religion
grrlscientist | April 5, 2009tags: prayer, religion, humor, satire, streaming video
This streaming video shows Edward Current's new contraption, where he exploits science to build a prayer amplifier, the PrayerMax5000. Edward says, "I have faith that with my new invention, praying to God will be effective and reliable, finally." [3:55]
pharyngula | April 4, 2009The Vatican is champing at the bit to turn Pope John Paul II into a saint, and central to their case is the story of Jory Aebly. Aebly was a young man who was mugged, shot in the head, and expected to die…but he recovered, fortunately. What's the connection to a dead pope? Well, there isn't much of one. In the hospital, he was given a rosary that had supposedly been blessed by the pope, and his religious family now credits John Paul II for his recovery. Never mind that the pope had been dead for four years.
What also isn't mentioned is that Aebly's friend, Jeremy Pechanec, who was also mugged…
grrlscientist | April 4, 2009tags: prayer, religion, humor, satire, streaming video
This streaming video shows a little chat with Edward Current, who pleads, "My Grampa seriously needs to stay alive. Fortunately when there's something we have no control over, there are still things we can do!" I'll bet you can't guess what that might be [4:09]
evolvingthoughts | April 3, 2009Oklahoma lawmakers are singling out the visit by Richard Dawkins to talk about evolution on campus at OU, but they're not censoring it, right? Just making academics fear for their funding, and perhaps jobs, but seeking all documentation about the visit. Just this visit, mind. Piers Hale, a historian of science at OU, is interviewed in the TV story (which means he gets about sixteen words to express a complex subject.
pharyngula | April 2, 2009A recent court decision went against the Bush administration, and also reveals some of the contemptible influence peddling that went on in that gathering of scoundrels. The subject was birth control, in particular Plan B and other forms of emergency contraception, and as many of you know, the Bushite regime dragged its feet with ridiculous deliberation in allowing the FDA to approve these forms of contraception, and effectively blocked them from public access. By hook and crook, by cheating and deception, and by lying to the people, as this court decision affirms. This is why we fight the…
pharyngula | April 1, 2009I just have to say that if you're worshipping a scrap of skin from an 800-year-old corpse, there is something wrong with you. Something sick, perverse, and warped.
pharyngula | April 1, 2009The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a stern warning (definitely including fingerwagging, with possibility of ruler rapping) against the heathen practice of Reiki.
To use Reiki is to operate "in the realm of superstition, the no-man's-land that is neither faith nor science," the bishops warned, urging Catholic healthcare institutions, retreats and chaplains to ditch the therapy, which originated in Japan in the 1800s.
No, stop! I'm twitching so badly, I think I've damaged something.
Maybe I need some healing at Lourdes…
pharyngula | March 31, 2009One of the Vatican's "solutions" for their perennial sex scandals is to start testing and screening candidates for the priesthood. Australia is even considering doing it: unfortunately, the targets are all wrong.
Melbourne's Catholic Church has embraced a Vatican suggestion to test potential priests for sexual orientation. Those who "appear" gay will be banned.
The head of the Vatican committee that made the recommendations has made it clear celibate gays should also be banned because homosexuality is ''a type of deviation''.
I really want to know details about how these tests are going to…
grrlscientist | March 31, 2009tags: religion, atheism, humor, occam's razor, streaming video
This streaming video is a brilliant example of the topic that it addresses, discussing religion, the incorrectness of Occam's Razor and the secret ninjas who destroyed the World Trade Towers using a controlled demolition on 11 September 2001. The argument? The most complicated, difficult explanation is usually the right one. Because God is infinite (and infinitely complicated) [4:16]
sciencepunk | March 31, 2009
What is a charity? Ostensibly, it's an organisation dedicated to the public benefit, one that does not seek to make profits, and that does not have political goals. So how the heck does something like the Catholic Church qualify as a charity?
In England and Wales, all charitable organisations with an income of more than £5,000 must be registered with the Charities Commission, which acts as a supervisory power. The core rule is that all charities must exist "for the public benefit". There exists a list of 13 purposes that a charity can subscribe to, including advancements of animal…
grrlscientist | March 30, 2009tags: books, memoir, religion, godlessness, losing faith, William Lobdell
Unlike most people who were raised in a religious household and grew up surrounded by religious people, I never experienced a "crisis of faith" since I never believed there was a god any more than I believed there was a Santa Claus or a Tooth Fairy. However, some of my friends are religious and because I value them as people, I have listened to them from time to time as they pondered aloud the deep questions that all of us face in the wee hours or after experiencing a significant loss or other life-changing event -- the…
oracknows | March 30, 2009Indiana Jones had a saying: "Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?" This line was most famously delivered in Raiders of the Lost Ark after he and his friend Sallah had opened the Well of Souls and were staring down into it. Sallah noticed that the ground appeared to be moving within; so Indy shined a light down the entrance, only to see thousands of snakes waiting for him at the bottom.
Sallah then drily observed, "Asps. Very dangerous. You go first."
As we knew from earlier in the movie, Indiana Jones hated snakes and was afraid of them; so it was only natural that later in the movie he would…
pharyngula | March 29, 2009A horrible little cult in Baltimore committed an ugly crime.
…they denied a 16-month-old boy food and water because he did not say "Amen" at mealtimes. After he died, they prayed over his body for days, expecting a resurrection, then packed it into a suitcase with mothballs. They left it in a shed in Philadelphia, where it remained for a year before detectives found it last spring.
The child's mother, Ria Ramkissoon, and others are on trial for murder, reasonably enough. Here's the kicker, though:
Psychiatrists who evaluated Ramkissoon at the request of a judge concluded that she was not…
pharyngula | March 29, 2009Oh, no. Richard Lynn, the fellow infamous for trying to link intelligence and race, is in the news again, this time trying to claim a causal relationship between atheism and intelligence.
"Why should fewer academics believe in God than the general population? I believe it is simply a matter of the IQ," Lynn told the Times Higher Education magazine. "Academics have higher IQs than the general population. Several Gallup poll studies of the general population have shown that those with higher IQs tend not to believe in God."
I am always so tempted to simply accept this kind of claim — it's…
evolvingthoughts | March 29, 2009Whenever you see this:
Remember this:
From AppleInsider - who also note that Linux is cheaper than both, and runs on old hardware (but you need to find your Inner Geek, which costs in time spent).
grrlscientist | March 29, 2009tags: religion, atheism, humor, streaming video
Eternal purity requires eternal vigilance against the devil's hand. Here are some practical tips to keep you from "playing with your Genesis" [5:02]
pharyngula | March 28, 2009This is not one of those fake church signs: it's the real thing, taken in Arkansas.
This looks like an irreconcilable difference to me.
pharyngula | March 28, 2009The pope's ridicuolus and wrong stance on condoms has led to world-wide outrage, and the Vatican is going to be sent millions of condoms in response. I have an even better idea: if you're Catholic, leave the church. Why you are following an ignorant, superstitious kook as a moral authority is mystifying to me.
In another weird story of the Catholic persecution complex, look what a Brazilian archbishop has to say:
"The Jews talk about six million people killed. But how many Catholics were victims of the Holocaust? They were 22 million in all," Archbishop Dadeus Grings, from Porto Alegre in…
evolvingthoughts | March 27, 2009Pope rewrites medical science to suit Catholic dogma. Film at 11.
Australian government censorship website hacked. I'm not laughing, really.