religion
pharyngula | September 28, 2008Today is Pulpit Freedom Sunday, that day when the wingnut churches were all planning to preach endorsements of political candidates in defiance of the restrictions imposed on them by their tax-exampt status. I hope the IRS harvests a windfall here — it's simply absurd that they can demand freedom from taxation because they are religious organizations caring for the spiritual needs of their flocks, and then turn around and demand that they also be given the right to be a political organization. It's one or the other. Let the preachers preach for McCain/Palin, but not on the government's dime.…
pontiff | September 24, 2008Well that explains why the United States is not mentioned in the Bible! I always wondered about that one.
pharyngula | September 23, 2008Sixty years ago, the UN composed a document setting out a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It lists a set of basic principles, such as that everyone should be treated equally, torture and slavery are forbidden, and everyone has the right to life, liberty and security. It's a lovely set of ideals, but it also has a set of enemies. To name just one: fundamentalists hate it. And, unfortunately, fundamentalists, especially Islamic fundamentalists, are quietly working behind the scenes to undermine it.
A commission from Islamic nations composed a new Universal Islamic Declaration of Human…
jrosenhouse | September 22, 2008As a near-perfect corroboration of my assertion, in the previous post, that religion has been pushed straight out of the back seat and into the trunk as a respectable intellectual enterprise, check out the line-up of speakers at a forthcoming apologetics conference in Charlotte, NC this November. Mind you, the conference website bills these folks as the nation's leading Christian apologists:
This year's keynote speaker will be Dr. James Dobson. Other speakers include Chuck Colson of Breakpoint and Prison Fellowship Ministries; Josh McDowell, radio host, author and evangelist; Lee Strobel,…
jrosenhouse | September 22, 2008Steven Weinberg has a characteristically insightful essay in The New York Review of Books on the conflict between science and religion. He writes, with respect to people who insist there is no conflict between them:
Some scientists take this line because they want to protect science education from religious fundamentalists. Stephen Jay Gould argued that there could be no conflict between science and religion, because science deals only with facts and religion only with values. This certainly was not the view held in the past by most adherents of religion, and it is a sign of the decay of…
gregladen | September 22, 2008I'm calling in from the Saint Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota, and we're goin' down. Mayday Mayday Mayday.
We are having some kind of "meet the student group" day and it is not going well. Booths are set up in front of the Student Center. The biggest single category of student group represented is religious. Jesus this, Jesus that. Graduate students for Jesus. The Campus Jesus BeJesus club. Of the political groups, there is one Obama, one Conservative Students of America and one Take Away Reproductive Rights from Women group. That's it.
What. Is. Going. On. Here. People…
pharyngula | September 22, 2008It's not on my list of required reading, but if you tried to get a copy of the latest issue of Gospel Today at your local Southern Baptist bookstore, you might have a little difficulty: it's been yanked from circulation. The reason: it features a cover story on female pastors.
"They basically treated it like pornography and put it behind the counter," said Hairston, according to AP. "Unless a person goes into the store and asks for it, they won't see it displayed."
I'd suggest that perhaps it should be treated like pornography, as a literature that can warp impressionable minds in less than…
pharyngula | September 22, 2008Many of you already know that Slacktivist has been doing a detailed deconstruction of the first book of the Left Behind series. He has posted a long, painful, entertaining analysis of a few pages in order every Friday for over four years: it's been like gawking at a major train wreck, since the book is terribly written and an incomprehensible edifice of illogic and anti-realism gussied up with the most appalling lack of imagination.
At long last, he has turned the last few pages of the last chapter. There about 11 more books in the series, I think, and some spin-off books and prequels (I saw…
grrlscientist | September 21, 2008tags: Sarah Palin, religion, The Rapture, Keith Olberman, streaming video
Keith Olberman reports on the peculiar situation where Sarah Palin's pastor, whom Palin gives partial credit for making her the governer of Alaska (does this qualify as cheating?), was involved in chasing an innocent woman out of her home after accusing her of being a witch. We all know that Alaskans love to hunt mostly anything that moves, but .. witches?? What's next; will we be throwing misbehavin' women into ponds to see if they float? Or maybe all muslims will be perceived as witches .. what then? Because Palin has…
oracknows | September 20, 2008When it rains, it pours (so to speak).
Not wanting to be upstaged by that upstart Sarah Palin making an appearance on a piece of toast, prompting the observation that Sarah Palin is toast, the One True God has decided it is time to show who's really the King of All Pareidolia. I have to admit, though, He's chosen a strange way to do it and a strange place to appear:
That's right. It's Jesus on a ceiling tile:
ARKANSAS CITY, Kan -- He's popped up on trees, sandwiches and even a Cheeto and now Jesus is leaving his mark, so-to-speak, on a ceiling in Arkansas City, Kansas.
The image appeared…
oracknows | September 20, 2008We've had Jesus, Mary, and a variety of others make their holy presence known on blessed pieces of toast. Now it looks as though we have a new sacred image:
That's right, Sarah Palin has proven her most sacred presence by appearing on a piece of toast! What more evidence do you need that her being elected Vice President is ordained by God Himself and that God Himself will smite John McCain shortly after he takes office in order to usher in a Palin administration that will lead straight to The Rapture? And what did the owner of this most holy miracle do?
He's auctioning it on E-bay, of…
pharyngula | September 19, 2008Only religion seems to have the power to give deranged nutbags credibility and influence in government. Latest case in point: Israel, where the Kadima Party has to negotiate with Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef to form a coalition…and the rabbi is one of those insane ultra-orthodox wackaloons who, in a rational world, would be some old coot shaking his fist from his porch, avoided by others in his neighborhood, and with absolutely no influence at all.
But no, because he claims the voices in his head are a god talking to him, he gets to be consulted on affairs of state. A short taste of the wisdom of…
oracknows | September 18, 2008This one's been floating around the intertubes, at least those parts of the intertubes I frequent, for several days now at least. But it's so good that I just can't resist posting it myself.
I had no idea John Cleese had a video podcast...
evolvingthoughts | September 18, 2008
Okay, so in the AM I am off to drizzly Melbourne, my old home town, to address a conference on the implications of the project of naturalising religion, especially in terms of evolution, to an audience that may, or may not be religious. So if you never hear from me again, I was probably burned at the stake. By the atheists...
Anyway, I get to meet Lawrence Krauss. Yes, that Lawrence Krauss. He's going to be a keynote speaker, as I am (preen, preen). So assuming they make me actually work for my meal, no blogging for a few days. No doubt something great will pop up in the interbugs while I'…
gregladen | September 17, 2008Sheikh Muhammad Munajid claimed the mouse is "one of Satan's soldiers" and makes everything it touches impure.
But he warned that depictions of the creature in cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, and Disney's Mickey Mouse, had taught children that it was in fact loveable.
The cleric, a former diplomat at the Saudi embassy in Washington DC, said that under Sharia, both household mice and their cartoon counterparts must be killed. source
Hey, Regular Muslim People: Go tell your crazy counterparts to take it down a notch, OK? I mean, I agree that Mickey Mouse and the other mice must die and…
pharyngula | September 17, 2008Now one Islamic cleric has declared that Mickey Mouse must die. He's unclean, after all.
"Mickey Mouse has become an awesome character, even though according to Islamic law, Mickey Mouse should be killed in all cases."
Mr Munajid seems to be a little confused about what is real and what is fiction, but at least this is a step up from declaring that people should die.
And then there is this:
Last month Mr Munajid condemned the Beijing Olympics as the "bikini Olympics", claiming that nothing made Satan happier than seeing females athletes dressed in skimpy outfits.
Looks like another bit of…
pharyngula | September 17, 2008The Vatican has announced that they are having an evolution congress, and that no creationists or intelligent design creationists will be invited. Isn't that sweet? They're still inviting a swarm of theologians, though, so their exclusion is all window-dressing, a transparent attempt to sidle medieval peddlers of superstitious nonsense up next to some serious science for a photo op and a little propaganda. And they aren't even trying to hide what they're doing.
Jesuit Father Marc Leclerc, a philosophy professor at the Gregorian, told Catholic News Service Sept. 16 that organizers "wanted to…
gregladen | September 17, 2008
A car bomb and rocket attack on the US embassy in Yemen has killed at least 16 people, including civilians and Yemeni security guards, Yemen officials said. -bbc
Why Yemen?
You might not know this, because the Bush Administration prefers you not, but Yemen is one of those places that is a major training ground and stopping off point for al-Qaeda linked (= can be hired by al-Qaeda at discount rates) groups. Yemen is more of a threat to US 'interests' in the middle east than Afghanistan, if we measure in numbers of crazy anti-US terrorists per cave or in absolute numbers. The entire time…
evolvingthoughts | September 16, 2008
In response to the unwarranted flap over the education director of the Royal Society making comments that of course the media and the creationists spun to suit themselves, Richard Dawkins had this to say:
Although I disagree with Michael Reiss, what he actually said at the British Association is not obviously silly like creationism itself, nor is it a self-evidently inappropriate stance for the Royal Society to take. Scientists divide into two camps over this issue: the accommodationists, who 'respect' creationists while disagreeing with them; and the rest of us, who see no reason to…
pharyngula | September 16, 2008Clemens Bittlinger wrote and performed a song that mildly rebuked the Pope … and you can guess what happened. Death threats! Wild accusations! Now he needs police protection! It's insane, but familiar.
"When a newspaper prints a Mohammed cartoon, entire cities burn," read another. "But when the Holy Father is ridiculed in blasphemy, we are supposed to just accept that? No, not like that Mr. Bittlinger - you will surely receive the justice you deserve."
I suppose it was inevitable that while the vast majority of Christians condemned the outpourings of violence after the Mohammed cartoon…