religion
pharyngula | February 9, 2009Would you believe that indulgences are back? Do a little dance, say a little mumbo-jumbo, and the Catholic church will declare that you will get time off from your sentence in purgatory after death.
How do they know?
And what if they're wrong?
I'd be very annoyed if I juggled beads for hours and hours and then found out that the High Supreme Cosmic Jailer only gave time off for life minutes spent smelling flowers or something.
Oh, well, at least they aren't selling get-out-of-purgatory-free cards just yet. When that happens, we'll have to go through another 30 Years War, and once was enough.
gregladen | February 9, 2009For the past few days I have been in contact with Mr. Richard Mullens a school teacher in Brookeland Tx. Brookeland Tx, is an incredibly "Conservative" area of Texas, and only 16 miles up the road from Jasper Tx. the scene of several incidents of racial violence and murder. Mullens has been the victim of a smear campaign and a slew of unethical practices, based solely on his religious and political beliefs. I have received numerous calls today from area parents, and concerned local residents who feel that Mr. Mullens is a good teacher, who has encouraged and inspired his students to think…
laelaps | February 9, 2009
William Buckland, from Reminiscences of Oxford.
In the year 1166 a woman quietly passed away in a cave on Mount Pelligrino, Sicily. It was the end she chose for herself. At the age of twelve she had left home to become a hermit and devote her life to worshiping God, and her remains were left to rot in the isolated cave that was her home. Her name was Rosalia.
Then, in 1624, a deadly epidemic spread through Palermo. It was at this time that a sick woman claimed to have seen a vision of Rosalia, and for the plague to be ended, the apparition instructed, Rosalia's bones would have to be…
tqa | February 8, 2009The walking collection of pathetically cruel hominids known as Westboro Baptist staged a protest at a high school recently. This particular high school attracted their attention because last year it elected a gay male student as "prom king/queen". The students responded with a counter-protest:
The student body protest, as organized by Jake Davidson, a pupil and
representative, was a peaceful affair with the Phelps clan confined
mainly to the north side of the street and the student body
counter-protest to the south with a slew of over a dozen police
officers between them.
Shawnee students…
jrosenhouse | February 5, 2009Sorry for the lack of blogging. Such are the vicissitudes of academic life. Piles of free time one week, crazy busy the next.
The fallout over Jerry Coyne's recent article in TNR continues. Sam Harris and Steven Pinker have now contributed responses. Both are excellent. Click here and scroll to the bottom. Harris goes for the sarcastic approach:
It is a pity that people like Jerry Coyne and Daniel Dennett can't see how easily religion and science can be reconciled. Having once viewed the world as they do, I understand how their fundamentalist rationality has blinded them to deeper…
oracknows | February 5, 2009I guess even the Vatican responds to public pressure, if it's intense enough.
Last week, I noted an extremely disturbing story, a story that outraged me, a story that I would have found even more disturbing were I still a practicing Catholic but that I found disturbing enough even though I no longer am one. I'm referring to the difficult to explain decision on the part of Pope Benedict XVI to rehabilitate four heretical bishops who had been ordained without the Vatican's permission and who all belonged to a conservative Catholic organization known as the the Society of Saint Pius X. This…
gregladen | February 4, 2009This is why all religion should simply not be allowed. Even if the basic tenets of a religion are not too objectionable, its pieces ... which consist of brainwashed people and the powerful ideas making up the framework of a culture ... can be knitted together like household items into a pipe bomb or personal greed and gullibility into a felonious scam.
Samira Jassam of Iraq arranged for the rape of about 80 different women. She then convinced these women that, since they were raped, the best life they could hope for would involve strapping a bomb onto themselves, making themselves into…
gregladen | February 4, 2009And by "academy" I mean THE academy.
Comedian, economist, speechwriter and game show host Ben Stein withdrew as speaker at the University of Vermont's spring commencement ceremonies Monday after concerns arose about his opinions on evolutionary theory, intelligent design and the role of science in the Holocaust.
UVM President Dan Fogel said people on and off campus were unhappy with the university giving Stein an honorary degree and when Fogel expressed those concerns to Stein, he immediately declined the invitation to speak.
source
The most important part of this story is the following:…
evolvingthoughts | February 4, 2009So there's a rather livid article in the Independent by Johann Hari, titled "Why should I respect these oppressive religions?"
Starting in 1999, a coalition of Islamist tyrants, led by Saudi Arabia, demanded the rules be rewritten. The demand for everyone to be able to think and speak freely failed to "respect" the "unique sensitivities" of the religious, they decided – so they issued an alternative Islamic Declaration of Human Rights. It insisted that you can only speak within "the limits set by the shariah [law]. It is not permitted to spread falsehood or disseminate that which involves…
gregladen | February 4, 2009A Texas Law makes it easy for religious teachers and school administers to force kids to pray in public schools. Although this is said to be a "moment of silence" it is known that some school employees are explicit about this event being for prayer. One child was told to be quite and pray a couple years back, and this case was taken into the courts, where last year a federal district judge upheld the law.
That ruling is now being appealed, and yesterday a panel of judges from the fifth Circuit (New Orleans) heard arguments regarding the case. There has as yet not been a ruling.
Details…
gregladen | February 4, 2009With an absurd opinion piece by Henry Morris III.
You can't comment on the piece, so I'll just tel lyou that it is in the current web edition of the paper and you can go dig it up if you want. (Blog policy: No logic, no links. Unless I feel like it.)
Henry Morris is the guy from the Institute for Creation Research (ICR). The publication of this opinion piece by USNWR is roughly like, say, the New York Times Science Section publishing a piece on Large Mammal Conservation by those guys who sold the frozen bigfoot last year. Utterly stupid and irresponsible editorial policy on the part…
gregladen | February 4, 2009Teenager told to act like teenager when confronting government agents!
A 14-year-old thought to be the youngest bride of jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs was advised through text messages to "please stay angry" and to "keep crying, pout, sleep in" in an attempt to manipulate Texas caseworkers, according to a report filed with a San Angelo court.
Surly, this is against the Geneva Convention! Why, I don't think they are even using the Teenager Torture gambit at Gitmo!
It turns out she was armed as well!
In a report to state District Judge Barbara Walther, filed Jan. 27 in San Angelo,…
grrlscientist | February 4, 2009tags: David Attenborough, nature, evolution, environment, streaming video
British broadcaster Sir David Attenborough presents his views on Charles Darwin, natural selection, and how the Bible has put the natural world in peril in an exclusive interview for Nature Video [4:27]
sciencepunk | February 3, 2009One of the guests on tonight's edition of the One Show, BBC1's highly enjoyable magazine programme, was Lord Winston, the famous fertility scientist and TV presenter. Discussing a segment entitled "Are we ashamed of God?", Lord Winston said that science was only one of multiple truths, or words to that effect. The programme goes out live so I won't be able to check until it's posted online. Yeah, I know if I had Sky+ or some fancy crap I could stop it, replay it, Photoshop goatse images all over the place, but I don't so bah humbug.
EDIT: The footage is now available here (from around 07:…
gregladen | February 3, 2009... or Argentina or Nurse Ratchet.
In our allegedly multicultural society, there is one religious group which is apparently not to be afforded equal respect, let alone treated for what it embodies - the foundational creed of this nation. That group is Britain's Christians.
Somerset community nurse and committed Christian Caroline Petrie has been suspended and faces being sacked and even struck off for offering to say a prayer for an elderly patient. Although startled, the patient - herself a Christian - did not make a complaint and was in no way offended.
.... and so on and so forth. So…
pharyngula | February 3, 2009They just don't get it. Here's a beautiful example: Kurt Warner, the hyper-pious quarterback for some football team, has a number 13 on his jersey. Why?
"A lot of people believe 13 is an unlucky number," Warner said, "but I've kind of embraced it."
He added: "A lot of negative things come with the No. 13. My life is never dictated by superstitions. My faith is first and foremost. If you believe that God's in control, there is no reason to believe in superstitions."
Believing in bad luck is superstition, but thinking that rituals dedicated to a great hairy ju-ju in the sky will let you carry a…
pharyngula | February 2, 2009Doesn't it just make you feel so darned good when you hear stories of megachurches and televangelists in decline?
Once one of the nation's most popular televangelists, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller is watching his life's work crumble.
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His son and recent successor, the Rev. Robert A. Schuller, has abruptly resigned as senior pastor of the Crystal Cathedral. The shimmering, glass-walled megachurch is home to the "Hour of Power" broadcast, an evangelism staple that's been on the air for more than three decades.
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The church is in financial turmoil: It plans to sell more than $65 million…
oracknows | February 2, 2009I love Tim Minchin.
I also totally understand where he's coming from when it comes to confronting woo, though, as I've described here. In any case, see Tim in action (parts may be NSFW due to profanity):
Enjoy, as I'm running a bit late in producing my usual content for Monday. Fear not, it's coming later today!
razib | January 31, 2009Gallup has an interesting survey up, State of the States: Importance of Religion. The title makes rather clear the result, but check out this map: