religion
gregladen | April 18, 2008
When I was a fairly precocious young man I became thoroughly impressed with the futility of the hopes and strivings that chase most men restlessly through life. Moreover, I soon discovered the cruelty of that chase, which in those years was much more carefully covered up by hypocrisy and glittering words than is the case today. By the mere existence of his stomach everyone was condemned to participate in that chase. The stomach might well be satisfied by such participation, but not man insofar as he is a thinking and feeling being.
As the first way out there was religion, which is implanted…
razib | April 17, 2008The post below where I observed that in the United States men are over-represented among the Religious Right as opposed to the general population elicited a lot of response. I took some of the data from American Piety in the 21st Century which is broken down by sex and posted it below the fold....
Identify as...
Black Prot.
Evangel.
Mainline
Catholic
Jewish
Other
None
Total
5.0
33.6
22.1
21.2
2.5
4.9
10.8
Male
2.8
30.0
22.1
23.8
2.5
6.0
12.8
Female
6.9
36.7
22.1
18.9
2.4
3.9
9.0
Self describe as...
Bible Believing
Born Again
Theol. Conservative
Evangel.…
pharyngula | April 17, 2008Yesterday, two great pious leaders of the world met in Washington DC. President Bush has immense temporal power, leading one of the richest countries on the planet with the most potent military force. Pope Benedict is a spiritual leader to a billion people, with immense influence and the responsibility of a long religious legacy. What could they have talked about? Mostly, they seem to have patted each other on the back and congratulated each other on their commitment to superstition.
In remarks greeting the pope at the White House, Bush called the United States "a nation of prayer."
Bush was…
pharyngula | April 16, 2008A family of Minnesotans were involved in a horrific plane crash in the Congo.
Barry and Marybeth Mosier were on their way to visit their son Keith, 24, in Kinsangani, Congo, with two younger children when their plane crashed on takeoff Tuesday in Goma. At least 36 people died as the plane plowed through a market and burned. Most of the people who died were on the ground, according to the U.N. mission in DR Congo.
…Mosier said, he and his wife were carrying their son Andrew, 3, in the shoving "mass of humanity" trying to escape the burning plane. They got out through the opening in the…
razib | April 16, 2008The finding that men are more likely to be secular than women is a relatively robust result. You can note this in the Pew Religious Survey, to the point where 70% of self-identified atheists in the United States are male. In places as disparate as East Asia and Latin America women are stereotypically more religiously identified as well (or, religious practice is categorized as a female-identified activity). So what about the patterns within denominations? Men, being more secular in orientation on average, would probably sort into the more liberal and less demanding denominations, right…
gregladen | April 15, 2008"Academic Freedom" bills seem to come in two flavors: Those that protect students from the possibility of learning certain things, and those that protect subversive teachers from getting in trouble for being bad teachers. In both cases, they are bills typically introduced into state legislatures by conservative republicans expressing concern with the Liberal Bias. There is a vague institutional connection between the concept of Academic Freedom Bills and the organization founded by conservative David Horowitz, "Students for Academic Freedom." The motto of this organization is "You can't…
pharyngula | April 14, 2008A doddering old fool who shouldn't have been driving in the first place cruised into a car dealership in his cheap little Ford Fiesta, and managed to demolish two Porsches outside the showroom. Total damage: £60,000.
So what does the senile twit say afterwards? You guessed it:
It was a miracle I got out alive and I put it down to the power of prayer and God looking after me.
Why was he praying to wreak havoc on expensive German cars?
gregladen | April 14, 2008Check out this film. My friend Marta plays "Holy Mary, Mother of God" a part especially well suited for her.
Details:
In this video:
Adri Mehra (videos), Kristen Swenson, Louie McCoy, Lydia Schwartz (videos), Marta Haftek, Nicole LeDuc (videos), Peter Kenyon (videos), Taylor Park (videos)
We entered a 24 hour film contest the weekend of April 4th. Friday the 4th at 10:00pm we received an e-mail stating the theme of the movie (Saving) and the action that had to be included in the movie (Knocking on a door). By 10:00pm the following day we had to hand in our movie to a nearby bowling alley…
gregladen | April 13, 2008Former conservative speech writer discusses economy (he feels that the economy is very strong) and intelligent Design Creationism here.
[Hat Tip: Peter M.]
pharyngula | April 13, 2008Here's the story of a young Yemeni lady filing for divorce from her abusive husband.
"My father beat me and told me that I must marry this man, and if I did not, I would be raped and no law and no sheikh in this country would help me. I refused but I couldn't stop the marriage," Nojoud Nasser told the Yemen Times. "I asked and begged my mother, father, and aunt to help me to get divorced. They answered, 'We can do nothing. If you want you can go to court by yourself.' So this is what I have done," she said.
She's eight years old.
gregladen | April 13, 2008Dawkins Admits to Not Being Perfect Atheist: Consideres Possibility that Fairies and Green Unicorns May, just May Exist. (But almost certainly not.)
Hat tip: Science and Religion News
pharyngula | April 13, 2008Here, let me ruin your morning, just in case you hadn't already heard the story of this raid on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
A raid was finally triggered April 3, after a family violence shelter received a hushed phone call from a terrified 16-year-old girl saying her 50-year-old husband had beaten and raped her.
State troopers put into action the plan they had on the shelf to enter the compound, and 416 children, most of them girls, were swept into state custody on suspicions that they were being sexually and physically abused.
Doran said it was not until…
gregladen | April 11, 2008Worst Person in the World Monique Davis, who has a thing against atheists, apologized for her recent rant against atheism. after widespread public criticism. She called the object of her tirade, Rob Sherman, and said she was sorry.
Sherman says Davis told him she "took out her frustrations and emotions on me and that she shouldn't have done that." Sherman says Davis' explanation was "reasonable" and that he forgives her.
According to Sherman and State Rep. Jack Franks....Davis claims her outburst was triggered by learning shortly beforehand...that there'd been another Chicago Public…
gregladen | April 10, 2008John Stossel is the woo-loving moronic co-host of the formerly not too bad but these days totally sucky tv "news" show 20-20.
It turns out Stossel is a libertarian home schooling supporter and reality denialist
Now, I should tell you that I am not against home schooling in principle. But I have come to believe that most home schooling setups involve either scary right wing fundamentalism or yahoo-istic libertarian political masterbation at the expense of the kids. But who cares what I think. What does John Stossel think?
The cat is finally out of the bag. A California appellate court,…
pharyngula | April 10, 2008I've been getting a lot of email about this putatively Islamic public school in Minnesota, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy. It's a wretched situation — this is a school associated with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, and clearly all the students and families involved are Muslims who want a little bit of cultural isolation, and I suspect there is a lot of religious indoctrination going on behind closed doors — and I think it's a bad thing that this school is receiving state tax dollars.
I've been reluctant to jump on this story, though, for a couple of reasons. The main person fanning the…
gregladen | April 9, 2008The atheists are on the march like never before. Why? Because creation is also being discussed like never before and they are worried! This weeklong series of lectures and activities will equip you and your children with the necessary tools and information to dramatically affect this world for Christ.
Here are a few of the topics covered:
Planetary Cataclysm
Plate tectonics modelling--
astounding new insights into Noah's Flood
How textbooks mislead
'Facts' are not neutral-and neither is education
The Mystery of Our Declining Genes
Startling data for recent creation--in our DNA
Leaving Your…
pharyngula | April 9, 2008That Willikers fella has a fine post on the differences between science and religion. Even if he obstinately refuses the label of "atheist" I have to go along with him on this:
So, science is universal, while religion is rather local. One relies on an epistemology everyone in the world has access to; the other relies on an epistemology that barely works for that religion. To say of all religions that "each is valid" is to assert an absurdity. If each religion is separately valid, and all religions contradict each other, we are way past postmodernist silliness and out the other side into pure…
gregladen | April 9, 2008Monique Davis!
Hey, I didn't know Abe Lincoln was an Atheist. Cool.
Hat Tip: Pharyngula