill…
grrlscientist | July 26, 2009tags: religion, erections, sex, sin, humor, satire, Edward Current, streaming video
In this video, Edward Current shares his thoughts on what the scripture says about erections. In short, it's wicked when this happens to an unmarried teen's body. Here are some deaf tips for my peeps! [4:20]
jrosenhouse | July 24, 2009On the subject of science and religion, Karl Giberson and Francis Collins are not among my favorite commentators. That notwithstanding, this interview actually manages to be pretty interesting. Giberson's questions are in bold face, Collins' answers are in regular type.
You seem like a mirror image of the fundamentalists who struggle with this, as I certainly did in college. Fundamentalists like me grow up with a lot of confidence in biblical literalism and then they encounter evolution, so they are bringing their prior biblical commitments to this new problem. You were interpreting the…
jrosenhouse | July 23, 2009Th Richard Dawkins award is given by the Atheist Alliance International based on the following criteria:
The Richard Dawkins Award will be given every year to honor an outstanding atheist whose contributions raise public awareness of the nontheist life stance; who through writings, media, the arts, film, and/or the stage advocates increased scientific knowledge; who through work or by example teaches acceptance of the nontheist philosophy; and whose public posture mirrors the uncompromising nontheist life stance of Dr. Richard Dawkins.
This year the award is going to Bill Maher. Seems like…
jrosenhouse | July 23, 2009In the course of expressing his dismay with the Episcopalian Church (for ordinating gay bishops) and with Jimmy Carter (for holding liberal political views), conservative pundit Cal Thomas provides an apt summary of the Bible:
Inclusivity has nothing to do with the foundational truths set forth in Scripture. The church, which belongs to no denomination, but to its Founding Father and His Son, is about exclusivity for those who deny the faith. The church is inclusive only for those who are adopted by faith into God's family. There are more biblical references to this than there is room to…
pharyngula | July 23, 2009A gallery in Glasgow has put out a Bible and suggested people write in it.
The Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow has invited art lovers to write their thoughts down in an open Bible on display as part of its Made in God's Image exhibition.
Next to the Bible lie several pens with a note saying: "If you feel you have been excluded from the Bible, please write your way back into it".
It's an interesting idea. I've signed a few bibles at people's request myself — I usually mark up the first page with the question, "Where are the squid?" — so I like the sentiment that people ought to be free to…
jrosenhouse | July 23, 2009From an interview with Brad Pitt posted at a German website:
BILD: Do you believe in God?
Brad Pitt (smiling): "No, no, no!"
BILD: Is your soul spiritual?
Brad Pitt: "No, no, no! I'm probably 20 per cent atheist and 80 per cent agnostic. I don't think anyone really knows. You'll either find out or not when you get there, until then there's no point thinking about it.