religion
pharyngula | January 31, 2009Aren't you excited? The Superbowl is tomorrow!
OK, I know, most of you probably don't care. I know I don't; tomorrow is a lab prep day for me, and I'll be setting up fly stocks all afternoon. I don't even know who is playing, and I don't really care. Some of you might, and that's all right — my father was a big football fan, although he couldn't abide the Superbowl since, for all the hype, they were usually poor games — so if you choose to relax with friends and beer and watch the show, it is fine by me.
Here's something I do find interesting, though. One of the petty annoyances of American…
oracknows | January 31, 2009I've been a bit remiss about writing about this story. For that, I apologize. I realize a lot of you sent me links. For some reason, this week was an embarrassment of riches in terms of blogging material, and I didn't have time to get to it all.
With that out of the way, let me just say that I find it very ironic that this particular story came to light during the week of the 64th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. If the Pope is truly appointed by God to rule over the Roman Catholic Church, in this case God chose someone who has an exquisitely bad sense of timing. Actually, he…
pharyngula | January 30, 2009We've been seeing an amazing amount of press given to something as simple as atheist signs on public transport, and here's another thing that makes the apologists for religion tear their hair out: Russell's teapot. They don't get it. They read the idea with dumb incomprehension, and when they do try to explain it, they just expose their own silly misinterpretations. Case in point, Ross Douthat, who puts a goofy gloss on it.
This analogy - like its modern descendant, the Flying Spaghetti Monster - makes a great deal of sense if you believe that the idea of God is an absurdity dreamed up by…
pharyngula | January 30, 2009The ACLU is suing Union Public School Independent District No. 9 of Oklahoma. The reason is bizarre: administrators at the school have harrassed and violated the civil rights of a young woman named Brandi Blackbear because — and I'm a bit ashamed to admit this can go on in my country — they accused her of witchcraft. They say she used a magic spell to make one of her teachers sick. In retaliation, she has been subjected to searches and public humiliation, and the school has banned the wearing of non-Christian paraphernalia.
I'm pretty sure this is the 21st century, not the 17th. You would…
pharyngula | January 28, 2009The love just drips off the page in this story about how they handle irreligious teenagers. And look, Senator Chris Buttars is the concentration camp executive director!
clock | January 25, 2009In our heads, of course. All of our heads.
But Seed is asking, so let me elaborate briefly.
As I said before, science is not just active participation in research. Science is a mindset.
We are all born scientists, exploring the world around us and experimenting with it. When we grow up, we continue being scientists in our day-to-day lives.
If you walk into a room and flip a switch and the light does not come on, what do you do? I doubt that you throw yourself on the floor in fear, speaking in tongues, praying, blaming the Aliens or asking the Government to help you. You calmly go about…
sciencepunk | January 23, 2009Shares in Sony, Nintendo, and major games companies dropped sharply today after scientists linked playing video games with poor relationships with friends and family and increased drug use. Nintendo, long the face of family-friendly gaming, were said to be aghast and promised to immediately discontinue their wildly popular Wii system.
OK, so only one part of the above is true. A press release from Brigham Young University revealed that undergraduate Alex Jensen and his tutor had questioned 813 college students on their gaming habits and other behaviours, concluding that:
"As the amount of…
pharyngula | January 23, 2009Somebody is going to have to declare Jerry Coyne an official member of the "New Atheist" club and send him the fancy hat and instructions for the secret handshake. He has a substantial piece in The New Republic that is both a review of two recent books by theistic scientists, Karl Giberson (who really detests me) and Ken Miller, and a definite warning shot across the bows of those who believe science and religion can be reconciled.
First, let's consider the reviews of the two books — they're less interesting, not because they're poorly done, but because Coyne's opinion is almost identical to…
jrosenhouse | January 21, 2009Writing in The New Criterion, the always excellent Martin Gardner reviews Bart Ehramnn's new book God's Problem: how the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question -- Why We Suffer. Since I am among those who think the problem of evil and suffering in its various forms is a real crackerjack argument against traditional Christian theism, I read the review with great interest.
The “review” part of the review is actually brief. What did Gardner think of the book?
Back to God's Problem, the book that triggered my long-winded speculations. It is hard to imagine how a better, more…
mikethemadbiologist | January 21, 2009This is the kind of story that makes me sick to my stomach--soldiers stateside were expected by their base commander to applaud for Pastor of Evil Rick Warren:
The following is an email from one decorated combat officer, a man with the courage to repeatedly put his life on the line on the battlefield, being wounded twice, but who could not muster the courage to resist the pressure of his "serious and committed born again Christian" commanding officer to applaud Rick Warren. The author of this email is typical of the majority of servicemen and servicewomen who contact MRFF for assistance. Like…
pharyngula | January 21, 2009I wrote about the Kara Neumann case last year — it was the tragic story of an 11 year old girl in Wisconsin who died of treatable juvenile diabetes because her parents were faith-healing morons. Morons who still claim they did no wrong by neglecting their daughter when she lapsed into unconsciousness, choosing to call on the congregation of their wackaloon church to pray harder, instead of calling a doctor.
The parents are finally going to trial this spring, and it could be an interesting case. They are clearly and self-admittedly guilty of lethal negligence, but Wisconsin law actually has an…
pharyngula | January 21, 2009First, a warning: this is a link to a good science article, but it's hosted on the Suicide Girls site, which contains many pictures of young ladies with attitude and tattoos in a state of deshabille. You may discover you are blocked at work. But do persevere! It will be worth it even if you have no interest in naked women!
Anyway, one of the broad points of dissension in the discussion of the evolution of religion can be split along one general question: was religion directly adaptive in the evolution of humans, or was it more of a side-effect of other useful cognitive and social properties?…
pharyngula | January 20, 2009I skipped over Warren's ghastly babbling until now, when I was sent this recording of the spectacle. It's pretty much exactly how I imagined it.
pharyngula | January 20, 2009The Obama inauguration brought out a number of protesters, seemingly all of the Christian variety. I don't see what they're complaining about, though: Obama is a professing Christian who will not do a thing to diminish their privileges. We atheists have more excuses to picket his god-soaked ceremony than they do … but then, we're also not as stupid as this kind of person.
Nice. Tell me why I deserve Hell someday, and I'll tell you why you're in it right now, O Benighted Fool.
I'm not wildly enthusiastic about our new president, but he is so much better than the amoral sleazebuckets he is…
oracknows | January 19, 2009This was so good that I just couldn't resist.
Yesterday, I did a quick post about an amusing bit of pareidolia, in which the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus were seen in a Lava Lamp. Apparently, an Australian man going by the pseudonym of John Smith noticed the shape in the wax as he fired up a brand spanking new Lava Lamp, recognized it for the Holy Miracle that it was, and shut off the lamp before Satan's heat could melt the apparition. He then stayed quiet for over a year and then announced his discovery to all the world. Naturally, I and other skeptics, particularly you, my readers, were not…
pharyngula | January 19, 2009We needed his deep insight to understand the plane crash on the Hudson river, and the media response to it.
evolvingthoughts | January 18, 2009People get ready
There's a bus a'comin'
Don't need no deity
Just get on board
Won't hurt believers
If you can't hear God's mummery
You'll still need a ticket
From the Transport Board
People get ready
For the bus to show you
All people are passengers
From coast to coast
Citizenship's the key
For the doors of freedom
There's room for all
Among the secular host
There's plenty of room
For those you call sinners
They're still part of humanity
To each his own
Have pity on those
Whose minds are narrow
Cause there's no real place
Where theocracy's at home
So people get ready
There's a bus a'comin'…
rskloot | January 17, 2009A quick post as part of my ongoing follow up to my recent New York Times Magazine story about the use of non-canine service animals and the DOJ's efforts to ban them: There's an interesting discussion going on about how limiting service animal species also limits religious freedom ...
In the interesting comments thread of this blog post, a woman named Mona Ramouni explains that she is currently in the process of having a miniature horse trained as her guide because her religious faith makes it so she can't use a guide dog. Here's an excerpt of her comments:
"I am a Muslim, and we believe…
pharyngula | January 17, 2009I hope most of you are well past your lunch or breakfast now, because this story might ruin it. Never forget that our country is still ruled by a superstitious lot of kooks, a mob of witch doctors wearing suits and ties. This video, which is way too long and boring, shows a Georgia Republican and a pair of clerical loons chanting and nodding and praising each other while they daub a door with magic oil. Seriously.
It's the door Obama will walk through on his way to giving the oath of office. Apparently, a god will be especially pleased with him if a set of true believers grease the lintel…